Partial Summary Judgement Granted

The judge ruled from the bench in yesterday's hearing, and granted the State's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment as to Count 5, in all respects.

He has ordered James Catledge to comply with the Consent Order to Cease and Desist and make the rescission payments of about $1.9 mil. He also awarded pre-judgment interest of over $400,000, and levied a penalty of $10,000 for failure to comply with the Cease and Desist order. The judge also awarded a money judgment to the State as a means to help the State collect the money. The judgment is for slightly over $2.4 mil.

Summary Judgment

The State has filed a motion for partial summary judgment, as to Count 5 of the Verified Complalint. This motion seeks a judgment that James Catledge and Impact violated the Consent Order to Cease and Desist. The State is asking for an order that Catledge and Impact obey the terms of the Consent Order, and that they be ordered to make rescission payments.

This motion is currently set for hearing on October 6, 2010, at 3:00 PM, in the Ada County Courthouse.

A flurry of motions

Defendants John Thomson, Steve Cabezud and Barbara Nagel recently obtained new counsel, Boise attorney Thomas Banducci.

The Department filed a Motion to Strike Answers of Thomson, Cabezud and Nagel, and asked the court to enter default, based on the defendants' failure to comply with the court's order compelling discovery and its order to show cause. Banducci has filed an opposition to this motion.

Banducci has also filed a motion to set aside the court's order deeming the Department's Requests for Admission as admitted, and has attempted to respond to the court's order to show cause. The Department has filed briefing opposing these two efforts, and has filed a motion to strike from the record parts of what defendants filed.

The hearing on the various motions is set for Monday, August 2, 2010, at 11:00 AM, in the Ada County courthouse.

The Department is still waiting for the judge to sign the stipulated order on Catledge's Motion for Protective Order, and we are also waiting for the judge to sign the documents to take a default judgment against Derek Elliott.

Update: Just received the judgment and permanent injunction against Elliott, and the order for the Protective Order. The Department was awarded a judgment amount against Derek Elliott and Sun Village Juan Dolio Associates in the amount of $2,653,880.65.

Motion for protective order

During the May 24th hearing on the State's Motion to Compel and Catledge's Motion for Stay, counsel for Catledge verbally converted their Motion to Stay to a Motion for Protective Order. The judge directed counsel to prepare a draft protective order.

Catledge's counsel and I have been negotiating the terms of the order. I expect we will reach some agreement and will submit that to the judge for his review and approval.

The judge did not rule on the State's Motion to Compel, as that was essentially subsumed by the Motion for Protective Order. Counsel are also negotiating terms of future discovery.

Motion to compel, motion for stay

The Department has filed a motion to compel Mr. Catledge to respond to discovery filed by the Department in August, 2009. This motion is set for hearing on Monday, May 24, 2010, at 1:30 PM in Judge Wilper's courtroom.

Catledge and the Impact Defendants have filed an opposition to the State's motion, and have also filed a motion requesting a temporary stay of the State's case. The gist of Catledge's motion for a stay is that he is under investigation by the FBI and the US Attorney's Office in the Northern District of California, and he believes the State's action should be stayed until the criminal action (if any comes out of the investigation) is resolved.

This issue will also be heard on May 24th.

Motion to Dismiss Denied

The Department received today Judge Wilper's Order Denying Catledge's and Impact's Motion to Dismiss. He ruled 1) that the case is not barred by the statute of limitations contained in Idaho Code Sec. 30-14-509; 2) that the complaint was pled with sufficient particularity; and 3) that the Department did not fail to join indispensable parties.

Catledge and Impact must now file an Answer and the case can proceed. For various reasons, the deadline for filing the Answer is not set in stone, so I cannot give that date at this time.

We will post a copy of the Order a bit later.

Motion to compel

The Department of Finance has filed a motion to compel discovery against Barbara Nagel, Steve Cabezud, and John Thomson. We filed our discovery requests in August, and they have never responded.

The motion is set for hearing on December 14, 2009, at 11:00 AM, in the Fourth District courthouse, in Boise.

The judge has not yet ruled on Impact's Motion to Dismiss.

Update: The motion to compel was postponed due to a potential conflict that arose with the date. Unless an arrangement can be reached with counsel for defendants, we will re-set the motion for hearing.

There have been no other new developments.

New Catledge counsel

James Catledge and his Impact companies have retained new local counsel; Monte N. Stewart of the Boise firm Belnap Law, PLLC. So far, no other out-of-state counsel has requested admission.

Mr. Stewart has substituted in, thus rendering the motion to withdraw moot as to Catledge and the Impact companies. The motion is still pending as to David Brimley.

With the substitution of counsel, we should be able to proceed without further delays. As of today, the judge has not ruled on the pending motion to dismiss, or the pending motion for reconsideration.