A St. Louis attorney representing Gerald and Gerald area residents in a

federal civil rights violation lawsuit against Bill A. Jakob is seeking

a default judgement ruling against in federal court.

In court papers filed Thursday, attorney Robert Herman of the law firm Schwartz, Hermann & Davidson submitted a motion for default judgement against Jakob (a/k/a “Sgt Jakob”) on behalf of nine clients. Herman’s request includes notation that Jakob was personally served court papers on Sept. 29, 2008, but did not respond to either of the two court-issue summonses by the Oct. 20 deadline. Further, Herman alleges, Jakob has not responded to either summons issued against him as an individual or as a “an Agent, Employee, or Assignee for the City of Gerald, Missouri.”

Herman’s request to U.S. District Court Judge Donald J. Stohr seeks a hearing to determine monetary damages. As of late Tuesday afternoon, no ruling on the request was listed on a web site where federal court docket documents are listed.   An attempt to reach Herman by e-mail after business hours was unsuccessful.

Herman’s filing was one of several in the case against the city of Gerald, it’s Board of Aldermen, individual police officers and Jakob this past week.

Herman also electronically filed court documents Thursday with the clerk for U.S. District Judge Cynthia D. Perry indicating he was serving as “co-counsel on behalf of all plaintiffs” in the lawsuit brought by Union attorney Daniel J. Briegel of Briegel, Davis & Hotz, LCC. His “entry of appearance” in the Eastern District U.S. District Court noted “By agreement of counsel, Robert Herman shall serve as lead counsel in this matter.”

Briegel was taken to task by Perry in a ruling reported on last week which criticized him for lack of timeliness in filing required responses to court proceedings. Briegel told The Republican last week the issue would be resolved within the  week and it appears is has. Perry noted she was reluctant to dismiss charges against the city, it’s mayor, aldermen as a board, and respective individuals due to the severity of the allegations brought by both attorneys.

On Monday, Herman filed an electronic request to Perry’s court for a motion to receive a waiver on serving summonses against former Gerald police officers Ryan McCrary (chief), Scott Ramsey, and Shannon Kestermont. Herman noted that although prior attempts to serve each of the former police officers with summonses by mail had failed, their attorney indicated they would abide by the waiver request. Herman’s motion did, however, request that a appointment be made of a “special process server” specifically to serve Jakob with a summons to appear in federal court. A prior attempt to serve Jakob was not successful, Herman noted.

As of late Tuesday, no rulings were noted regarding either of Herman’s motions.

On Tuesday, the city of Gerald’s legal counsel electronically filed a 57-page answer with Perry’s court on behalf of the city, its individual aldermen, and mayor regarding alleged civil rights violations and negligent police hiring and training practices by the city in the lawsuit originally presented by Briegel.

In the answers filed by the city’s legal counsel, the board and mayor deny the majority of allegations or plead they did not have “the knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief” regarding truth of the allegations as presented.

The city’s counsel noted the plaintiff’s attorneys failed to state a claim in their second amended complaint. The city also claims it is barred from damages due to “the doctrine of qualified immunity. Their response to the lawsuits filed in the U.S. Eastern District cites “whatever actions that any of the Defendants took with reference to Plaintiffs were undertaken reasonably and were not in violation of any clearly established rights secured for the Plaintiffs by the Federal Constitution.”

Gerald officials also claim any actions by the city “were supported by probably cause.”

The city also seeks relief “under the doctrine of collateral estoppel.” That term is defined by the Missouri Bar Association as “a party is prevented by its own act from claiming a right which is detrimental to another party who was entitled to rely on such conduct and acted thereon.”

The city also says it is immune from claims for punitive damages and claims any such potential monetary award “constitutes an excessive fine.”

Attorneys for the city deny the city, its alderman, and mayor were negligent in hiring, training, and supervising its police personnel. They claim “official immunity,” the “public duty doctrine,” a “doctrine of waiver,” and the “doctrine of collateral estoppel” in their defense.

Lawyers for city officials also deny violating rights of specific plaintiffs including Betty Jo Jarvis, Andrew Elliot, Lucas Hedrick, Nichole Krueger, Rebecca Fieser, Joseph Rabbit, Steven Kern, Cameron Hedrick, Michael Epple, Justin “Dirty” Sanchez, Jonathan Wright, Peggy Baltimore, and Paul Baltimore. They raised claims ranging from, and including, false arrest, false imprisonment, battery, assault, and conversion.