Dr. Deanna Oleske, the interim District 1 Medical Examiner
who earlier this year had a tussle with some local funeral home directors, has
now officially notified the District One Medical Examiner Support (DOMES) board
that she is suing said funeral home directors. She indicates litigation is commencing due to some letters written to
the county earlier this year (by multiple local funeral home directors) describing allegations of barbaric treatment of corpses. These letters subsequently made their way into the press, and these letters ultimately led to some better communication(s) between
the ME's office and the funeral homes.
Dr. Oleske strenuously denied the allegations in the letters at the time, as did her operations director Dan Schebler.
Although it seems everyone knew this litigation had
commenced, apparently the folks that serve on the DOMES board may not have been
aware--or made aware officially.
They're aware now.
Although the Escambia BCC is not being sued so far as I have
been told, we are getting bombarded with public records requests from the
Medical Examiner's lawyers. The press and the ME and her staff have tried to argue that the letters were somehow connected to Escambia County's rejection of the Doctor's "We must have a new facility outside of Escambia County" arguments. I believe we can get functionality in the current spaces with about a $2-$3 Million investment rather than a $20-$30 Million investment in new facility outside of Escambia County. The one issue (alleged mistreatment of corpses) has nothing to do with the other (new facility) so far as I am concerned.
So, we will see where this all ends up. Meanwhile, I have been told by a credible source that the Medical
Examiner, Dr. Oleske, has put her "name in the hat" and applied to be
the district 2 Medical Examiner in Tallahassee. We will see what happens if she gets tapped for that position. My understanding is the D2 ME's office is in
a Quonset Hut type of PEB--think Gomer Pyle's Bunk Room Facilities--not a modern, large, state of the art facility the
likes of which is being sought for Santa Rosa County by Oleske.
Also, a source familiar with operations of the D2 office reports that
over there in that Circuit--the ME (who I am told is retiring) does not have
in-house investigators but rather outsources that function to the local
sheriff's office; staffing levels there are smaller than here.
Lots of change coming if Oleske happens to be offered
that job.
More to come. See her
letter from yesterday, below.
3 comments:
Edler on steroids, IMHO. And legally she is probably not just a government official, but a public figure. Or a limited public figure. Either way, the funeral home directors might try a SLAPP defense. Judge Danheisser provided an excellent road map for how a defendant might successfully pursue that in his final ruling on Edler's ill advised defamation suit against me. In fact, I hope their attorneys pull down that entire case and study JJ's magnificent work on it. One of the reasons that I fought that so hard at every turn was to try to make sure it didn't happen to anyone else. I hope they'll at least give it a look as they might find some really good strategy there.
So glad that a public official is using his time to comment on county business on a blog. Well worth the money from the taxpayer. Instead of digging in deeper to a lawsuit, why don’t you try to keep your nose out of it. Maybe even "take the high road." Instead, you continue to comment and dig in and talk crap, like it personally affects you. Maybe it does? Maybe you should be worried as to when the process server will show up for you. Also, you are aware if you are using a government computer to do this cute little blog, that is illegal right?
Keep it Classy Comissioner
9:42--Not worried about anything or any process server-because I have done nothing wrong. And to your opinion about elected officials using social media---are you off your rocker? Every elected official in America is using social media so your legal opinion on my utilizing a blog is absolutely ridiculous and totally untrue. Just making sure you understand this. If I'm wrong there will be a lot of elected officials all around the country violating your faux "law"
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