Final Seyller-vs.-Kane County Board bill due Oct. 19
The final tally on the attorneys bills for the Deb Seyller-vs.-the Kane County Board lawsuit could come next month as attorneys from both sides are due to meet with Chief Judge F. Keith Brown.
Seyller sued the board in fall 2010 after it denied her request for more than $560,000 additional funding to run the Kane County Circuit Court Clerk’s office.
Messages to Seyller’s primary attorney, Dean Frieders, and county attorney Ken Shepro, were not immediately returned Monday.
Court records show both attorneys are scheduled Oct. 19 to petition Brown for payment of legal fees. No other information was available.
So far, the lawsuit has cost taxpayers $460,000 in attorney fees.
But that was just for bills submitted through June.
After failed mediation, an argument before an appellate court panel in Elgin, and numerous delays, both sides settled the suit earlier this month.
The agreement calls for a possible $10 million computer system upgrade for the local court system and a new way of budgeting for all county departments.
The agreement absolves Seyller from personal financial liability for the cost overruns in her office. The settlement also allows Seyller or any future circuit clerk to use special fees collected for court document storage, automation and court operation and administration to pay for some of the costs to run the department, including some employee salaries.
According to court records, Seyller had seven different attorneys billing on the case at one point.
It also cost $65 apiece to serve each of the Kane County Board members listed as defendants in the suit. Seyller’s attorneys also billed $55.82 and $56.27 for “lunch” with Seyller in October 2010, according to court records.