The 1994 lawsuit against * (Miers defended) was a PERSONAL INJURY lawsuit!

[highplainsdem]

See

http://www.texarkanagazette.com/articles/2005/10/09/local_news/news/news03.txt

That's an article from the Texarkana Gazette quoting a local lawyer, a liberal Democrat, Paul Hoover, who "knows Miers from having worked with her at the Dallas firm of Locke, Pernell, Boren, Laney & Neely, the predecessor to the current firm Locke, Liddell, Sapp." Hoover thinks that "of all the people that the president could have appointed in his inner circle, she’s the best choice."

But that wasn't what caught my attention in the article. It was this one-sentence paragraph:

Miers has only one case where she is the named lawyer in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals—a personal injury lawsuit against Bush that Miers won.


This is some of the background I've been looking for since reading a column of Howard Fineman's yesterday, which I posted about here, at

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5014044

Fineman had alluded to a lawsuit that had something to do with a fishing club Bush belonged to (actually, a private lakefront community). Fineman refers to the club having "run-ins with locals and employees," though other news stories I found on this later just mentioned a lawsuit filed by a former caretaker, J.W. Moseley, whose 1994 suit charged that the club had fired him unjustly out of "spite and ill will." Bush fought Moseley's lawsuit against him for two years and finally won, and shortly after the case against him was dismissed, the other homeowners on the lake reached confidential settlements with Moseley.

As I said in the second message I posted there, there had to be more to that case than what most in the media were reporting -- that Bush had been so very grateful to Miers for defending him because it supposedly avoided any publicity about the homes in that community getting a special tax break which the wealthy homeowners didn't need. Concerns about a tax break that had saved Bush about $500 a year (and had been the result of work done by an attorney who lived in that community, not of anything Bush did) just didn't strike me as important enough that Bush would have fought the case for two years, and then would have been so very grateful to Miers for getting rid of this problem for him.

But a personal injury case might be a very different matter. Especially since the only details I've found so far would have made a wrongful termination lawsuit more likely, so Moseley's decision to file a personal injury lawsuit suggests there's much more to it than the caretaker simply being fired unjustly. I have to wonder, too, since Bush fought this while the other homeowners (or club members) settled, if the charges against Bush were more serious, more damaging.

I think Fineman knew this was about more than taxes, or he wouldn't have mentioned it the way he did, as one of the "Matters" (capitalized) that Bush had to worry about then, along with his Guard record and drunk-driving record. He didn't offer any details, but he emphasized run-ins with employees and locals, not tax breaks.

I'd love to have more details on this...

[elehhhhna]

1. here's some, just google J.W. Moseley Bush

For most of the members, men of established wealth and power, the suit was little more than a nuisance. But for Bush, it carried the potential for public embarrassment that no rising political star needs, especially because there was talk that cabins at the camp, known as the Rainbo Club, had been used to gain questionable tax advantages.

Bush turned to Miers, a relative newcomer to his political team. Although lawyers for the other defendants opted for confidential settlements with Moseley, Miers elected to fight. She not only got the complaint against Bush dismissed, she handled it so deftly that there was no awkward publicity. "It took awhile to get it disposed of, but it did go away. She did a crackerjack job," said Jim Francis, a Dallas lawyer who originally brought Miers on board as general counsel for the gubernatorial campaign. A grateful Gov. Bush made Miers his personal attorney — and a de facto member of his inner circle. It would transform Miers' life. "She took the pill. She said: 'I'm yours,' " said a longtime GOP strategist in Texas who has worked with Bush and Miers, speaking on condition of anonymity.

For more on the "questionable tax advantages" surrounding the Rainbo Club, see this Buzzflash News Alert:

Bush’s Rainbo Club Estate Manipulated Recreational Tax Exemption For Tax Break. When Rainbo Club no longer qualified for an agricultural exemption, one of the club’s members, who was also a lawyer, came across another tax break. In 1992, Rainbo Club filed for recreational status. The club rewrote their deed to say, “The restricted land shall be used only and solely for recreational, park or scenic use, for individual or group sporting or recreational activities as defined in the statutes.” In 1994, the 1,187 acres of Rainbo Club was valued at $652,850, but due to the recreational exemption, the club only paid taxes on $258,400, paying $6,174 in taxes instead of $13,534. This exemption is rare in Central Texas. The former chairman of the Henderson County Appraisal District board said, “I think they are within the law, but I think it is a lousy law.”

Bush Gave His Athens Property A Tax Break. “When Gov. George W. Bush goes fishing at his lakeside retreat , he can be sure the biggest bite won't come from the tax man. Along with cutting property taxes for Texans, Bush has managed to reduce his tax bill by half on the rustic hideaway. The Republican presidential candidate is among homeowners who have qualified for reduced taxes on private lake property in the piney woods of East Texas.”

(Thanks to Kirk Stark (UCLA) & Reed Shuldiner (Penn), who raised the issue
(kos)

[highplainsdem]

3. Thanks! That's some of the info I already had, though, about the tax

break. (Info I had as of yesterday, after asking about it in the other DU topic I mentioned, where a later message I posted has some links to pages with info about this.)

Again, I don't believe Bush was most worried about the tax break getting publicity. The tax break doesn't explain why Bush had Miers fight this for two years, until the case was finally dismissed. I think the details in the charges against Bush, what Moseley had to say about him, are what's most important here. Especially now that I know this was a personal injury case rather than a wrongful termination case.

Anyway, the details I'm most anxious to learn are the ones that would explain exactly why Moseley's lawsuit was for personal injury rather than simply for wrongful termination.

[kestrel91316]

5. Since this case was tried in a public court of law, there should be a

public record of the court transcript and exhibits available. Some enterprising DUer could go down to the courthouse and do some snooping...............

[highplainsdem]

6. I checked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals website already,

did a search using Moseley's name, but couldn't find the case listed.

[ClintonTyree]

2. DAMN those trial Lawyers!

They're the reason the court system is so backed up with those frivolous law suits! :eyes: Hypocrisy, thy name is Republican.

[cassiepriam]

4. She has had a busy career if it has been spent getting * out of trouble,

Maybe she is qualified for high court.

[benburch]

7. Interesting!

:kick: