first on decorahnews.com: The legal fight between Decorah Genealogy Association and a member of the Winneshiek County Historical Society has ended

A Decorah man will not have to pay money to the Decorah Genealogy Association, thanks to a judge's ruling in a lawsuit brought by the Decorah Genealogy Association.

The legal battle between the Decorah Genealogy Association and the Winneshiek County Historical Society dates back to November of 2016, when members of the Winneshiek County Historical Society allegedly entered the office the two groups shared in the Decorah Library after the office had closed and allegedly removed 285 microfilms and ten bound microfilm indexes, taking them to a locked storage space owned by the WCHS.

When attempts to get the materials returned failed, the Genealogy Association filed a lawsuit in Winneshiek County District Court against the Winneshiek County Historical Society.  Under the agreement eventually reached in the lawsuit, WCHS paid all court costs and gave DGA a check for $1,000 as payment for DGA's loss of use of the records during the time the lawsuit was filed.

But DGA also sued a member of WCHS, Roger Bergan, asking for a $15,500 summary judgement against him for losses because the microfilms were taken.  Now a judge has dismissed that second lawsuit, ruling "the court finds no evidence...that DGA suffered any monetary loss as a result of not having the microfilm in its possession."  The judge also rejected DGA's request that Bergan pay their legal costs.