-Caveat Lector-
Gore lawyer accused of witness tampering
By NICOLE STERGHOS BROCHU
Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
Dec. 23, 2000
A Palm Beach landscaper has filed a Florida Bar complaint against
celebrated litigator David Boies, accusing the New York lawyer of
unprofessional conduct, including attempts to buy off a witness.
A Florida Bar attorney confirmed that the Bar has received a
complaint making witness-tampering allegations against Boies but
declined to elaborate, citing the Bar's confidentiality rules.
"All I can do is confirm the existence of it," said Ken Marvin,
who leads the Bar's Tallahassee office. "This complaint will be
treated like any other."
Boies, best known as the man who beat Microsoft and even more
recently as the poised defender of Al Gore's court battle for the
presidency, did not return calls for comment Thursday and Friday.
Scott Lewis, owner of a landscaping company locked in a bitter
and protracted breach-of-contract lawsuit with a Boies client,
claims that Boies offered to give Gary Scudiero a sprinkler
business in return for his testimony against Lewis and his wife,
Carol.
At the time, Scudiero was working as supervisor at Nical of Palm
Beach, the landscaping company that sued Lewis over the broken
agreement to buy Lewis' business for $800,000.
Scudiero has said in court papers that Boies, whose children are
the beneficiaries of a trust that owns 25 percent of Nical, was
acting as his boss when he told him Scudiero would receive
Nical's irrigation business in return for his testimony.
Scudiero later quit working for Nical and its owner, Amy Habie,
and three days later, he was named as a co-defendant in a $10
million federal antitrust lawsuit Boies filed on Habie's behalf
after she lost her breach-of-contract lawsuit against Lewis.
The federal lawsuit, which accused the Lewises, Scudiero and two
others of conspiring to ruin Habie's business, eventually was
tossed out of court, as well.
The allegations are similar to those filed in New York regarding
an estate case on which Boies served as counsel. In that case,
the New York Supreme Court's Departmental Disciplinary Committee
is investigating a complaint that names Boies and four other
lawyers in connection with an offer to pay a witness to testify.
One of the lawyers named in the New York complaint has said the
offer to pay the witness $25,000 for the first 50 hours and up to
$1 million in bonuses was compensation for her time, not a payoff
for her testimony.
Boies is also facing possible disciplinary action in a third,
unrelated complaint, this one dealing with the presidential
election. A conservative watchdog group has accused Boies and
another lawyer of unprofessional conduct by filing what it called
an inaccurate affidavit with two Florida courts.
As for the recent Florida Bar complaint, Scott and Carol Lewis
refused to comment on the advice of their attorney.
Their complaint is the latest volley in a four-year battle that
has occupied two courts, 10 judges, 27 attorneys, and thousands
and thousands of pages of testimony and court filings.
The fight began in 1996, when Habie and Nical bought Scott Lewis
Gardening & Trimming Inc., then stopped paying Lewis after
accusing him of breaching the contract by opening a competing
company.
Boies served as Habie's lead attorney in both the
breach-of-contract and federal antitrust cases.
In both cases, judges have ruled that Habie has no case against
the Lewises and others, decisions that have been upheld on
appeal.
The breach-of-contract lawsuit, though, continues to drag on as
Lewis accuses Habie of violating the terms of a settlement. So
far, a judge has imposed two contempt-of-court orders against
Habie and Nical, as well as several sanctions.
Though Boies does not hold a Florida law license, he has worked
on several Florida cases, including Gore's, after getting special
permission from the courts.
Marvin said that if the allegations are proved true and
discipline is deemed warranted, sanctions could range from public
reprimand to suspension of Boies' law license.
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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