LegalNewsLine Logo  
Monday, March 15 2010     Subscribe in NewsGator Online
News | Contact LegalNewsline | About Us | Advertise | RSS
Enter search keyword
 
NEWSLETTER
Receive our FREE weekly newsletter
click here
LNL MOST POPULAR ARTICLES
+ Federal jury finds fraud on part of asbestos lawyers
+ Murnane: Illinois med-mal caps bill likely to die
+ W.Va. SC won't rehear controversial $50M case
+ Brief argues against liability expansion in asbestos suits
+ Brown says his Medi-Cal fraud division has recouped $209 million
LNL HOT TOPICS
+ Asbestos
+ Bankruptcy
+ Big Pharma
+ Class Action
+ Dickie Scruggs
+ Financial Crisis
+ Gasoline Prices
+ Global Warming
+ Hurricane Katrina
+ Lead Paint
+ Personal Injury
+ Sub-Prime Mortgages
Hurricane Katrina 
 
Katrina firm hit with sexual harassment suit
JACKSON, Miss. - A paralegal is alleging that her time at Nutt and McAlister was more like Spring Break and that she was fired for complaining that the firm's attorneys were violating a judge's injunction in a Hurricane Katrina-related case.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court, Maria Brown says attorneys at the firm, part of the Katrina Litigation Group (formerly the Scruggs Katrina Group), engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior like online masturbation and sexual favors that were paid for performed in a broom closet.

"The overall environment was saturated with sex..." says the complaint, filed by Jackson attorney Louis Watson.

Nutt and McAlister is one of the remaining members of the Katrina Litigation Group, which changed its name after the Scruggs Law Firm stopped handling Katrina claims. It did so because members Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, son Zack Scruggs and Sidney Backstrom were indicted by a federal grand jury.

They are three of five who are alleged to have attempted to bribe a state judge in a $26.5 million attorneys fees dispute. The others are attorney Timothy Balducci and business partner and former state Auditor Steven Patterson. Balducci has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with federal prosecutors.

Now it is another Katrina firm that has a lawsuit on its hands. Brown says she was fired a month after reporting sexual harassment and four months after informing what she saw as a violation of a federal judge's order to Mary McAlister.

Brown also claims she is owed $80,000 by the firm for off-the-clock work she performed on Katrina cases.

The complaint specifically alleges:

-William Jones, a member of the firm's management, continually rubbed Brown's hand and made her feel uncomfortable;

-Another employee, Ernie Coward, showed her a picture of his genitalia and asked for one of her's;

-McAlister and Derek Wyatt promised Brown they would pay off her home if she gave up her personal time to work on Katrina cases. Instead, they gave her only $5,000 of the $85,000 promised;

-The firm electronically copied and saved documents from E.A. Renfroe, a claims-handling company working with State Farm Insurance Cos., in violation of U.S. District Judge William Acker's order to give them back to Renfroe's attorneys (Dickie Scruggs has been charged with criminal contempt for allegedly turning the documents over to Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, who had a class action case against State Farm and four other insurance companies).

Brown says she was told by McAlister that because the documents were saved on the firm's local Internet server, they were part of public domain and not subject to the injunction;

-She reported the situation with the documents in March and the sexual harassment in June before being laid off in July because of "reorganization."

The 11-count complaint seeks punitive and compensatory damages, as well as reinstatement or front pay, back pay and lost benefits.

Filed Under: Hot Topics


COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE:

No comments have been posted in the last 15 days!

SEND US YOUR COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE:


* - Required fields

Subject: *
Message: *
Contact Name: *
Contact URL:
Contact Email: *
This Is CAPTCHA Image
Write the characters in the image above: 

E-mail this article to a friend | Printer friendly format

MORE NEWS HEADLINES:
+ Hood says State Farm settlement should stay sealed - 5/11  
+ State Farm, Allstate dismissed from Louisiana Katrina case - 2/19  
+ Gulfport mayor indicted over Katrina claims - 1/28  
+ AG Hood never had authority to bring Katrina suit, judge rules - 1/12  
+ Judges picked for Katrina cases - 10/9  
+ Katrina cases like nothing veteran attorney's ever seen before - 9/23  
+ State Farm's case against Hood over - 2/7  
+ Katrina group fed up with State Farm's attorneys - 2/6  
+ Hood, Scruggs will have to talk - 1/24  
+ Answers wanted from Rigsby sisters - 1/3  


IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Most of the judges on the New Mexico Court of Appeals get a failing grade when it comes to the "expansion of liability," according to a judicial evaluation report.
Read more...


+ 'Land of Enchantment' in 'Hellhole': Tort reform group calls New Mexico's appeals court 'pro-liability' - 3/2
+ Group puts the brakes on Honda class action settlement - 2/23
+ AG Brown, feds sitting out whisteblower suit against pipemaker - 2/18
+ Calif. AG hopeful vows to target public employee pension increases - 2/12
+ Nebraska AG Bruning's political star rising - 2/5
BROWSE BY STATE:
 
BROWSE BY AG:
 
BROWSE BY DATE:
 
LATEST LNL BLOG ENTRIES:
+ Abbott: Beware Dietary Supplement Scams and 'Miracle' Health Claims
+ Abbott's signs of a scam
+ AG McCollum on convicts in the mortgage industry
NEWS WIDGET:
Attention bloggers:
Add Record Headlines to your site!


fast + free- click here

NEWS | CONTACT LEGALNEWSLINE | ABOUT US | ADVERTISE | RSS © 2008 LegalNewsLine.com. All Rights Reserved.