We Have Some New Beef Plant Filings for Y'all to Chew On

Nowdy tells me there are several housekeeping type items that were filed on PACER we won’t bother with as they appeared unremarkable to her. However the prosecution today filed motions in opposition to defense motions to sever and exclude evidence from other contracts from trial.

In these motions we find out there is an upcoming Daubert Hearing and a good bit more about the government allegations on billing backoffice labor. In essence Greenlee makes a common sense argument that by using a labor factor to account for labor charges, TFG essentially billed costs such as annual and performance bonuses in advance. As a construction CPA the reasoning the government uses seems solid from an accounting standpoint and industry practice.

I read the motion that Greenlee intends to show how other projects constructed by TFG tied into the Beef Plant in that these back office labor provisions were negotiated and included in the project agreements elsewhere but not in the Beef Plant contract and how charging a labor multiplier resulted in an overbill. Figuring this very well could have been where Sean Carothers spent some of those countless hours helping the prosecution while in prison. Here is a snippet from the motion:

In the instant matter, the defendants claim to have used a multiplier, that is multiplying salaries by two to recoup indirect costs associated with their labor billings. As will be more fully explained at the upcoming Daubert hearings, Continue reading “We Have Some New Beef Plant Filings for Y'all to Chew On”

It Seems Rafael Got Another Piece of Mail from Jamie Perdigao

Rafael Goyeneche of the Metropolitan Crime Commission that is. Thanks to a reader, we have a second Perdigao complaint to the MCC that was sent around a week or so after the first one on traffic court judge and Adams and Reese Partner Ronald Sholes. This one involved another Adams and Reese partner Donald C Massey, who according to Mr Perdigao would sit in for Mr Sholes as Judge Pro Tempore to keep the Adams and Reese ticket fixing machine going:

Pauline Warriner and I recently filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of James Perdigao (Civil Action No. 08-3570, U.S.D.C.-E.D.LA) in which Mr. Perdigao alleges, inter alia, certain wrongful and improper “fixing” of traffic tickets by Hon. Ronald J. Sholes, Section D of New Orleans Traffic Court. The complaint also alleges that because Adams and Reese, L.L.P became so dependent on this method of resolving traffic citations, it put forward another partner to serve as judge for Section D on those days which Judge Sholes could not sit on the bench. Although the lawsuit alleges this partner served as Ad Hoc Judge, we now understand that this partner, Donald C. Massey, served in Judge Sholes’ absence as Judge Pro Tempore. On behalf of Mr. Perdigao, this letter is to request that your office investigate this matter as a potential violation of the judicial canons by Judge Massey. You may recall that on June 10, 2008, I requested a similar investigation on behalf of Mr. Perdigao for Judge Sholes.

We are enclosing documentation of several traffic tickets which we believe were improperly handled by Judge Massey Continue reading “It Seems Rafael Got Another Piece of Mail from Jamie Perdigao”

Hey, Jim Brown, you're playing my song!

The introduction to this week’s Jim Brown column, Too many federal laws, is too good to miss; so, even if I could work magic like Sop and make the column post here, I wouldn’t because you’d miss reading…

When I was asked time and time again, after my altercation with the federal government, as to whether I regretted going into politics, I often quoted Garth Brooks’ final line of the song. “Life’s better left to chance. I could’ve missed the pain. But I’da had to miss the dance.” Give a listen and thanks for spending a little time on my site.

Actually, I’ve spent more than a little time at Jim’s and still haven’t read it all; but, I recommend anyone that hasn’t take a look – it even has a jukebox! Now, about this week’s not-to-miss column. Jim’s lede suggests the recent indictment of a Louisiana State Senator was on his mind.

Louisiana State Senator Derrick Shepherd gets in a tussle with his girlfriend over the weekend and he’s hauled off to federal court…

What kept coming to mine as I read was the oft repeated axiom ignorance of the law is no excuse. What really caught my eye, however was that Jim raised the issue of states rights and that’s something we need to have a conversation about in terms of insurance. We haven’t missed the pain and we surely don’t want to miss the dance. Enjoy Jim’s thought provoking column and we’ll talk insurance later.

…Is there any violation of the law that is not considered a federal offense? Continue reading “Hey, Jim Brown, you're playing my song!”