Late last week, representatives of Sonoma County, California agreed to settle a lawsuit filed on behalf Clay Greene and the estate of Harold Scull, Greene’s deceased partner of 20 years. According to the suit, Greene and Scull had each executed mutual powers of attorney for medical and financial decisions and wills naming each other as beneficiaries. In April 2008, County employees in the Public Guardian’s office separated the couple after Scull fell outside their shared home. In the next three months, County officials ignored the couple’s legal documentation, unlawfully auctioned their possessions, terminated their lease, and forced Greene into an assisted living facility against his will. The County did not consult Greene in Scull’s medical care and prevented the two from seeing one another.
In August, 2008, before the partners could be reunited, Scull passed away after completing a photo album of the couple’s life for Greene.
In August, 2009, Greene and the representative of Scull’s estate filed a lawsuit against County officials and others alleging elder abuse, elder financial abuse, breach of fiduciary duty, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, and other claims. The plaintiffs were represented by the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR).
Under the terms of the settlement, Sonoma County will pay $600,000 to the plaintiffs, with a smaller payment of $53,000 coming from the remaining defendants. In addition, as a result of the lawsuit, Sonoma County has changed or modified a number of important policies in its Public Guardian’s Office, including requiring County employees to follow protocols before seizing private property, preventing County employees from relocating elders or others against their will, and prohibiting County employees from backdating information in their guardianship database.
NCLR is to be commended for taking on this most egregious case and seeing it through to a favorable conclusion for the plaintiffs. As a resident of Sonoma County, on a personal and professional level, I am deeply disturbed that it took a lawsuit to cajole the County into “modifying” policies requiring its employees to “follow protocols before seizing private property” of its residents, “relocating elders against their will,” and “prohibiting County employees from backdating information.” It should not be necessary for anyone – regardless of sexual orientation – to resort to court action to prevent such abuses. The monetary settlement notwithstanding, what this couple lost cannot be replaced by any court.
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- “Sonoma County Defendants to Pay Clay Greene over $650,000 to Settle Case in Which County Forcefully Separated Greene from his Partner of 20 Years” and related posts (lawprofessors.typepad.com)
- Justice For Greene And Scull As Sonoma County Settles Out Of Court (lezgetreal.com)
- Clay Greene + Harold Scull: Did County Officials Separate Them Because of Elder Abuse? (queerty.com)
Civil Rights & Wrongs 