Judge throws out lawsuits

Lawsuits against St. Joseph County, its board of commissioners and a pair of county officials have been thrown out by a Calhoun County judge.

The legal matter was brought upon the county, the county board, former county administrator Pat Yoder and past board chairman Allen Balog by Liz O’Dell.

O’Dell, former director of Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services of St. Joseph County, filed suit in November. She is claiming breach of contract, that her whistleblower rights were violated, wrongful interference with her employment contract, and unjust interference with her business relationship or expectancy with CMH.

Balog said the suits against him and Yoder were dismissed earlier this month. Meanwhile, the suits against the county and the county’s board of commissioners were tossed out Monday last week by Circuit Court Judge John Hallacy.

A suit against the CMH board, however, remains in place. The CMH board defendants are Monte Bordner, Tim Carmichael, Don Eaton, Anthony Heiser, Rick Shaffer, Kristine Kirsch and Kathy Pangle.