The federal defamation and discrimination trial of state Treasurer Dennis Milligan and his chief of staff has been rescheduled to Jan. 30 after the presiding judge ruled he had to give precedence to a criminal proceeding.
Milligan aide Jim Harris' defamation trial ended after a week in August before the case could go to jurors when Harris was removed from the courtroom on a stretcher by paramedics after complaining of chest pains.
Harris, who had also been a spokesman for Gov. Mike Huckabee, announced his retirement last month citing health problems. His last day will be Friday. The nature of his ailments has never been publicly revealed.
Harris' first trial based on a lawsuit by another former Milligan aide, David Singer, was scheduled to begin Monday. Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Miller reported Thursday that he had to reschedule the trial to the end of the month to accommodate a criminal case. Since the August mistrial, Miller has expanded the proceedings to include Singer's discrimination complaint against Milligan.
Singer alleges that Harris slandered him by writing in an interoffice memo to the deputy chief of staff that Singer had "mental problems," and that Milligan fired him because the treasurer believed, based on viewing the memo, that Singer suffered from a mental disability.
Singer contends his firing violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits terminating someone on the basis of a disability, real or perceived. Singer was terminated as Milligan's outreach manager in April 2015 when he was fired.
The ruling does not disclose what case Miller considers a priority, but court records show he has a bail hearing and a sentencing hearing scheduled for Monday.
Metro on 01/08/2017