| In Case Against Epstein
Estate Filings Gets Sealed and Plaintiff
Husband To Be Deposed
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Decrypt
- LightRead - Honduras
-
Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
June 24 – After the
death of Jeffrey Epstein in
the MCC prison, Annie Farmer
is pursuing her civil lawsuit
for sex trafficking against
his "madame" Ghislaine Maxwell
and his estate.
On April
16 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge Lorna G. Schofield held
a conference on Ghislaine
Maxwell's letter responding
Farmer's complaint, including
that it involved "lumping" of
issues. See below.
Jeffrey Epstein's estate and
executors Indyke and Kahn are
being sued by Jane Doe 15 and
others. On June 24 U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Magistrate Judge Debra C.
Freeman held a nearly two hour
proceeding with one plaintiff,
Jane Doe. Inner City Press
live tweeted it:
Judge Freeman:
"If she does participate in
the program, does that have
the result of resolving this
litigation?"
Answer: Yes,
that's a condition of
participation in the program.
Judge Freeman:
Should we be conserving
judicial resources in case
your client decides to
participate in the program?
And if some of those leaning
toward the program return to
litigation, should there be
joint discovery?
Judge
Freeman ruled that "upon
hearing from counsel on
6/19/20 that Dkt. 74 contained
confidential info... Counsel
should now refile the full
submission, with confidential
exhibits redacted, so as to
omit the confidential info."
But now all of 74 is not
available.
Judge Freeman:
When we finally get jurors in,
there will be fewer, for
social distancing. The cases
to go first will be criminal
cases. Cases with many people
will be in a small number of
larger rooms. Some judges are
venturing into world of remote
bench trials
Lawyer: Your
Honor, may I respond to the
factors? Judge Freeman: Let me
finish first, then I will
certainly hear you. For those
just joining, I remind you,
mute yourself. [But
sometimes you're ask to
identify yourself].
Lawyer: On
prejudice, there will be
prejudice to my client. The
award will be based on
corroborating proof. We have
produced all discovery but
they haven't. So we'd get a
smaller award. We should have
access to all information
about the "hits" regarding our
client
Many references
to the Feinberg fund, a
reference to Ken Feinberg,
described elsewhere as a
"dispute-resolution guru."
Defense lawyer: "The decedent
didn't even have any knowledge
of this plaintiff when she
made some sort of
pre-litigation settlement
demand."
Defendant
lawyer: It's not a Feinberg
fund. There is only one
administrator, Ms. Feldman.
Plaintiff here stands alone.
She wants to rocket through
the docket. But there is going
to be no trial around the
corner. The estate does not
want to draw things out.
Defense lawyer:
They are seeking serious
damages, but they won't say
how much, which is
unbelievable given that we're
into this.... We need to
depose plaintiff's husband,
she says the alleged abuse
impacted her marriage. So she
brought him into it.
Judge Freeman:
Who are these 11 witnesses to
be deposed? Defense (Epstein
estate) lawyer:
Plaintiff's counsel asked us
not to put the names in the
submission. Four are friends
of the plaintiff. Three
treating physicians, plus the
plaintiff's husband.
Plaintiff's
lawyer: There are also two
co-conspirators, women who
booked my client at 14 years
old to give massages to Mr.
Epstein.
Judge Freeman:
Please nail it down if these
two co-conspirators are
planning to take the Fifth,
because if so it is going to
be a very short deposition.
I'm satisfied that the other
witnesses are very case
specific, little overlap with
the other cases. Plaintiff's
lawyer: Mr Feinberg told us he
doesn't even have a handle on
the full amount in the estate.
Judge Freeman: I assume there
are many dollars in the
estate. But if 80% of it goes
to victims and 20% somewhere
else, if there's 30% on legal
expenses...
Defense
(Epstein estate) lawyer: Let's
not speak for Mr. Feinberg who
is not here. If a million
dollars is spent on legal fees
in this case, it come out of
the pool. This is not good for
the fund process. Which is why
other people stayed their
actions.
Plaintiff's
lawyer: We have retained an
expert, Doctor Hughes, in this
case. So we can't put a number
until then. Judge Freeman: You
don't need an expert for
medical expenses, or lost
employment opportunities.
Can't this expert ball-park
it?
Judge
Freeman: With respect to
communications to the press,
it may well be that there were
statements relevant to this
case. They could be found, for
example in an email.
Plaintiff's lawyer: I've
spoken to the press about the
claims fund.
Defense
lawyer: They want us to stop
depositions by July 27. But
one of the plaintiff's
friends, we're having problem
serving. So it might go into
August. And, I see a lot of
press stories. There are a lot
of allegations flying around.
Judge Freeman: I
think it's unlikely
plaintiff's lawyer told the
press that her client's claim
is worth less than others'.
Defense lawyer:
We'd like to see any
statements going the other
way.
Judge Freeman;
You mean, from the press to
the lawyer? [No....]
Epstein
estate lawyer: I am being
careful here, because this
relates to matters now
redacted.
Plaintiff's
lawyer: I am very
uncomfortable, with reporters
on the phone. Do you want to
schedule an ex parte hearing?
Judge Freeman:
Talk to opposing counsel
first...
Judge
Freeman: No one is trying to
violate anyone's rights here.
[Inner City
Press: No, that's already
happened.]
This case
is Doe v. Indyke, et al.,
19-cv-8673 (Failla / Freeman).
Back on May 22
Judge Freeman held back to
back conferences at 10 am and
11 am. Inner City Press
covered both, here.
***
Your
support means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you access to
exclusive bonus material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron.
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
SDNY Press Room 480, front cubicle
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA
Mail: Box 20047, Dag
Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2020 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com for
|
,
