In May 1999, two months after the council vote on March 12, Bureau of Employment Programs Commissioner William Vieweg announced he would drop the lawsuits. During the executive session, some council members asked about the legal status of the lawsuits that were filed, beginning in December 1996, when Gaston Caperton was still governor. Gene Dickinson, then general counsel for the BEP, attended the private executive session. Dickinson answered some technical questions, but expressed no view on the viability of the lawsuits. Stephens was prepared to try the Bluestone case in 1997.
Bluestone is the only case ready for trial.
On March 24, just 12 days after the council passed its resolution, U.S. District Judge David Faber sent all the lawsuits back to state circuit courts. He conceivably has some personal liability. After urging the Performance Council to pass a resolution advising him to drop the lawsuits, Vieweg attacked previous Employment Programs Commissioner Andy Richardson and former general counsel John Kozak during the executive session. I am absolutely appalled, and still don't know why someone did not bring actions against the surety bonds of the people who were here running this program. It is an absolute disgrace.