Former El Dorado County Supervisor Files Suit Against County, Colleagues
Former El Dorado County Supervisor Ray Nutting isn’t happy about being ousted two years ago and now he’s filed a lawsuit against the county and a legion of its current and former leaders.
Nutting is seeking up to $2.7 million in damages from the county itself, as well as supervisors Ron Mikulaco, Brian Veerkamp and Ron Briggs; former supervisor Norma Santiago; former County Counsel Ed Knapp; Human Resources Director Pamea Knorr; and another “1 to 25” DOES (John or Jane Does).
Talk about a full house.
The suit accuses the defendants, individually and as a group, of acting to remove Nutting in an “unconstitutional ousting” that included “outrageous and vindictive” treatment of him and denied him enjoyment of his office without due process. You can read more about the allegations here.
Nutting's troubles go back as far as 2007. He was initially accused of submitting falsified documents to obtain $70,000 under the California Forest Improvement Program for the removal of brush on his property. He was later acquitted on three felony counts and one misdemeanor. When the jury was unable to reach a decision on the fourth felony, a mistrial was declared. However, Nutting was later convicted of three misdemeanor violations of the Political Reform Act for obtaining personal loans for bail from county employees and contractors to get himself out of jail on those charges. He was then convicted on another three misdemeanors for failing to document them.
Image Credit: Flickr User nakrnsm, https://flic.kr/p/fKNjUXvia (CC BY 2.0)
