Maggio-case suit accuses 3 of campaign-cash plot

CONWAY -- Attorneys for the family of nursing-home patient Martha Bull -- whose death led to a negligence lawsuit at the center of a federal investigation of campaign contributions to ousted Judge Michael Maggio -- accused Maggio, business owner Michael Morton and former state Sen. Gilbert Baker in a new lawsuit filed Tuesday of conspiring to funnel the donations to Maggio.

The lawsuit contends that Maggio solicited the Morton contributions, through Baker, in an effort to collect money from the nursing-home industry and to obtain Morton's financial backing in Maggio's campaign for the Arkansas Court of Appeals. In turn, the lawsuit argues, "Morton made the campaign contributions to the PACs with the intent that Defendant Maggio would favorably rule, or continue to favorably rule, in Defendant Morton's favor in the Bull case."

Morton, Baker and Maggio did not return phone or email messages seeking comment Tuesday, nor did Maggio's attorney, Lauren Hamilton. Hamilton has previously said Maggio did not receive any contributions in exchange for rulings in the Bull trial.

Baker's lawyer, former U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins, said in an email Tuesday that he would not have any comment that evening.

Morton has previously denied any wrongdoing. Attorney John Everett, who has previously represented Morton, declined comment and said Tuesday that he did not know whether he would be representing Morton in this case. Other attorneys who have represented Morton in the past did not return requests for comment.

The lawsuit, filed in Faulkner County Circuit Court on behalf of Bull's family, contends that purported breaches of Maggio's judicial duties included "allowing political, financial and other personal interests to influence his judgment" while he presided over the Bull family's negligence lawsuit in 2013.

Baker, a Conway Republican, and Morton were "co-conspirators" in Maggio's alleged breach, the lawsuit said.

Attorneys Thomas Buchanan and R. Brannon Sloan Jr. represent the family of Bull, a 76-year-old Perryville woman who died in April 2008 at the Morton-owned Greenbrier Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

Tuesday's lawsuit resulted from the earlier negligence suit, filed by two of Bull's daughters, Rosey Perkins and Rhonda Coppak, and from the subsequent May 2013 Circuit Court trial over which Maggio had presided in Conway. That trial ended May 16, 2013, with a jury's unanimous decision that the home should have to pay $5.2 million in damages.

On July 8, 2013, Maggio held a hearing on a defense plea to reduce the judgment in the Bull lawsuit.

That same day, Morton signed a series of checks donating $24,000 to eight political action committees, seven of which later gave money almost exclusively to Maggio's campaign for the Arkansas Court of Appeals. Morton had the donations sent to Baker's home, where they arrived July 9, 2013, according to past testimony by Morton and the lawsuit.

On July 10, Maggio cut the jury's judgment to $1 million.

The FBI has confirmed an investigation of the contributions but has declined to comment on specifics, as has the U.S. attorney's office in Little Rock. One or more federal grand jury subpoenas have been issued.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday contended that Maggio was "texting or otherwise communicating with Defendant Baker about his [Maggio's judicial campaign] and other matters while sitting on the bench during the Bull trial and post-trial proceedings." The complaint did not detail the content of any such communication.

Among other things, the complaint said Maggio also solicited contributions for his campaign from Morton, a Fort Smith businessman who owns dozens of nursing homes, before the 180-day period during which state law allows campaign contributions in judicial races.

The lawsuit referred to Morton's sworn testimony earlier this year before the Arkansas Ethics Commission. In that testimony, Morton said Baker solicited Morton's support for Maggio in May 2013 when the two "ran into" each other at Brave New Restaurant in Little Rock. Linda Leigh Flanagin, the sole employee of Baker's political-consulting company, LRM Consulting Inc., was with Baker, Morton said.

Baker asked Morton to make donation checks out to a series of political action committees, the lawsuit said. Morton in turn asked Baker to fax him the PACs' names. Morton then had the checks written to each PAC for the exact amounts suggested by Baker, the lawsuit said.

"This was the first election in which Defendant Morton contributed to a judicial campaign through PACs instead of just donating directly to the candidate," the complaint said. "When asked about the discrepancy, Defendant Morton has stated that the people running Defendant Maggio's campaign 'wanted [him] to put them in PACs. [He] didn't know why, and [he] didn't ask.'"

Some of the officers listed on the PACs have said they knew nothing of their names being there and asked for their removal.

The lawsuit said Baker directed where the PAC money was to go when the PACs began making contributions.

"These PACs were formed for the purpose of funneling money into Defendant Maggio's campaign," it added.

Maggio withdrew from the appeals-court race on March 6, after the Blue Hog Report blog linked him to unrelated, anonymous postings he had made online about women, sex, bestiality, race, divorce and a legally confidential adoption case involving actress Charlize Theron.

The Arkansas Supreme Court ordered him removed from office on Sept. 11, months after it had stripped him of all cases and after the allegations in the Bull case surfaced.

The case was assigned Tuesday to the 5th Division of the 20th Judicial Circuit, meaning it goes to Judge Amy Brazil. After she leaves office at year's end, though, the case will go to Judge H.G. Foster, who will be moving to that division.

The lawsuit contended that:

• Maggio solicited and accepted the campaign money from Morton "as compensation or consideration for giving a decision, an opinion or recommendation, voting, or exercising discretion in favor of" Morton's Greenbrier nursing home.

• Maggio solicited and accepted that money also in exchange for favoring "tort reform and limitations on damage awards in civil suits" -- in other words, for consideration in legislation that could restrict damages in other lawsuits, not just the Bull one.

• Baker, while working as a top administrator at the University of Central Arkansas, asked Morton to make a donation to the UCA Foundation. Morton made an anonymous $100,000 donation to the foundation in a check dated July 8, 2013, and also sent it to Baker, who delivered it to the foundation, as has been reported previously. "Prior to this donation, Defendant Morton had never made a donation to UCA," the complaint said. The foundation later returned Morton's money.

• The Bull family's civil rights were violated. All three defendants should be held liable for punitive and compensatory damages, the suit said.

• The lawsuit also names five John Does as defendants. An accompanying affidavit signed by Buchanan said they are individuals, corporations, companies or other entities that may be involved in the case. But Buchanan wrote that he had not been able to identify them. If their identifies are discovered, he said, he will amend the complaint to include their true names.

Buchanan said in a brief interview Tuesday that all three defendants can be held responsible for damages against one another if a jury finds that the three have conspired. In other words, a defendant could potentially have to pay a damage judgment against himself, as well as one against his co-defendants in such a case.

A section on 11/19/2014

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