SENECA LAWYER MOVES TO DISMISS MORTON LAWSUIT

A magistrate judge in federal court has granted Tori Morton’s lawyer additional time to respond to an attempt by the attorney for the Seneca police to strike portions of Morton’s civil lawsuit naming the police, the city, and former Seneca policeman Mark Tiller. Representing the police department, attorney Lane Davis moved to dismiss the causes for intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent hiring, training and supervision. Davis’s motions were filed October 26, but Morton attorney Keith Denny argued he needed more time as he was involved in a four-day trial that ran October 29-November 1. The trial Denny referred to was a Seneca Municipal Court criminal proceeding, in which the jury found Morton guilty of simple possession of marijuana on the 2015 night that her friend, Zachary Hammond, was shot dead in a police-involved shooting behind a 123 restaurant. She was ordered to jail for 30 days or pay a fine of $615 dollars. Morton’s attorney filed the federal civil suit a year ago, alleging that, as a passenger in Hammond’s car July 26, 2015, she was stripped of her constitutionally protected freedom and, as a result, suffered traumatic stress. Police attorney Davis contends there’s no evidence to support Morton’s claim of negligent hiring, nor can she prove post-traumatic stress disorder. “This is because she cannot demonstrate by competent evidence the cause of any such emotional harms,” according to the police lawyer’s motions to dismiss. Denny responded by saying that he is “diligently addressing the pending motions.”