Special Update
April 28, 2015
The Mutual Effort is provided to members of the County Mutual and Community Insurance Corporation.  We are dedicated to serving Wisconsin's counties and local governments and the people they serve by providing long-term stability in insurance coverages, while proactively working to control costs.
In This Issue
County Mutual Presents Oral Arguments on Use of Excessive Force Claims to U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.

The Wisconsin County Mutual Insurance Corporation (County Mutual) was invited to present oral arguments to the United States Supreme Court yesterday regarding creating a new standard for the use of excessive force claims by pretrial detainees.

 

Aegis Corporation's Robert Wurtz, John Dirkse, David Bisek, Sheila Mishich and Brian Knee attended this monumental case on behalf of the County Mutual.  The company serves as the general administrator of the County Mutual.  

 

"It was an honor to be able to represent the County Mutual before the United States Supreme Court and to see our work on a particular case in Monroe County impact federal standards moving forward," said Aegis Corporation Senior Vice President of Claims and Litigation Management David Bisek.  "We had a first rate team from our attorneys through our claims and litigation staff.  Whether before this court or at a local level in Wisconsin, we at the County Mutual remain dedicated to working tirelessly to defend and represent all our members."  

 

Pictured above left to right, front row is Sheila Mishich, Aegis Corporation Litigation Case Manager; Charles Bohl, County Mutual attorney with Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek, S.C.;  Washington, D.C.-based attorney Paul Clement of Bancroft PLLC, who prepared and presented on behalf of the County Mutual; and Andrew Jones, County Mutual attorney of Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek, S.C.  

 

Back row is David Bisek, Aegis Corporation Senior Vice President of Claims and Litigation Management, John Dirkse, Aegis Corporation Executive Vice President John Dirkse and Brian Knee, Aegis Corporation Litigation Case Manager.   
In Washington: (L-R) Aegis Corporation President Robert Wurtz, David Bisek, Sheila Mishich, Brian Knee and John Dirkse.
Kingsley v. Hendrickson: Will the U.S. Supreme Court Provide a New Standard for Excessive Force Claims by Pretrial Detainees?

Learn more about this case in an article written by Andrew A. Jones and Charles H. Bohl of White, Hirschboeck Dudek. S.C. entitled, Kingsley v. Hendrickson: Will the U.S. Supreme Court Provide a New Standard for Excessive Force Claims by Pretrial Detainees?

The article begins, "To date, the U.S. Supreme Court has left open the question of precisely when a law enforcement officer's use of force against a pretrial detainee amounts to excessive force under the Constitution. This question is important to all governmental entities that operate prison or jail facilities housing pretrial detainees (prisoners who have not yet been convicted of their pending charges), including all counties in Wisconsin. The Supreme Court may now answer this question, as it takes up the case of Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 744 F.3d 443 (7th Cir. 2014).

The plaintiff in Kingsley was a pretrial detainee in the Monroe County Jail in Sparta. Monroe County deputies were forced to transfer the plaintiff from his cell to a segregation cell after he repeatedly refused to comply with the deputies' directives to uncover a light in his cell. During the cell transfer, the plaintiff resisted, creating a threat of harm to himself and the deputies. As a result, the deputies applied a single contact stun to the plaintiff with a Taser."

Read the full article by Andrew A. Jones and Charles H. Bohl of Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek, S.C. here.