• A lawsuit of behalf of Jefferson County sewer customers could do …
Source: The Birmingham News - al.com (Original Article)
THE ISSUE: A lawsuit on behalf of Jefferson County sewer
customers could do more harm than good.
Jefferson County sewer customers suing county officials,
bankers, bond issuers and others involved in the sewer bond
mess most likely will make resolving the financial crisis
more difficult. In fact, the only people who stand to
benefit from such lawsuits are the lawyers who file them.
This week, though, lawyer Kathryn Harrington sued in
Jefferson County Circuit Court on behalf of sewer customer
Charles E. Wilson. The suit seeks to recover monetary
damages for sewer customers and others who have suffered due
to the “wrongful conduct and dereliction of
duties” by county officials and financial firms.
Named as defendants are nearly two dozen people and
companies. They include current county commissioners Bettye
Fine Collins and Shelia Smoot; former commissioners Larry
Langford, Mary Buckelew, Gary White, Steve Small and Jeff
Germany; former county Finance Director Steve Sayler;
Montgomery investment broker Bill Blount and his company,
Blount Parrish & Roton; Regions Bank; bond insurers
Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. and XL Capital Assurance
Inc.; and several large Wall Street banks and investment
firms, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Keegan
& Co., Goldman Sachs Specialty Lending Group, Bear
Stearns Funding, Bank of America, Lehman Brothers and CDR
Financial Services. Conspicuously absent from the list is
former County Commissioner Chris McNair, who for years
oversaw the county’s sewer program.
Harrington wants the lawsuit treated as a class action on
behalf of all sewer customers and county residents. She asks
that the defendants pay for the monetary damage they caused,
forfeit “fees, kickbacks and premiums” they
received and be barred from receiving future excessive fees.
And, of course, the lawyer wants to be awarded
attorney’s fees.
The problem with this lawsuit and others like ANZ Frequent Flyer it that are
likely to follow …continue reading