05102007 - News Article - John Cantrell's lawsuit against E.C.. judge settled - Case set statewide precedent, unearthed allegations about Bob Cantrell - ROBERT CANTRELL

John Cantrell's lawsuit against E.C.. judge settled
EAST CHICAGO -- Case set statewide precedent, unearthed allegations about Bob Cantrell
NWI Times
May 10, 2007
nwitimes.com/news/local/john-cantrell-s-lawsuit-against-e-c-judge-settled/article_4a655863-4c52-59d2-b56b-77020a38b147.html
EAST CHICAGO | Attorney John Cantrell has agreed to settle his federal political-firing lawsuit against his former employer, City Court Judge Sonya Morris.

Although Cantrell only worked for the court for nine months, the litigation has lasted nearly three years. Morris and East Chicago agreed to settle Cantrell's case. The amount of the settlement was not divulged Wednesday.

Cantrell said Morris fired him shortly after she was elected city judge and replaced him with one of her campaign volunteers, Elizabeth Zougras-Rizos, after Cantrell supported Morris' political opponent in 2003.

Morris said the termination was justified because Cantrell had not been working the job for which he was hired and being paid.

The case was notable for several reasons. It set statewide precedent for wrongful termination cases when the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that Hoosiers cannot sue for damages if the right to free speech that is protected by the Indiana constitution is violated.

But the state Supreme Court, which was asked by the federal court to consider the Cantrell-Morris matter, noted that employees are free to bring wrongful termination lawsuits under standard tort law.

The case also was notable because it unearthed allegations about Cantrell's father, Robert Cantrell, who has been an influential figure in East Chicago politics since the 1960s.

In depositions during the civil case, Morris said she was not aware in 2003 that Robert Cantrell was involved in city politics until an incident in which the elder Cantrell threatened to run a candidate against her unless she hired an addiction counseling firm to provide court-ordered services for her defendants.

The firm was Addiction and Family Care. Robert Cantrell was indicted last March on charges he did not report income the firm paid him in exchange for generating business for the company. Robert Cantrell has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

John Cantrell had been working as a judge pro tem in the city court two days a week starting in April 2003, but when Morris took office in January 2004, she fired him without reviewing the quality of his work, court records allege.

Cantrell had been earning $850 biweekly as judge pro tem under former City Judge Eduardo Fontanez. Court records state that Zougras-Rizos' pay was increased to $1,000 biweekly in 2005.