Published Thursday, January 30, 2003
in Swartzbeck lawsuit
Former Mercer County Commissioner Brian Shipley Wednesday filed an objection to an amended lawsuit claiming he conspired to get a former county fiscal director fired.
Shipley objected to Jeff Swartzbeck's amended lawsuit, saying the examples Swartzbeck gave were too broad or too vague.
Swartzbeck, in his amended suit, claimed the defendants, between Sept. 10, 2001, and Feb. 16, 2002, falsely claimed he harassed them, conspired together to get him fired, and wrote and spoke false statements about him.
The lawsuit, filed Sept. 30, names Shipley, county commissioners Cloyd E. "Gene" Brenneman and Olivia M. Lazor, and former and current county employees Kimberly Deniker, Onalee Godfrey, Suzanne Hockenberry and Roberta Leonard as defendants.
In his last filing, Swartzbeck submitted a Herald story as evidence. Shipley is represented by Daniel M. Taylor Jr., of the Pittsburgh-based law firm Swartz, Campbell & Detweiler.