On May 1, 2014, college student Andrew Sadek was seen leaving his dorm in the early morning hours. On June 27, 2014, his body was found in the Red River with a bullet wound to the head. Prior to his disappearance, Mr. Sadek had been acting as a confidential informant for a drug task force after selling marijuana to other confidential informants on two occasions. His contact with the drug task force was Richland County Deputy Weber. Sadek’s parents brought suit against Deputy Weber and Richland County alleging fraud, deceit, and negligence based on the assumption that Mr. Sadek had been murdered due to his acting as a confidential informant.
Andrew Sadek’s story and alleged murder garnered national media attention including a segment on 60 Minutes.
FBS attorneys Corey Quinton and Tyler Carlson defended the case and after nearly three years of litigation brought a Motion for Summary Judgment. The court ruled on May 20, 2019, agreeing with and adopting almost all of our arguments and dismissing all three causes of action alleged by the Plaintiffs. In particular, the court found the fraud claim was inapplicable because the contract remedies available for fraud did not apply to this case. The deceit claims were dismissed as the only misrepresentation alleged by the Plaintiffs (that Deputy Weber had told Sadek that there was a good possibility he would get jail time) was a prediction as to future events which is not actionable under North Dakota law. As to the negligence claim, the court found the record did not support a finding of proximate causation as a matter of law.
The case may be appealed to the North Dakota Supreme Court.