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Opinion 07-FC-127 (full text) as the primary public record of the 2007 state suit; opinion 08-FC-14 for the council's actions; the Laskowski opinion at summary strength; the criminal items at South Bend Tribune index strength only
The clerk-treasurer sued her own council in the spring of 2007, and the Public Access Counselor's file is where the public record keeps it. On 1 May 2007, Clerk-Treasurer Cheryl Gridley filed, against the council members in their official and individual capacities (David Snyder among them) and Marshal Jack Tiller, a roughly 100-page Complaint for Declaratory Judgment, Permanent Injunction, and Temporary Restraining Order Without Notice — served on the council about 4:00 p.m. that day, and recited in opinion 07-FC-127. As recited, she asked the court to order the respondents to cease receiving mail for the town; to cease seizing records and town documents the clerk-treasurer is charged by law to keep; to enjoin the council from transferring town funds and issuing checks on town accounts; to deliver all copies of keys to her offices to her; and to refrain from ordering the town's insurer to exclude her from its policy. The petition's own recited context: her clerk's bond had been cancelled by the insurer (the FY2006 audit confirms the cancellation, effective 22 April 2007); council member Penn had made a demand against the bond; on 25 April 2007 the council had adopted a resolution authorizing attorney Lipsky to take legal action against her to remove her from office; and her counsel had warned Lipsky on 26 April that suit would follow. Tribune index coverage corroborates a later 2007 hearing on her attorney fees and a town motion to disqualify her counsel. The suit's disposition was not found in any carrier searched; her term in any event ended 31 December 2007 on the audits' schedules, and Susan Hammons succeeded her on 1 January 2008 (gap G-L90-3).
The council's own actions against her are recorded in the opinion file, and their outcomes are likewise unreached. Opinion 08-FC-14 records that at a public meeting on 18 October 2007 the Council authorized attorney Michael Lipsky to file "whatever is needed" to ensure Gridley performed her job; he filed a first action that day, and a second action on 18 December 2007 — Gridley alleged, and the Tribune reported, a contempt action; the allegation prints as alleged, and the Counselor's carried version is the town attorney's account. Tribune index items add a settlement payment the council sought court orders to make, a disputed $47,000 check from the sale of a town-owned house, and Dorothy Snyder sitting in as deputy clerk-treasurer. The disposition of either action was not found (gap G-L90-3, shared with the suit above).
One earlier removal produced its own federal case, and it too ends mid-record. In Laskowski v. Snyder (N.D. Ind., 2007 — worked here at case-summary and Tribune index strength; the opinion's full text was not read on a court carrier), Greg Laskowski sued Dorothy Snyder and the Town under § 1983, alleging First Amendment violations in his removal from the 21 July 2005 council meeting, at which Dorothy Snyder had declared him "out of order" and the sergeant-at-arms, Larry Miller, removed him; his further allegation of a policy of removing those who disagreed with the Snyders prints as his allegation. Judge Moody denied the defendants' motion for summary judgment — a genuine issue of material fact stood on whether the removal was necessary to maintain order. No final disposition after that 2007 denial was found (gap G-L90-4).
The criminal process of the era prints at index strength, as allegations and process only — no outcome was found for any of it, and none is implied. The South Bend Tribune's index records that David Snyder faced one felony count of intimidation and a misdemeanor count of battery for allegedly punching and kicking council vice-president Ted Penn during a town hall meeting in early 2007; Notre Dame Magazine, read whole, confirms the charges stood pending as of January 2007. The outcome — trial, plea, or dismissal — was not found in any carrier searched (gap G-L90-5). From the 14 September 2007 arrest that became the federal case, the same index records the prosecutor's office holding a charging decision open to 4 October, witnesses describing an elbow, Snyder contending he did nothing, and a later item headlined "Roseland incident to go to grand jury," quoting Prosecutor Michael Dvorak that "[t]he investigation involves all parties involved in the incident"; a secondary account states Snyder was held overnight and released after prosecutor review. No indictment, charge, or declination for either man stands at record strength, and the grand jury's outcome was not found (gap G-L90-6). A third item stands at Tribune "Briefs" index strength: in April 2007 the town received notice of a tort claim by Dorothy Snyder stemming from her arrest in April after a council meeting, alleging wrongful arrest, humiliation, and excessive force, and seeking damages including compensation for loss of services to her husband David. Any resulting suit or disposition was not found; the claim is distinct from the federal case above, which arises from David's September arrest.