Curtis Hill speaks during a debate organized and hosted by the Indiana Debate Commission, Tuesday, April 23, in Indianapolis. AP Photo by Darron Cummings, Pool.

By Leslie Bonilla Muñiz
Indiana Capital Chronicle

INDIANA — Former Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill’s groping-related legal woes are over.

Hill and four accusers agreed to dismiss a four-year-old civil battery lawsuit before they were set to begin a five-day trial.

Then-legislative staffers Niki DaSilva, Samantha Lozano, Gabrielle McLemore and former Rep. Maria Candelaria Reardon accused then-Attorney General Hill of unwanted touching during a bar gathering celebrating the legislative session’s end in the early hours of March 15, 2018.

“The case against me was dismissed with prejudice by each of the plaintiffs, thus ending this odyssey of unfounded allegations that have dogged me for nearly seven years and have served as the fuel for political and personal attacks against me,” Hill said in a written statement. He thanked God, as well as his wife, children and attorneys.

In a news release, counsel for the plaintiffs said Hill “refuses to accept responsibility.”

“The plaintiffs have reached the frustrating conclusion that proceeding with the trial cannot provide the relief they sought; namely, Mr. Hill accepting responsibility for his actions and admitting his fault in intentionally touching each of them in a sexual manner without consent,” the release read. Hill, it said, has “steadfastly refused” to provide an apology.

A special prosecutor was assigned to the case and chose not to bring criminal charges. But the Indiana Supreme Court found in 2020, after a disciplinary commission complaint, that Hill had committed criminal battery. It suspended his law license for 30 days.

The four plaintiffs originally filed suit in the U.S. District Court for Southern District in 2019, but the court dismissed it in 2020. That’s also the year Hill sought reelection to his post, losing to current Attorney General Todd Rokita at the Indiana Republican Party’s convention.

The plaintiffs re-filed in state court that year, alleging three claims: civil battery, defamation and false light invasion of privacy. The latter two claims were dismissed with prejudice in 2023, setting the stage for a civil battery jury trial.

The trial was delayed numerous times over the last two years, most recently in April, coinciding with the end of the competitive race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. Hill, a candidate, came in sixth — last — according to the state’s primary election records.

The trial was set to go ahead this week after Marion Superior Court Judge Patrick Dietrick declined the plaintiffs’ request to delay proceedings.

“Ever since these false allegations were first leaked to the press, we have been determined to make our case to a fair and impartial jury, confident in the truth and certain that justice would prevail,” Hill said. “Finally, after several years of needless delay by the plaintiffs, a jury was ready to hear the case, and the plaintiffs folded. The plaintiffs’ action in dropping this lawsuit at the last minute is a further testament to the strength and merit of our case.”

Plaintiffs’ attorney Hannah Kaufman Joseph, however, said the trial would’ve achieved “at best, a hollow victory.” The news release said the plaintiffs decided to protect themselves from further hardship.

“After so many years of watching numerous state and federal courts, an Inspector General, a Special Prosecutor, and many other government institutions acknowledge that we truthfully reported our experience of Hill’s reprehensible behavior, and yet declined to impose a meaningful sanction, we decided that, even if we won at trial, we would not accomplish our goals of causing meaningful change in the way sexual harassment claims are handled for those working in and around the Statehouse,” McLemore said in the release.