It's been close to a year since a whistleblower lawsuit was filed by three former workers at Partners in Job Training, and the case is not anywhere close to being resolved.
"This is a slow process when you have this number of defendants. There are the skirmishes where each side is trying to gain a legal advantage. We believe and we're confident that when we get to the factual portion, my clients will prevail," said John Doak, the women's attorney.
The slow legal wrangling is not good news for taxpayers, who are picking up most of the tab to defend the case.
The former employees are suing Rock Island County, Partners in Job Training director Mark Lohman, the Rock Island Tri-County Consortium, and former Rock Island County Board Chairman Phil Banaszek for allegedly firing them in retaliation for trying to expose problems in the agency.
Taxpayers are on the hook for most of the defense for the governmental entities, including the legal bill for defending Mr. Banaszek in the suit.
"I'm being paid by the county," said John Malvik, Banaszek's attorney, after a motion hearing on Tuesday morning, December 16, 2014.
Malvik argued that Banaszek should be dropped from the lawsuit because "he's not an employer of the plaintiffs." Judge Mike Darrow will rule on the issue in the coming weeks.
John Doak is the attorney for the women. He says they were fired for trying to blow the whistle about alleged illegal activity within the Partners in Job Training Program.
"My clients complained to numerous people governmental entities, individuals that are in charge about illegal conduct. Those complaints resulted in them being let go under a false pretense," said Doak after court.
"We believe Phil Banaszek was involved in the discussions with Mr. Lohman that lead to my clients being terminated," he said.
The next hearing date hasn't been set yet.