Illinois
Chicago law firm wins new trial for $103M jury award
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday threw out a $103 million jury verdict to businessman Lavon Evans Jr. who claimed a Chicago law firm defrauded him.
The Supreme Court ordered a new trial on the issue of damages in the lawsuit that Evans filed in Jones County in 2008.
Evans argued the Baker & McKenzie firm defrauded his oil and gas business. The Supreme Court upheld the jury’s verdict that Baker & McKenzie did not play fair with Evans.
But the Supreme Court also found that faulty instructions confused the jury about the legal issues.
Evans alleged that a business associate and a Baker & McKenzie attorney, Joel Held, used Evans’ assets to obtain millions of dollars in loans without his knowledge.
The law firm argued it communicated with Evans about the loans. It said Evans raised no objection and raised no concerns about the loans, for which Evans’ oil rigs were collateral.
The Supreme Court said there were also problems with the calculation of the monetary damages the jury awarded Evans.
“The problem we find with Evans’s assessment, based upon the record evidence before us, is that we are unable to determine exactly what assets and/or liabilities are material to the harm caused by the Baker defendants,” Justice Randy Pierce said the court decision.
“Our response to this conundrum is this: It should not happen again on remand,” Pierce said.
Held represented one of Evans’ companies and manipulated documents and disclosed confidential information to benefit Reed Cagle, Evans’ partner in Laredo Energy Holdings LLC, the lawsuit argued, among other things.
What Evans didn’t know, according to the suit, was that Cagle had no real assets to offer the joint business and, despite an agreement that disallowed it, Cagle was using Evans’ assets, with Held’s help, to obtain millions of dollars in loans.
Evans’ attorneys argued the evidence was undisputed that Cagle and Held hid what they were doing from Evans. They said Evans knew nothing about the actions of Cagle and Held to mortgage Evans’ rigs and other property. They said Evans learned about the actions after the fact.
“Baker & McKenzie drafted the loan documents without authorization,” an Evans’ attorney said. “Baker misrepresented the ownership of the rig. They lied to my client and they lied to the lender.”
Evans owned Evans Operating Mississippi and E&D Mississippi drilling company in Laurel, Miss.
He formed Laredo Energy Holdings LLC with Cagle in 2006 after the two had worked together for years drilling and operating oil and natural gas wells, the lawsuit said. The lawsuit claimed Cagle introduced Evans to Held to discuss joint ventures and Held eventually became the lawyer for Laredo Energy Holdings.
Tennessee
Case of 2 in death of nurse bound over to grand jury
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The case of two men accused of shooting and killing a Memphis nurse has been ordered sent to a grand jury for consideration.
General Sessions Criminal Court Judge Loyce Lambert-Ryan concluded Thursday that there’s enough evidence to continue the case against 23-year-old Mario Patterson and 19-year-old Dondre Johnson. Patterson and Johnson are charged with first-degree murder in the death of 27-year-old David Santucci as he left a party in Memphis on Aug. 12.
The judge quickly dispatched the defendants to the grand jury’s hands, saying “There’s no doubt about what they were out there trying to do. There is no doubt those two people (Patterson and Johnson) were operating in concert with each ... picking victims based on their vulnerabilities.”
Santucci’s mother, Darlin Fugit, told The Commercial Appeal she forgives Patterson and Johnson.
At a hearing Thursday, Fugit sat with Sharae Robertson, a woman who ran to Santucci’s aid, tried to help him and held his hand until an ambulance arrived. She said he had a bullet in the lower part of his left chest.
“I think he was in a state of shock. His eyes were wide open.” He died minutes later.
Fugit said her family is part of a Christian faith community called The Orchard.
“It was not really a feeling (of forgiveness). It’s a peace with understanding. I knew my son was immediately with Jesus Christ, in a better place and that eventually I’ll be there with him,” Fugit said.
Santucci’s brother, Aaron, 31, said the shooting set off a chain reaction, like “a ripple effect” that has touched not only the local community but people nationally and internationally who have taken part in acts of random kindness in David’s memory.
“I know God had a purpose,” his brother said.
Massachusetts
Worcester church pastor faces suit alleging sex abuse
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — A Holden woman who said she was sexually abused by the pastor of a Greek Orthodox church in Worcester has filed a lawsuit against the priest and several other church officials.
The Holden woman’s suit filed in Worcester Superior Court seeking a minimum of $40,000 in damages from the ex-pastor of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral, the Rev. Charles Abdelahad, as well as some of his superiors.
The Telegram & Gazette reports that the suit said that the defendants should have known about the abuse and should have reported it to authorities.
Abdelahad was sentenced to serve 90 days of a two-year jail term after being convicted in May 2012 of abusing the woman during counseling sessions at the church.
Attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.
California
Man arrested in Manhattan Beach sex sting sues
MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. (AP) — A man arrested in a Manhattan Beach sex sting has sued the city claiming police unfairly targeted him and violated his privacy when they publicized his name and released his photo.
The Los Angeles Times reports that 22-year-old Charles Couch of Hawthorne filed the lawsuit Friday in a Los Angeles federal court against the city, its police chief and 16 officers. He alleges that he was subject to false arrest, unlawful search and seizure, and multiple civil rights violations.
Gay rights groups criticized the city and news outlets last year for publishing the names, ages and photos of 18 men who were arrested.
The March 2012 operation involved a beach bathroom police said was known as a meeting place for men seeking sex.
Couch said he was working as a caregiver for a mentally disabled child and was waiting outside the bathroom when the child unwittingly walked into the sting. The child ran out of the bathroom and told Couch that a man — an undercover officer — was looking at him through a hole from the next stall. Couch said he turned to leave with the child when the officer followed him and asked why they were leaving so quickly.
The suit then alleges that Couch was surrounded by five other plain-clothed officers. Worried about the child’s safety, Couch said he grabbed him, but was “tackled, choked and handcuffed” by the officers who took him to jail where he was interrogated for several hours.
The child’s parents eventually were called and they vouched for Couch and explained their child’s condition. Couch was later released with a certificate stating there was insufficient evidence against him.
Couch said in the suit that police asked his permission to retrieve the child’s backpack from his car. He granted it, but the bag was completed ransacked without a warrant and his personal laptop was also seized. He claims it wasn’t returned until months later.
City officials declined to comment. Couch is demanding $5 million in damages for mental distress, aggravation and loss of work.
Louisiana
Judge’s son pleads not guilty to theft of drugs
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Two former East Baton Rouge Parish Clerk of Court Office employees — one the son of a state judge — pleaded not guilty along with four others Thursday to charges stemming from the alleged theft of 48 pounds of cocaine and five guns from the clerk’s evidence vault last year.
First Assistant District Attorney Prem Burns told The Advocate after Thursday’s arraignments that attorneys for several of the indicted defendants have approached her about possible plea bargains.
Frank Holthaus, who represents William Bates Colvin, son of state District Court Judge Kay Bates, said Colvin intends to take responsibility for his actions.
The next court date for Colvin and his co-defendants is Jan. 27.
