For the week of November 19 - 24, 2003

Coroner case moved
to district court

---

"This is not a simple issue, as I’m sure you’re aware of. This is very complicated. I can see that both parties have a good point."

— ROBERT ELGEE, Magistrate judge

---

By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

The parties involved in an Idaho lawsuit against Blaine County Coroner Russel Mikel agreed last week to move the case into 5th District Court in Hailey.

Though Magistrate Judge Robert Elgee said he would hear the case as scheduled on Friday, Nov. 14, he noted that he had not reviewed the case thoroughly and that the parties might be better served in the district court.

"This is not a simple issue, as I’m sure you’re aware of," Elgee said. "This is very complicated. I can see that both parties have a good point."

Idaho Deputy Attorney General Corey Cartwright and Mikel’s lawyer, Mountain Home attorney Lee Schlender, agreed to try the case in district court, though a hearing has not yet been scheduled.

Mikel is preparing to square off against the state in a case that alleges the coroner took too long to complete four separate death certificates.

Though Mikel has completed the documents in question, the state maintains that he still must pay fines for the delinquent documents.

In a legal brief supporting Mikel’s request for summary judgment in the case, Schlender wrote that Mikel did promptly file death certificates for each of the individuals named in the Department of Health and Welfare’s legal complaint, which was filed June 23.

Only supplemental reports—to be finished when investigations or lab results were finished—were incomplete, he pointed out.

"On each of those certificates, (Mikel) stated that the information regarding cause of death was ‘pending by reason of ongoing investigation,’" Schlender wrote. "… Coroner Mikel thereafter was conducting investigations and awaiting the results of investigations or test results from other agencies."

When he was unable to promptly determine a cause of death, the department instructed Mikel to file certificates with the words "pending" or "pending autopsy or lab results," Schlender contended.

In an interview following the Friday hearing, Schlender said the case essentially boils down to a conflict between Idaho Code and an Idaho Department of Health and Welfare rule. Idaho Code gives more leniency than the department’s rule, Schlender said.

According to the state’s complaint, filed Monday, June 23, Mikel must pay fines totaling $175 per day that the absent documents were not completed.

The Idaho Attorney General’s lawsuit referenced five unfinished death certificates for deaths occurring in Blaine County and dating as far back as Aug. 16, 2001. All of the death certificates and supplemental death certificates, however, have since been filed.

Schlender contended that it is clear that a time limitation before the imposition of a penalty for failure to file a supplemental certificate has not been established by the state Legislature or by the Department of Health and Welfare.

"Absent any such legislation, rule or regulation, it is unconstitutional to impose a penalty against Mr. Mikel," he wrote.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.