A former top health official who was fired after helping to lead the state's initial COVID-19 response wants a judge to force Gov. Phil Murphy to give a deposition related to a whistleblower lawsuit.
In a motion filed Tuesday afternoon, Chris Eibeler, the attorney for former Department of Health Assistant Commissioner Chris Neuwirth, called for a judge to compel the deposition of Murphy in the case, initially filed two years ago.
It goes on to call for the deposition — sworn testimony to lawyers before a trial — to take place next month “at a mutually convenient location for all parties beginning 10:00 a.m.”
The Attorney General's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on behalf of the governor.
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A deposition by a sitting governor is a rarity, but in court papers Eibeler argues that interviewing Murphy "is clearly reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence" concerning Neuwirth's firing.
Neuwirth’s lawsuit against the Murphy administration has plodded along for two years with no clear answers about his firing in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic — or the origins of what his lawyers call a “secret” investigation opened afterward by the Attorney General’s Office.
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