Dual Pact in $8.4M Detroit Texts Case Didn't Seem 'Nefarious,' Lawyer Says
When an attorney representing the city of Detroit suggested two separate settlement agreements to document an $8.4 million pact resolving police whistle-blower litigation and keeping secret racy text messages between the then-mayor and a top aide, there was no reason to suspect anything “nefarious,” plaintiffs lawyer Mike Stefani testified today at an ethics hearing.
The texts “were obviously very personal. You don’t get much more personal than some of those text messages,” Stefani said. So when attorney Sam McCargo said, ” ‘Let’s break them out and keep the confidential information confidential,’ I didn’t think he was doing anything but being a good lawyer at that point.” Stefani’s testimony is reported by the Detroit News.
Although McCargo is currently on the hot seat in the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board case, five other lawyers, including Stefani, also face state Attorney Grievance Commission charges over their resolution of the case. The controversial pact initially drew fire because lawyers for the city reportedly didn’t inform the city council of the text messages issue when presenting the settlement pact. However, there was also a conflicts issue concerning the interests of the former mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, and the city, as discussed in earlier ABAJournal.com posts.
Meanwhile, Wayne County Circuit Judge Michael Callahan, who oversaw the whistle-blower litigation, testified at the outset of the hearing, which began in mid-July. He said the lawyers in the case should have informed him that Stefani had obtained the text messages after trial, because an earlier court order called for them to be provided to Callahan, according to the Free Press.
Stefani testified today that he thought the court order concerning the text messages had lapsed after trial.
The dual settlement apparently was crafted to circumvent a Freedom of Information Act request by its own newspaper report, recounts the Detroit Free Press in another article about the hearing.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “$8.4M Sex, Lies & Texts Settlement Puts Detroit Lawyers on Hot Seat”
