Though a federal court ruled in favor of a Warsaw couple Friday in a case that's nearing its 10th anniversary, a final resolution seems unlikely in the near future.
A recent jury verdict and $1.5 million dollar judgment will likley be appealed.
Former Warsaw Detective and current Winona Lake Town Marshal Paul Schmitt was found liable in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in Indianapolis for conspiring with a former business partner of Rick Orban's to bring false charges toward Orban and his wife, Jan."It'll be 10 years in two months and five days but who's counting," said Rick Orban. "To deal with all the stress and to finally have the truth come out is a relief."
This case doesn't appear to be over quite yet though.
The origins of the case started in 1997.
Rick Orban and David Melching became partners and co-owners of Carpet Express in Warsaw. Orban became a managing partner in the business. Jan was a bookkeeper for the business.
The partnership was dissolved and Melching and the Orbans accused each other of taking money from the business.
Computers and other items were seized from the business after Melching went to the police.
Schmitt acted as a liaison between WPD and the Kosciusko County Prosecutor's Office.
An officer for the Indiana Department of Revenue investigated possible fraud by Rick Orban.
The Orbans were charged with multiple felonies in 1999, including money laundering, perjury and theft.
Those charges were eventually dropped and the Orbans filed a Constitutional rights lawsuit in 2001.
Schmitt's attorney, Mark Ulmschneider, Fort Wayne, said he plans to appeal Friday's decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago.
"We see little risk the verdict will be upheld and the principal reason is there is solid law if you lose a state court case you don't have the right to another trial," said Ulmschneider.
On June 29, 2007, a Marion County jury found for the Orbans on counts of violation of Constitutional rights, conspiracy to violate Constitutional rights and conspiracy to convert assets. That was the decision that was later reversed by the state's court of appeals.
Before Friday's decision, the Court of Appeals of Indiana reached a 3-0 decision reversing the jury verdict against the city of Warsaw and Schmitt.
At that time, one of the Orbans' attorneys, James Fisher, said the Court of Appeals decision was because of jurisdictional issues and not the merits of the case.
Ulmschneider disagreed, and at that time said he never felt the merits of the case presented by the Orbans made any sense.
A settlement on the judgement doesn't seem to be an option.
Ulmschneider said that "because of the nature of the law, a settlement seems unlikely."
Last week's trial was in Judge David Hamilton's court.
The trial took five days and the jury took three hours to reach its decision.
The jury verdict awarded compensatory damages of more than $1.5 million to the Orbans Friday, with an additional award of $50,000 in punitive damages against Schmitt. The city of Warsaw is responsible for the judgment.
Hamilton is President Barack Obama's first judicial nominee. Hamilton has been nominated by Obama for an open seat in the same court of appeals in Chicago where Ulmschneider plans his appeal, though he likely won't hear the case again.
