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Milford town marshal David Hobbs and his attorney, Michael R. Morrow, recently filed a motion to dismiss some of the claims alleged against Hobbs by ex-murder suspect Ralph "Fred" Fisher, Goshen, and his wife, Ramona.
Fisher was suspected of the January 2001 shooting death of Kathy Vroman. Vroman was killed at The Car Co., Milford, a business owned by Fisher's son, Jason.
Jason Fisher originally was charged with the crime, but charges were dismissed against him after he implicated his father as the shooter.
A jury found Ralph Fisher not guilty on March 22, 2002, after a trial in Kosciusko Circuit Court.
Previous to the murder charge, Fisher was arrested and charged with unlawful movement of a body, assisting a criminal and obstruction of justice. All charges were subsequently dismissed because of a law that prohibits prosecution of close family members in some criminal cases.
In the suit, filed against Hobbs and the town of Milford in December, Fisher and his wife allege false arrest and imprisonment, malicious intent, assault and battery and loss of consortium.
In a motion submitted in February, Hobbs asked that all allegations except the claim of false arrest and imprisonment relating to Fisher's murder arrest be dismissed with prejudice.
According to a memorandum accompanying the defense request, the other charges are not allowed under Indiana law because the statute of limitations has expired.
All allegations stemming from Fisher's arrests, prior to the murder charge, occurred more than two years ago. Allegedly, Hobbs and the town were not notified in accordance with the law. The statute of limitations for filing a claim begins the day of the arrest and expires two years later. The accused parties must be notified of the pending claim withing 180 days of the alleged false arrest.
A claim alleged by Ramona Fisher of loss of consortium must be dismissed, Morrow wrote, because it was never filed as a separate claim from Fisher's.
"The wife of an injured claimant cannot rely on the tort claim notice filed by her husband, but is rather required to file her own notice for loss of consortium," the memorandum stated. Legal cases supporting the statement were cited.
A hearing on the motion will be held June 14 in Kosciusko Circuit Court.
