When last we visited the wild-and-crazy case of Stephen L. LaFrance Holdings Inc. v. Garret Sorensen et al, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen had imposed sanctions against U.S. Attorney Chris Thyer and two of his assistants for meddling in a civil case in his court.
Specifically, Griffen ordered the U.S. Attorney’s Office to pay fees and expenses incurred by Garret and Katherine Sorensen and Shannon Walters as a direct result of the federal prosecutors’ improper decision to move the civil fraud case from state court to federal court.
Last week, those defense attorneys complied with Griffen’s order to submit their bills. Little Rock attorney Pat James, who represented Garret Sorensen, filed a motion asking for $4,170 for himself and his partner, Matthew R. House.
Little Rock defense attorneys Chuck Banks, who represented Walters, and Erin Cassinelli, who represented Katherine Sorensen, told Whispers they had sent bills directly to the judge’s office rather than filing them through the court clerk. Banks said his bill was for approximately $3,000; Cassinelli said she claimed about $5,000.
Whether any of them will receive any of the money remains to be seen. The prosecutors had been similarly sanctioned in federal court by U.S. District Judge Bill Wilson, and Thyer persuaded him to rescind the order. The U.S. Attorney’s Office gets to respond to the fee requests this week.
Meanwhile, a letter in the case file confirms that Griffen did ask the Arkansas Supreme Court’s Office of Professional Conduct to investigate the actions of Thyer and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Angela Jegley and Patricia Harris as described in the orders for sanctions by both Griffen and Wilson.
"The file will be assigned to a staff attorney for investigation, to determine if there is sufficient evidence of a violation of the Arkansas Rules of Professional Conduct," according to the confirmation letter from Stark Ligon, executive director of the Office of Professional Conduct.
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