Kionka
Attorney Edward Brennan has appealed St. Clair County Associate Judge Andrew Gleeson's decision ordering him to pay former law partner Michael Constance $1.6 million in a dispute arising from a $10.5 million settlement reached with tennis star Jimmy Connors.
The former partners battled one another in a contentious six-week bench trial that ended Oct. 13; it took Gleeson another two months to render a verdict.
The Belleville firm Brennan, Cates & Constance, which dissolved in 1998, had represented Connors on various matters including his relationship with the Alton Belle Casino. The firm reached an agreement with Connors in 1992 in which Connors agreed to pay the partners 20 percent of the money he received in the Alton Belle and Argosy venture.
Constance sued Brennan in April 2010, claiming he did not receive a fair share of the settlement.
On Dec. 13, Gleeson found Brennan had a duty to disclose to his partners that there had been a tender of stock by Connors, and that Brennan refused to accept the offer.
Gleeson also found Brennan concealed the offer from his partners.
Constance is represented by Belleville attorney Bruce Cook.
Edward Kionka of Carbondale was listed on the appeal as Brennan's attorney.
The case is St. Clair County case 10-L-213.