« Ind. Courts - More on: 7th Circuit judges comment on female attorneys' attire | Main | Ind. Courts - Gary paper praises Gov. Daniels for HEA 1491 veto »

Friday, May 22, 2009

Ind. Courts - More on "Pastrick civil trial likely called off"

Updating this ILB entry from yesterday, Andy Grimm of the Gary Post-Tribune reports today:

HAMMOND -- It's official: There will be no trial in Attorney General Greg Zoeller's racketeering lawsuit against former East Chicago Mayor Robert Pastrick.

Following a conference call Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge James Moody entered a default judgment in the civil case against Pastrick and former aide James Fife III, meaning the pair will be found liable for some share of $24 million the state claims was misspent by Pastrick and his lieutenants during the 1999 city Democratic primary.

The default judgment will spare the 82-year-old Pastrick sitting through a trial set to begin next week and stretch almost to July, and his refusal to defend it is not an admission the mayor did anything wrong, his attorney Michael Bosch said Thursday.

"We defaulted. We quit. We forfeit. We're not defending," Bosch said.

In a statement e-mailed to the media Thursday, Zoeller seemed to think otherwise.

"This historic lawsuit was brought ... on behalf of the people of East Chicago to demand accountability and restore public confidence in local government," said Zoeller in the statement. "The fact that the two remaining defendants are willing to take a default judgment speaks volumes."

But Pastrick was adamant he would not make any admission of wrongdoing, a stance that stalled settlement talks in the case, Bosch said.

Attorneys for the state, and Pastrick and Fife, will appear in court Tuesday. On June 4, the state will present evidence, and Moody will set a damage amount.

Racketeering statutes allow plaintiffs to seek damages up to three times the amount of money lost, an amount the state so far maintained was $24 million spent on paving and other work done by city contractors in the run-up to the primary a decade ago.

The ruling will all but end a legal saga that began in August 2004, when then Attorney General Steve Carter filed the civil racketeering case against Pastrick and more than a dozen city officials and contractors.

The state's civil case mirrored a federal corruption indictment that resulted in jail time for numerous Pastrick administration officials and political allies, though Pastrick was never charged criminally.

"Pastrick to bow out of trial" is the headline to Dan Hinkel's story today in the NWI Times. Some quotes:
HAMMOND | Lake County Democratic icon Robert Pastrick plans to bow out of a court fight with the state of Indiana.

His attorney, Mike Bosch, filed papers in Hammond federal court Wednesday asking Senior Judge James Moody to enter a default judgment against Pastrick and his lone remaining codefendant, former aide James Fife III. The men will not appear Tuesday for the start of the long-anticipated civil trial that would have explored the sidewalks-for-votes scandal that marred the end of Pastrick's 33-year reign over East Chicago. * * *

Moody has not entered the judgment Bosch requested. But in a phone conference Thursday, Bosch and Fife told Moody the defendants do not plan to appear for trial Tuesday, according to federal court records. State lawyers will come to court Tuesday, and they plan to move for default judgments, court records state.

Moody will hear arguments about potential damages against Pastrick and Fife on June 4.

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller sounded a triumphant note Thursday. Zoeller, who inherited the case from former Attorney General Steve Carter, pointed to the dozens of defendants who settled out of the case instead of facing trial.

"The majority of the defendants have already settled, and the fact that the two remaining defendants are willing to take a default judgment speaks volumes," Zoeller said in a written statement.

Moody has placed a gag order on lawyers and parties in the case. Pastrick did not return a call for comment, and Fife declined to comment when he was reached at home in Munster.

Bosch's move cancels the coda to Pastrick's half-century career atop Lake County's Democratic Party. Pastrick was a 44-year-old journeyman city official when he took the mayor's office in 1971. For three decades, Pastrick helmed the Lake County Democratic machine from the mayor's office. Former police officer George Pabey dislodged the King of Steeltown in a 2004 special election ordered after a fraudulent 2003 race.

In 2003, a federal grand jury indicted the Sidewalk Six, a group of city officials eventually convicted in a scheme to sway voters in the 1999 Democratic primary by paying $24 million in public funds to improve private properties.

Pastrick never was charged criminally, but Carter made an unprecedented legal move in 2004, suing Pastrick and his top aides for allegedly running East Chicago as a "corrupt enterprise" during the sidewalks-for-votes scheme. Until this week, state lawyers planned several weeks of courtroom arguments aimed at using the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Enterprises Act, also known as the RICO Act, to hold Pastrick and Fife civilly liable for the $24 million.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 22, 2009 02:07 PM
Posted to Ind Fed D.Ct. Decisions