As PACs emerged, judge cut award

CONWAY - On July 8, Circuit Judge Michael Maggio heard a Greenbrier nursing home’s plea that he grant a new trial or reduce a $5.2 million judgment against it. The same day, six political action committees began accepting contributions from that nursing home’s owner and the businesses he owns, and later those PACs donated money almost exclusively to Maggio’s campaign for the state Court of Appeals.

On July 11, Maggio signed an order reducing the judgment amount against Greenbrier Nursing and Rehabilitation Center to $1 million in the April7, 2008, death of Martha Bull, who had been a patient less than two weeks when she died.

On Thursday, two of the Perryville woman’s daughters - Rosey Perkins of Houston and Rhonda Coppak of Bigelow - filed a complaint asking that the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission investigate Maggio’s actions.

Maggio of Conway withdrew from the race for the Arkansas Court of Appeals last week after news reports appeared about online postings he had made about a wide range of topics, including an actress’s adoption case, women, incest and bestiality.

Maggio did not return a phone message or email Thursday seeking comment. But Traci LaCerra, a North Little Rock attorney, issued this emailed comment: “Any proceedings before the Judicial Discipline & Disability Commission are confidential. … Should a complaint be filed related to the story [about the nursing-home issue] that you have referenced, Judge Maggio will respond accordingly.”

Michael Morton, the nursing-home owner linked to all of the PACs, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Thursday that he had not made the donations with the thought that they would lead Maggio to reduce the judgment. Morton called the timing “coincidental” but acknowledged a problem with the appearance of the transactions.

“I have broken no law,” said Morton of Fort Smith. “If I had done that, that would be against the law. I would never do it. I was asked by people that were handling Judge Maggio’s race if I would support him for appeals court judge, and I said yes … because I believe Arkansas needs a more conservative bench.”

Morton said he was asked for his support “either right before or right after” or during the trial in the lawsuit that led to the big jury judgment in Maggio’s Faulkner County courtroom in May 2013. But Morton said he wasn’t sure if the request came at the trial time or in July, when the follow-up actions led to the reduction of the award in the case.

“There is no way that I would have ever tried to influence” the decision with campaign contributions, Morton said. “It’s unfortunate he was hearing a case of mine. Maybe they ought to make a law saying a judge hearing a case can’t start a campaign or can’t raise money. I don’t know.”

Asked about the appearance of the actions, Morton said, “Looking back at it now, with all the uproar about it, obviously the appearance is absolutely horrible,” but he didn’t believe it was illegal. “If you want to know the truth, it was coincidental,” Morton said.

Morton said he didn’t think Maggio’s campaign viewed his support as something that could influence the judge’s decision, either. Morton said he has never met Maggio.

Morton said he contributes to other judicial candidates, too. Asked why his donations to Maggio weren’t made directly from him or his businesses, as he has done with other judicial candidates, Morton said: The people who were running his campaign “wanted [me] to put them in PACs. I don’t know why, and I didn’t ask.”

Not one of the PACs had filed paperwork to register with the secretary of state’s office until July 31, weeks after they began accepting money, secretary of state records show.

Under the Arkansas Code of Judicial Conduct, Maggio’s campaign committee was not supposed to solicit or accept contributions earlier than 180 days before an election, in this case May 20 of this year. None of the groups’ records reflect any donations to Maggio before December.

On why he was giving money to the PACs before they even had been registered with the state, Morton said, “I was sending it to the people who were working for Maggio.” Then, he said, he meant that he was sending the money “to the people that were creating the PACs.”

“I’m going to pull my checks,” Morton added. “I need to find out who I made the damn things out to.”

Morton said he did not know Chris Stewart, the Little Rock lawyer who is listed as the “resident agent/officer” on each of the PACs, but said he probably has met Stewart at some point.

Stewart did not return a phone message seeking comment Thursday.

Morton said he doubted that the Maggio campaign would have expected his PAC donations alone to be enough for the judge “to mount a very substantial campaign.”

Just one other candidate - Andrea Lea, who is running for state auditor - had received any money from any of those six PACS as of Dec. 31, according to the committees’ quarterly reports. Lea got just one donation, for $500, in September 2013 from the Taxpayers for Change PAC.

A seventh committee, the D. Bruce Hawkins 2 PAC, formed on Aug. 6, also got money from one of Morton’s businesses and later donated to Maggio’s campaign. But unlike the other groups, the committee also has given money to at least four other candidates, including Lea. Stewart is also the resident agent/officer on that PAC.

The lawsuit over Bull’s death had accused the defendants, which originally also included another company that Morton owns, of negligence.

In his decision lowering the judgment, Maggio wrote, “The Court does not find any misconduct that warrants the granting of a new trial. However, the Court does find that the jury award of $5.2 million is so great that it shocks the conscience of the court. The Court also finds that the evidence, testimony, and argument by Plaintiff’s counsel inflamed the jury’s passion and prejudice resulting in an award that is punitive in nature, despite the Court’s previous ruling that punitive damages would not be allowed in this case.”

Little Rock lawyer Thomas Buchanan, who represents Bull’s daughters as co-administrators of their mother’s estate, said Thursday that he was “mystified” at the time of Maggio’s ruling because it was “virtually unprecedented” for a judge to lower a jury’s judgment that much.

Buchanan disputed Maggio’s explanation in his decision, saying Maggio “controlled the [admissibility of] the testimony.”

“He could have ruled that certain things were not admissible throughout the trial. … So how is that a basis” for the reduction?

Bull went to the nursing home to recover from a stroke and had hoped to return home. She had a history of abdominal abscess, and the facility knew that and was supposed to monitor it. She ended up dying in her bed a day after she first began suffering abdominal pain, Buchanan said.

She was never taken to a doctor or an emergency room, he said.

The PACs that were registered July 31 and that gave money to Maggio, according to reports filed with the secretary of state, are:

Conservative Persons In PAC. Morton gave the PAC $3,000 on July 8. As of Dec. 31, no one else had given to this PAC. On Dec. 31, the committee gave Maggio’s campaign $500. According to Maggio’s campaign finance report, his campaign got another $1,000 from the PAC on Jan. 28. As of Dec. 31, the latest date covered in PAC reports already filed, no other candidate got money from this PAC.

Thomas Group In PAC. Fort Smith-based MSM Properties Inc., which Morton owns, gave $3,000 on July 8 to this PAC. As of Dec. 31, this PAC had received no other contributions and had given one donation - $2,000 - to Maggio on Dec. 15. Maggio’s campaign finance report, though, shows that on Jan. 28, the PAC gave him $250.

Citizens for Information Technology PAC. Morton-owned Briarwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center Inc. gave $3,000 on July 8 to the PAC. According to Maggio’s campaign finance report, this PAC gave the campaign $1,450 on Jan. 28. The center is in Little Rock but has a Fort Smith address, as do other Morton facilities giving to these PACs.

Judicial Reform PAC. Morton-owned Quapaw Care & Rehabilitation Center LLC in Hot Springs gave $3,000 to the PAC on July 8. On Dec. 31, the PAC gave $500 to Maggio. No other donations to the PAC or to other candidates were listed as of Dec. 31. On Jan. 28, Maggio’s campaign got $1,000 more from this PAC, the campaign finance report shows.

Taxpayers for Change PAC. Morton-owned Nursing & Rehabilitation Center at Good Shepherd LLC in Little Rock gave the PAC $3,000 on July 8. On Jan. 28, Maggio’s report indicates that the PAC gave him $1,000. Auditor-candidate Lea got $500 from this PAC on Sept. 25, 2013.

Go Good Government PAC. Morton-owned Sherwood Nursing & Rehabilitation Center gave the PAC $3,000 on July 8. The PAC gave Maggio’s campaign $2,000 on Dec. 15. Maggio’s campaign finance report shows that the PAC also gave him $250 on Jan. 28.

Also, the Hawkins PAC that was registered Aug. 6 and that helped more candidates shows that Central Arkansas Nursing Centers Inc. gave it a $3,000 donation on July 8. The PAC also got money from a beverage association in September. On Dec. 5, this PAC gave Maggio $2,000. And on Jan. 28, it gave him $1,000. The Fort Smith company was originally a defendant in the lawsuit but was dismissed from it, Buchanan said.