County Attorney updates commissioners on McFadden hearing Oct. 10th in Goshen

Tuesday, October 21, 2025 at 1:30 AM

By Kathy Bottorff

On Monday, County Attorney Sean Surrisi gave the Commissioners an update on the October 10^th court hearing regarding Tom McFadden’s motion to dismiss their claim against him.

Surrisi said the case in the Goshen Court House took about an hour and felt the judge was well prepared. He said he could tell that the judge had read all the briefs and came to the hearing with questions for both sides.

Surrisi’s “take-away” from the hearing was that the court was included to deny the motion. He said the judge viewed the law the same way the commissioners and their legal counsel viewed it. Surrisi said the judge did give some credence to what McFadden’s attorneys were arguing.

McFadden’s attorney argued that he wasn’t the proper party to be sued and indicated that the commissioners should have been lodged with the Regional Sewer District Board or IDEM.

The county attorney shared with the judge that IDEM was considering the commissioner’s petition to dissolve the sewer district. He went on to say, “If they (IDEM) do, in my view, it would largely render this litigation mute.”

Surrisi told the commissioners the judge recognized the importance and urgency of getting the matter decided. A decision is expected by the end of the year.

Surrisi explained the motions for summary judgement rather than having a trial was agreed by both sides. Each will present arguments and ask the judge to decide on paper who is right. He said a December 1^st deadline has been set to file cross motions for summary judgement and with a tight time line by December 12^th both sides are to file responsive briefs to each other’s motions.

The Summary Judgement hearing is scheduled for December 22^nd and the judge will announce his decision by December 22^nd.

The County Attorney said, “If IDEM doesn’t dissolve the district, whoever should be in the board seat will start on January 1, 2026.