County of Humboldt settles with Judith Magney for a million dollars

County of Humboldt vs Magney had a settlement. The County will pay $1 million dollars. I previously reported on the settlement conference.

The resolution was reported out of closed session on  March 5 but not the amount. Once again, completely ignored by the rest of the media.

L. CLOSED SESSION 1. Conference with Legal Counsel – Existing Litigation pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9 subd. (d)(1); Judith C. Magney v. County of Humboldt, et al., District Court Case No. 17-cv-02389.

If you are not familiar with this case, please read the previous posts linked below.  A summary would not do justice the egregious actions and behavior by the County of Humboldt.

This case and the lawsuit against this County was reported first locally by me. There has been extensive coverage and some exclusive coverage of this case on this site. The case got national attention. Humboldt County and Deputy County Counsel Blair Angus  got chewed out in a First District Appeal opinion.

Ms. Allison Jackson, Magney's attorney said,

"This is one of the most deeply saddening and troubling cases in my career. I was a prosecutor from when I was sworn in 1991 to when I went into private practice in 2004.  I have known two of the three county attorneys involved (Ms. Ruth and Ms. Angus) for years.  I never contemplated that this type of serious transgression by them was possible, but the transgressions are undeniable.  All three county attorneys in this matter showed no appreciation of rules of conduct nor their ethical responsibilities with respect to candor and fairness. There was no candor with the court of the applicable law. There was no candor to the court regarding the true facts.  Instead these three attorneys, together with 2 public health nurses (Ringwald and Hillman) and the Public Guardian (Schwartz)  appeared to have put forth a calculated effort to purposefully mislead the court, committing acts that showed a total dismissal of Mr. Magney’s most fundamental right - the right to determine how and when to say no to futile medical treatment.  These county defendants acted as if his rights and that of his wife were of no consequence which is precisely why the Federal Civil Rights matter was filed.

"Sadly, the county attorneys, totally abandoned their responsibility to independently review the law and facts, instead adopting an aggressive role of advocacy of the APS nurses position -  over the rules, over the law, and in disregard of the facts.  Sadly, the Public Guardian abandoned her proper role and took part in what can be properly described as the abuse of both of the Magneys.   In my opinion, this was not only unethical, but it was immoral and exploited two elders in the process.  The only elder abuse in these sad proceedings were perpetrated by the County Attorneys, the Public Guardian and the Public Health Nurses.  In my opinion (and also the opinion of about anyone else who has reviewed the facts and circumstances of this case, these six people are responsible for abusing Mr. and Mrs. Magney at a time when they were most vulnerable  - when Mr. Magney was in his final days on this earth and his wife of many years was by his side having to cope with the loss of her husband while at the same time having to defend his legal rights to pass away on his own terms."

 "In my opinion (and that of about everyone else who has been associated with this matter), this was not a mistake by Ms. Ruth, Ms. Angus, and Ms. Duke, nor the Public Guardian Kelly Schwartz nor the two Public Health Nurses Ringwald and Hillman; it was a calculated effort to get what the APS nurses wanted at all costs.  Neither the county attorneys nor the Public Guardian nor the public health nurses appeared to have had any qualms of being duplicitous in any of the many associated court proceedings.  Being duplicitous in order to get what they wanted seemed of no consequence to them.  Exploiting Mr. Magney as he lay dying was not of consequence to any of them.  Exploiting his wife of many years as he lay dying was of no consequence to them.   While the County was responsible for paying for the misdeeds of its employees to resolve the Civil Rights suit, it is my hope that by submitting this written statement to you that the individuals that are actually responsible for this duplicitous conduct and who have not suffered any consequences from their actions will be held accountable in the end  - held accountable at least by your readers since it sadly seems that the county will do nothing to police its own employees even after stinging rebukes from the state and federal courts and a one million dollar settlement arrived at before even one deposition was conducted.  This conduct must not ever occur again."

On March 11, I received this response from Mr. Blanck, "Not at this time."

Previous posts:
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2019/02/national-humiliation-and-now-if-magney.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2017/11/supes-i-realize-your-county-counsel-is.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2017/05/should-humboldt-board-of-supervisors.html?m=1


https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2017/05/it-seems-party-that-lost-is-now.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2017/02/humboldt-county-vs-magney-case-complete.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2017/01/losing-three-times-and-being-humiliated.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2017/01/this-was-one-of-most-profoundly.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2017/01/california-supreme-court-denies.html?m=1