Drummond fires law firm hired by Governor in dispute over lawsuit settlement
Attorney General Gentner Drummond Friday announced he is firing a legal team Gov. Kevin Stitt assigned that would have upended a settlement in a legal case a year in the making.
The settlement in the case Briggs v. Friesen filed in federal court the Northern District of Oklahoma in Tulsa alleges the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS) has regularly violated the rights to due process of defendants declared incompetent to stand trial. These defendants often require treatment to become competent to stand trial, and the suit alleges the state has failed to properly provide this treatment.
Drummond spokesperson Phil Bacharach said some of the defendants have been held in jail as long as two years before treatment, and trial, were provided, as required by the U.S. Constitution. Bacharach said Drummond considered the suit "an open and shut case" that the state would lose if not settled.
"We are definitely denying due process to hundreds of people," Bacharach said. "And you are increasing the agonizing wait for so many families whose family member is a victim who needs justice to be served."
A release from Drummond's office noted that other states have been hit with verdicts of up to $100 million judgements in similar suits. Bacharach compared the suit to others in which the federal government eventually stepped in and cost the state in vast monetary judgments.
"There are so many examples," Bacharach said. "Either we pay a settlement now and fix the problems or the federal government steps in and we pay untold millions later."
In this case, a preliminary settlement had been reached by Drummond before U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frizzell for an unnamed amount but with agreed-upon requirements the state would meet. As previously reported in Oklahoma Voice, these requirements would include a reduced waiting period for defendants competency treatment restoration, an increased number of beds dedicated for competency restoration, increased number of staff, better training for the staff, a screening program to expedite evaluation for defendants and deadlines for court-ordered evaluations, with fines for failure to meet deadlines.
However, upon the state reaching this preliminary agreement with Judge Frizzell, mental health commissioner Allie Friesen, who is named in the suit, declared that she was "firing" Drummond as her attorney. Stitt contracted with William "Bill" O'Connor, of the Hall Estill law firm, to represent the state instead, upending the settlement.
In a letter to Stitt dated Friday, Drummond stated "This letter is to inform you that I am exercising my authority...to 'take control and assume the prosecution or defense of the state's interest' in this litigation."
"The Attorney General, by statute ... is the Chief Law Officer of the State," Drummond continued. "In the absence of explicit legislative or constitutional expression to the contrary, he possesses complete dominion over every litigation in which he properly appears in the interest of the State, whether or not there is a relator or some other nominal party."
By firing the newly hired attorney, Drummond said, he is reassuming control of the case.
The Transcript reached out to Stitt's office and to those named in the suit for comment, but no calls were returned at presstime.
