Motion to dismiss filed in suit

Portland’s police department, its chief and its investigator are asking for a lawsuit against them to be dismissed.

Attorney Katlyn M. Christman filed a motion Friday to dismiss Portland clerk-treasurer Lori Phillips’ lawsuit against the police department, Portland Police Chief Dustin Mock and investigator Jeff Hopkins, arguing that they cannot be sued.

“The claims asserted against Dustin Mock, Jeff Hopkins and the Portland Police Department should be dismissed because the Portland Police Department is not a suable entity and Mock and Hopkins cannot be sued in their individual capacities,” the motion says.

The City of Portland is also named in Phillips’ lawsuit.

Phillips sued the city, its police department, Mock and Hopkins in July after filing a tort claim in April. (A tort claim is a formal notice that alleges personal injury or property damage and seeks compensation. Under Indiana law, a written notice of tort claim must be filed before suing a government entity.)

She alleges that she has been the focus of “torment, harassment and defamation” by the city’s police department. Her accusations include threats from Mock and Hopkins; the police chief publishing disparaging or defamatory statements against her; and that Mock and Hopkins reviewed and distributed video footage of Phillips exercising in the city’s exercise room and that those recordings included her private telephone conversations.

In her filing, Christman of Clark Johnson & Knight, Merrillville, references Indiana Code saying a county, municipality or township may be sued. She argues that because the police department is only a division of the city, it is not a suable entity.

She also argues that Mock and Hopkins can’t be sued as individuals based on the allegations in Phillips’ complaint. Again she cites Indiana Code, saying “a plaintiff is barred from suing employees who were acting within the scope of their employment at the time the alleged loss was sustained.”

Douglas Mawhorr of Delaware Circuit Court 3 is serving as special judge for the proceedings in the Phillips case. A hearing on the motion has not yet been set.

Last week, Mawhorr granted a motion from Phillips for a joint case management order — it establishes a shared timeline for pretrial proceedings leading to a trial — in the lawsuit. He gave the parties involved 30 days to submit their proposals.

The suit from Phillips stems from one of five active tort claims against the city or its police department. (Two others that were filed in 2024 have since been resolved.)

The city faces four other tort claims, though none have risen to the level of a lawsuit yet.

Former Portland wastewater department superintendent Brad Clayton filed two of the claims. In one, he alleges that his Family Medical Leave Act information was illegally made public and in the other he alleges he was berated by wastewater department superintendent Brad Dues and that city representatives, including mayor Jeff Westlake, spread information about him and his job.

Former Portland police officer Patrick Long alleges various incidents of harassment and other issues, and former Portland police officer Kyle Denney alleges that Westlake made statements that included allegations of misconduct against him.