Friday, September 22, 2017

Court sanctions Carlos Moore in Belhaven Case.


Carlos the Clown has to pay up in the Belhaven case.  U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves sanctioned attorney Carlos Moore $500 after the court ruled his client destroyed evidence and lied about the destruction.  His client must also pay a $100 fine.  The fine is the second time this year a federal judge has sanctioned Mr. Moore.

Erica Stewart sued Belhaven University and former employee Tarold Durham for sexual harassment last year.  U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves dismissed the complaint against Mr. Durham in June while Belhaven asked the court to sanction Ms. Stewart's attorney, Carlos Moore.  Ms. Stewart claimed that Mr. Durham sent sexually explicit images of himself to her cellphone when she interviewed for a job at Belhaven.  However, Belhaven produced a report that showed the plaintiff sent sexually provocative pictures of herself in a partial state of undress to the defendant prior to his allegedly sending the offensive picture. Ms. Stewart also got rid of the phone containing the allegedly offensive correspondence before Belhaven could get it.  Judge Reeves succinctly and sardonically spelled out why he sanctioned the troublesome twosome:


In 2015, Erica Stewart sought a job in the Online Admissions Department of Belhaven University. She knew Tarold Durham, the director of that office, through social channels. Durham had led her to believe that there would be a vacancy within the Department.

Stewart and Durham then exchanged a series of sexually explicit text messages and photos. Durham wanted sexual favors in exchange for the job offer, while Stewart kept up flirtatious banter to try and get the job. When no offer materialized, Stewart filed a charge of discrimination with the EEOC and subsequently commenced this suit against Belhaven and Durham. She asserted a variety of claims under Title VII and Mississippi law.

Durham—who was fired from Belhaven for his conduct—maintained that the messages were flirtatious and consensual. The record bore that out to the extent that there was no evidence that he had caused Stewart emotional distress. As a result, Durham was dismissed from this case.....

This case concerns text messages and photos sent between smartphones. The parties disagree about what was sent, when it was sent, and why it was sent. That means the parties’ phones were critical evidence. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and this Court’s Case Management Order required the phones to be preserved.

Stewart knew that the texts and photos on her phone were important. The EEOC investigator intimated that Stewart had not shared all of the relevant communications with the EEOC. When this suit was commenced, Belhaven’s attorneys immediately sent Stewart’s lawyer a letter demanding that she “preserve and sequester” her phone. And in spring 2017, as discovery progressed, Stewart had to sign several documents, under oath, indicating that she still had her phone and had not deleted or excluded any of its content from the defendants.

Belhaven was therefore surprised to learn during Stewart’s deposition that the phone had broken and was no longer in her possession. After repeated inquiries to her counsel over the following weeks, Belhaven discovered that Stewart had taken her phone to a local AT&T store and purchased a new phone. She had not kept her old phone. No independent forensic examination had been conducted before the phone was lost.

Such an examination probably would have hurt Stewart’s case. We know that because testimony and screenshots now establish that Stewart had indeed failed to share all of the relevant messages with the EEOC. In her deposition, Stewart could not explain how some of the text messages were deleted from her phone before they were shared with the EEOC.

Stewart denies that her conduct is sanctionable. She blames opposing counsel for not getting stored copies of her text messages from her iCloud account or her new phone. She also says that opposing counsel failed to try and recover the phone directly from the AT&T store. Stewart even has the gall to ask the Court to award her attorney’s fees for having to respond to Belhaven’s motion.

These arguments are inexcusable. Stewart and her attorney had the duty to preserve her phone. When they failed to do so, they should have attempted to recover stored messages from iCloud, the new phone, and the AT&T store. This kind of deflection has no defense.

When Stewart did search her iCloud, moreover—after her attorney filed this response memorandum—she identified new, material, and important evidence. That is hardly a sign of diligence, though; it directly contradicts Stewart’s earlier sworn statements that she had produced everything to Belhaven.

The Court finds that Stewart’s behavior, from the EEOC investigation to the present, suggests a pattern of deception. The discovery violation and false statements merit sanctions. Her attorney’s failure to comply with his discovery obligations under the Rules and Court Orders also merits sanctions.
Judge Reeves made sure everyone knew what took place in an earlier order:

The day after Durham sent the picture of the tumescent penis, Stewart replied, “you can get [a] hug and kiss after the interview!” She then added, “Sooo I found myself thinking about you.” The two flirted back and forth: Durham called her “boo”; Stewart called him “Hun.” When Durham wrote “I miss you,” Stewart responded “I miss you too” and sent an emoji blowing him a kiss. She also revealed she had once participated in a threesome, texting “I like stuff like that . . . so if you become my boo. Stuff like that comes with me.” Later she wrote, “we can ‘celebrate’ once I get the job!” along with three winking emoji, and invited Durham to join her and a friend for a drink at a local restaurant.

Needless to say these responses do not indicate distress. Stewart’s deposition testimony confirms as much. Counsel opposite asked, “Now, by telling him you’ll hug and kiss him, you don’t sound particularly upset in your response about receiving the penis picture; is that correct?” Stewart answered, “No, I’m not -- I didn’t sound upset.” When asked again whether she was “upset in any way” over the photo, she replied “no.”...

(Footnote)1 After the briefing on this motion closed, Stewart located and produced a nearly-nude, salacious selfie she had sent Durham. The supplemental production was vague as to the selfie’s date, but Stewart’s deposition testimony indicates that she sent Durham the selfie before he sent her the penis photo. In other words, Durham’s pornographic photo of a penis was sent in response to Stewart’s scantily-clad selfie.
It should be noted that a federal judge in north Mississippi sanctioned Mr. Moore for $3,000 earlier this year.  See below for a links to the coverage about that story. 
 
Earlier posts
Belhaven: Stewart committed fraud upon court.  
Did Carlos' client try to smear Belhaven & employee?  

Posts about sanctions in City of Tupelo case
Court tells Carlos Moore to pay up.  
Tupelo goes after Carlos Moore.  
Carlos Moore must pay up or else.



Kingfish note: Such evidence obviously did not endear Ms. Stewart to the Court.  Of course, Mr. Moore and Ms. Stewart sure didn't mind posing for the cameras when they filed this bogus lawsuit:



Somehow, Mr. Moore and his client did not mention the bootylicious pictures that she sent to the defendant.    It is tempting to post those pictures after what she pulled with this lawsuit. 





22 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sure the MS bar will act to promptly disbar this con artist. Wait, no they won't.

Kingfish said...

The same bar that let Vann Leonard practice for several months after he pleaded guilty in federal court to embezzling from a client?

Anonymous said...

I like that the Court pointed out the absurdity of Moore's arguments that Belhaven could've obtained the evidence from iCloud, tracked down the phone from AT&T, etc. It's far too acceptable in the legal community to make up bad faith bogus counterpoints to everything. I hate it. That's not being a good lawyer or a zealous advocate. It's just being a jackwagon. If I was a judge, I'd hammer attorneys on stuff like that.

Anonymous said...

I love these major sanctions of huge amounts of money which surely deter any wrong doing on the part of lawyers. Why some of the fines are almost what a traffic violation would cost.

Anonymous said...

Her ass should be in jail. She effectively perjured herself and made a claim that was non existent. What if the defendant hadn't saved the evidence of her sending photos first? He and Belhaven should automatically be awarded damages in whatever amount she was asking for from them.

Anonymous said...

Is this the same Carlos Moore from Grenada who was recently named by the new Clarksdale mayor to be a municipal judge in Clarksdale. If so, a lot of hard work improving Clarksdale will all have been for naught.

Anonymous said...


The Bar won't do shit.

Incompetent and crooked lawyers who prey upon the public have little to fear in Mississippi.

Anonymous said...

I had to look up tumescent.

Anonymous said...

Look I honestly can't name a single lawyer in the metro are that takes this clown seriously.

Anonymous said...

$ 600.00 court fine. That's chump change. Carlos leaves bigger tips at lunch.

Anonymous said...

Donna Ladd takes the clown seriously.

Anonymous said...

Chuck Espy made this guy a judge.

Anonymous said...

What is the status of this case? Is this still open? Dismissed?

Anonymous said...

Need a couple more zeroes on those fines.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't matter. Carlos may be a clown, but clowns get noticed and that what he's banking on. Sooner or later the national media will come to town and they'll be looking for a colorful "spokesman" and if Carlos is not in jail, he will suck up the spotlight. At that point all his bullshit will be an asset. He gets to be the "activist attorney" and people outside this jurisdiction won't know the difference. Wait and See.

Anonymous said...

The Bar is on public notice of a judicial finding of deliberate misconduct by an attorney who had already been sanctioned. If they do nothing, it will speak volumes.

Anonymous said...

Carlos is shrewd. He doesn't act this way without calculating the return he'll get from the exposure. And you're playing into his hand. However much time and effort you spend sourcing and writing these stories about him, your work is paying him a greater return than it is you.

Anonymous said...

Sadly, 2:08 is right. Anyone that knows Carlos knows that he's not a real activist and that he's really not smart at all. People like Donna like him because he'll speak out an a racial issue. Problem is he's not there trying to actually solve a racial issue or to make things better. He's doing it simply as a PR stunt. For example, Carlos isn't really "hurt" by the state flag, and he won't win that suit. He's doing as a marketing stunt because it ingratiates him with certain people who will think he must be brilliant and "the man" when in reality he's not trying to actually solve the problem and knows he can't and won't win.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't someone have to make a formal complaint to the Bar?

I agree with those who think the judge could have made these two an example to deter others. He obviously didn't. It also seems to me that the judge let this go farther than he should have done and that just ran up the legal fees.

Anonymous said...

Footnote number 3 shows that the judge has a sense of humor....Footnote number 5 shows he is appalled at this scummy bottom feeder behavior.

Anonymous said...

Lest you forget

http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2017/06/michael-winfield-tries-to-use.html

Anonymous said...

Look guys, I, not an attorney and neither are my business friends. We see what goes on. We are not stupid. Attorneys have their own little fraternal order whether they are black or white and WE as regular people as they call us are left out. I keep saying this, once a lawyer who knew my dad told me, " we are nothing more than thieves in suits who know the law and can skirt the law". I wanted to be an attorney very bad growing up because I thought this lawyer hung the moon. I'm so damn glad I'm in the blue collar field...... maybe not making what those guys are making, but I'm self employed and happy. Problem is, life itself is a ticking time bomb and we just have to wonder when we are going to get caught up in a claim. (That's a lawsuit for us regular people). I lost all respect for any of them. Carlos should be disbarred for life.....just like Bobby DeLaughter. But wait, Bobby found the "gun" in his father in laws closet which should have been in a god dang evidence vault!!!! So before any of you tell me it was ok for him to take that as a trophy don't say a damn word about the soldiers in Korea and Vietnam who cut off ears or pulled teeth as trophies...same damn thing.



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