After being unable to find a Northern Kentucky firm willing to defend Villa Hills, the City’s insurance carrier finally retained Lexington-based Sturgill, Turner, Barker and Moloney, PLLC. Shortly thereafter, Martin’s personal insurance company also retained the very same law firm.
Some on council expressed concern almost immediately about this unusual arrangement. Would Martin’s personal insurer benefit by “piggybacking” on the work being done by the City’s insurance company attorneys?Sources say that council was told that this arrangement presented no problems. Council was assured that the Lexington law firm could build a wall between the defense of the taxpayers and Martin’s personal defense. Further assurances were provided that no taxpayer money was being expended for Martin’s personal defense.
Recent events seem to indicate that all those assurances were wrong.
The Martin Chronicles recently learned that the City’s insurance company has finally come to realize that the City’s best interest and Martin’s interests are not the same. No kidding? If the City’s insurance carrier had asked us we could have clued them in a long time ago.So how much did Martin’s personal defense cost the taxpayers over these past six months? It shouldn’t have cost them one penny. But the circumstances of the last several months paint a very different picture.
The Martin Chronicles wants to cover one more point. You may hear a councilman or two say, “Don’t worry. The City’s insurance company is paying the bill.” These are the same disingenuous people who sloughed off the $50K-plus that was expended when Mike Martin was suing you.But you need to take a step back and think. From where does the money come? Well, the money the insurance company uses to pay all the legal fees comes from you, the taxpayer. You are paying the City’s insurance premiums, so, you are paying the bill. You should not have to pay the bill for Mike Martin’s personal defense. It is Mike Martin who created this entire mess after all.
