IN Court of Appeals sides with state police in termination of former trooper’s disability benefits

The Indiana Court of Appeals denied a former state trooper’s arguments that the Indiana State Police violated his contractual rights to disability benefits when the state agency ended his employment in 2018.

The court upheld a lower court’s decision, concluding in its opinion that because Samuel Arp, the former ISP trooper and current Lawrence County prosecutor, sought a full-time elected office while still being employed with the state police, he was supposed to resign from the force, according to state law, and forfeit his long-term disability benefits.

“Reinstatement of Arp’s LTD benefits is not capable of being enforced,” Chief Judge Robert Altice wrote for the appellate court. “Arp chose to assume the role of the elected prosecutor of Lawrence County and in doing so, he was statutorily required to resign from his ISP employment. No longer an ISP employee, Arp’s LTD benefits, save his medical benefit, terminated upon such separation from employment.”

The Indiana Lawyer reached out to Scott Chinn, a partner at Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP serving as Arp’s attorney, but had not received a response as of Tuesday’s deadline.

According to court documents, Arp had been with the ISP since 2000.

In 2006, he was struck by a drunk driver while on duty, leading to extensive back injuries.

Arp was then classified as disabled, which granted him long-term disability benefits like a monthly disability payment based on years of service, a dependent stipend, a medical expense benefit and an insurance premium benefit.

Arp’s disability status became permanent in 2009, meaning he would never return to regular service as a trooper.

ISP gave Arp an identification card that certified he was a “commissioned ISP employee in disability status.”

A few years later, Arp made it clear to the state police that he intended to attend law school, even claiming that he had asked ISP officials at the time whether such an endeavor would affect his eligibility to continue receiving his benefits.

According to Arp, an unidentified lieutenant had advised him that neither becoming an attorney nor potentially an elected prosecutor would affect his long-term disability benefits.

A year after Arp graduated from law school, he won the general election for Lawrence County Prosecutor.

Following the election, Arp contacted  state police officials to again inquire about whether his disability benefits would be affected.

Majors Charles Sorrells and Todd Smith (who were also named defendants alongside ISP Superintendent Douglas Carter and Captain Michael Wylie) chose to find outside legal advice on the matter.

After receiving a memorandum from Ice Miller on Dec. 12, 2018, Carter decided to inform Arp that, based on Title 10 of the Indiana Code and Regulation 6 of ISP’s Rules and Regulations, he was required to resign from the agency and give up his disability benefits because he had been elected.

Regulation 6 states that “if elected or appointed to a position other than a part-time local elected office the employee shall separate employment from the Department and be off Department payroll before assuming office.”

Sorrells contacted Arp on Dec. 31, telling him that if the ISP did not receive his resignation before midnight, then the department would assume he had resigned.

With no resignation submitted before the deadline, ISP terminated Arp and his long-term disability benefits.

In November 2019, Arp filed his lawsuit against the department and several officials, raising claims of unlawful termination of employment, breach of contract, unlawful termination of benefits, breach of fiduciary duty and due process violations.

But the courts have consistently ruled against Arp, and in 2024, a trial court issued a 43-page order granting summary judgment in favor of ISP.

On appeal, Arp argued that once he was classified as disabled, he was no longer an ISP employee and subject to the statutory and internal policy mandates requiring him to resign upon assuming his role as a full-time elected prosecutor.

However, the appellate court followed the trial court’s lead, concluding from several pieces of evidence that although ISP revoked Arp’s enforcement authority following his injuries, he remained a sworn employee, “albeit in disability status.”

Arp also argued that the ISP had unlawfully terminated his employment status, asserting that he never tendered his resignation and claiming that the ISP did not have the authority to assume he had resigned.

But again, the court sided with ISP, based on Indiana Code § 10-11-2-12(d) and Regulation 6, which “required Arp to resign or separate employment before assuming full-time elected office as the Lawrence County Prosecutor.”

“Arp was made aware that he needed to resign prior to December 31, 2018, and that his LTD (long-term disability) benefits would terminate upon assuming his duties as an elected prosecutor,” Altice wrote in the appellate court’s opinion. “Albeit faced with a difficult decision, Arp could have chosen to forego the full-time elected position and continue receiving his LTD benefits. He chose, however, to proceed, knowing the repercussions of assuming office.”