Policeman excused from lawsuit

A circuit judge ordered today the dismissal of a Seneca policeman as a defendant in a damage suit brought on behalf of a man who was the subject of a traffic stop in 2023.  The ruling, by Judge Merrill in the Oconee Common Pleas Court, states that a motion by attorneys for the defendant, Officer Barnum, for dismissal is granted without prejudice, a legal term which permits the plaintiff to refile the claim in the future.  Merrill’s ruling in favor of Officer Barnum reads, in part, “Nowhere in his Amended Complaint does Plaintiff (Darrell Young) allege Defendant Barnum was acting outside the scope of his employment.  Even after pointed questions from the court, the Plaintiff could not identify any such language but instead argued there was a general theme of an alternative theory that Defendant Barnum was acting outside the scope of his employment.”