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Detroit union leader joins suit against mayor, ex-chief of staff
Wed, May 14, 2008
Source: Paul Egan / The Detroit News
The head of a union representing city of Detroit public utility employees is the new lead plaintiff in a lawsuit brought by a local attorney against Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty.
Lawyer Corbett Edge O’Meara, a candidate for Wayne Circuit Court, on Tuesday amended a lawsuit he filed last month to add John Riehl, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 207, as a plaintiff. The amended lawsuit also adds as plaintiffs Detroit activist Agnes Hitchcock and several other city residents.
The lawsuit alleges Kilpatrick and Beatty defrauded city taxpayers by paying public funds to protect their private interests when the city settled police whistle-blower lawsuits for $8.4 million in 2007. The settlement included a secret deal that provided for embarrassing and potentially incriminating text messages exchanged between Kilpatrick and Beatty to be kept under wraps.
James C. Thomas, a Detroit lawyer representing Kilpatrick, questioned whether O’Meara brought the suit to gain publicity for his campaign for judge.
Thomas said the concept of individual taxpayers suing a mayor to pay personal damages is “ludicrous.”
Both Thomas and Mayer Morganroth, who represents Beatty, have questioned whether O’Meara and the other plaintiffs have legal standing to bring the lawsuit.
The case is assigned to Wayne Circuit Judge Robert J. Colombo Jr.
Lawyer Sues Mayor for Settlement Cash
Fri, Apr 11, 2008
A Detroit attorney is suing Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty “on behalf of all Detroit taxpayers” in an attempt to recover the nearly $9 million spent to settle the police whistleblower case.
From Detroit attorney Corbett Edge O’Meara…
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty were sued today in Wayne County Circuit Court to recover the money that the pair duped the City Council into paying Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope as “hush money” to keep the pair and their lawyers quiet about Kilpatrick and Beatty’s perjury and adultery. The suit was filed by Detroit attorney Corbett Edge O’Meara, acting on behalf of all of Detroit’s taxpayers.
“Kilpatrick and Beatty defrauded the city when they didn’t reveal that the money was being paid for their personal benefit: to keep Brown and Nelthrope quiet”, O’Meara said. “What they did is no different than a public official tricking the treasury into writing a check to a contractor who built a school for the city and a house for the elected official. When they didn’t reveal the private benefit, Kilpatrick and Beatty defrauded the city and they owe that money back.”
O’Meara sued under a statute that allows any taxpayer to sue on behalf of a government whose money has been stolen. Prior to filing suit, O’Meara demanded that Kilpatrick file a lawsuit against himself to recover the money he defrauded the city of.
“The law requires that I demand that the person who should sue on behalf of the city sue to recover the money before I file suit,” said O’Meara. “Even though it is his duty, I don’t think Kilpatrick is going to sue himself and his ex-girlfriend.”
O’Meara also filed a motion to freeze all of Kilpatrick’s assets, including The Detroit Justice Fund. Kilpatrick owes the city millions of dollars. The City will never get that money back if he squanders every penny he has on ridiculously expensive lawyers.
O’Meara has pledged that every penny he gets from the case will be paid to the taxpayers of the City of Detroit. “I love this City, and hate to see it tricked into paying blackmail for a deceitful official”, O’Meara said.
The case has been assigned to Judge Wendy M. Baxter. A hearing on O’Meara’s Motion to freeze the Detroit Justice Fund and all other assets of Defendants is scheduled for April 18.