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MADISON COUNTY, N.Y. -- The State Supreme Court has denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by two Oneida Nation employees against the Madison County Attorney for improper billing practices and conflict of interest.

The suit alleges County Attorney John Campanie received $800,000 during a period of 13 years while doing work for the firm Nixon Peabody.

Attorneys for the employees, also Madison County residents, say Campanie helped pick the firm to represent the county in disputes against the Oneidas.

"We're particularly gratified that the court cited a major Court of Appeals precedent on the point, which is the central point, that a county attorney cannot obtain additional compensation in addition to his or her salary if they're doing work for the county," said George Carpinello, a partner with the law firm Boies, Schiller and Flexner LLP.

Madison County says the payment arrangement has been a part of public record on Campanie's ethics disclosure forms since it began. It said in a statement: "The lawsuit takes issue with legal fees paid to the...private law offices for work done in support of the repeatedly successful land claim litigation defense against the OIN. The complaint, brought as a 'taxpayer action' by two OIN employees, could not have been initiated by the OIN in its own right because it is neither a citizen nor a taxpaying entity."