BLOOMINGTON – Police in Bloomington say they have contacted authorities in Louisiana about their search for a college student whose disappearance has similarities to that of an Indiana University student who has been missingINDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Supreme Court heard arguments Monday morning about whether Gov. Mitch Daniels should have to give a deposition in a lawsuit with IBM involving hundreds of millions of dollars.
A decision should come soon since the trial in the case is scheduled for Feb. 27.
The state and IBM have countersued each other in a dispute over a $1.37 billion contract to modernize Indiana’s welfare intake system.
Attorney Peter Rusthoven argued that an 1852 statute protects Daniels from a deposition, and said the governor is not a pertinent witness in the case.
He said specifically that Daniels has no knowledge that a subordinate does not have and that his reasoning behind hiring – and then firing IBM – has nothing to do with whether there was a breach.
Jay Lefkowitz, attorney for IBM, contends the state statute at hand protects the governor from physically being dragged to a court to testify but not from a notice of deposition.
Indiana Supreme Court Justice Frank Sullivan noted that previous cases involving this statute did not involve lawsuits initiated by the state. He said it could be seen as the governor using the immunity as a sword by bringing the case and then refusing to give related testimony.
Niki Kelly is statehouse bureau chief for the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
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