2 in nursing home suit want case to go to trial

CONWAY -- Attorneys for two daughters of a woman who died in a Greenbrier nursing home have argued that, even without some challenged evidence, there is still "sufficient proof" for the case to go to trial.

Rosey Perkins and Rhonda Coppack, daughters of the late Martha Bull of Perryville, filed the argument in Faulkner County Circuit Court earlier this week. They were responding to nursing-home owner and defendant Michael Morton's effort to have a corruption lawsuit dismissed.

Perkins and Coppack have sued Morton and former state Sen. Gilbert Baker, a lobbyist and political fundraiser. The sisters contend the men conspired to bribe former Circuit Judge Michael Maggio to lower a Faulkner County jury's $5.2 million judgment to $1 million in an earlier negligence lawsuit over Bull's death in 2008.

In January 2015, Maggio pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge and has since been sentenced to prison. He implicated Baker and Morton in his plea agreement, though not by name. Baker and Morton have denied the allegations but have said they believe the agreement was referring to them.

Earlier this year, Maggio unsuccessfully tried to withdraw his guilty plea. His case is on appeal.

Attorneys for the two sisters want Maggio's plea agreement and sworn statements to be accepted as evidence in the current lawsuit, though Morton has challenged that effort.

In this week's filing, the sisters' attorneys wrote that the evidence they have cited to support their claims "is abundant."

"Thus, even if this Court did not consider the challenged evidence, there is sufficient proof supporting Plaintiffs' claims against both Baker and Morton for this case to go forward to trial," the attorneys wrote.

The Arkansas Supreme Court ordered Maggio removed from office in 2014 because of unrelated issues.

State Desk on 11/10/2016

Upcoming Events