Three months ago, we promised there would be no more bad press – in the Record, at least -- for James Greco’s lawyers. We made that promise in good faith on the (in retrospect, unwarranted) assumption that the case they’d just lost, and shouldn’t have filed in the first place, was over and done with.
One of Greco’s plaintiff attorneys was notorious publicity hound David Horan, who cultivated a luxurious limelight tan ten years ago while pursuing a multibillion-dollar judgment against Big Tobacco.
Finding media (i.e., Record) coverage of his current lawsuit “favorable to the defendants and negative to the plaintiffs,” Horan and co-counsel were stricken with morbid shyness and asked Madison County Circuit Court Judge Andreas Matoesian to place a gag order on trial participants.
Maybe they were worried about the Madison County jury pool being “polluted” by the facts of the case.
Judge Matoesian was not worried and blithely rejected their request.
The possibly “polluted” jury quickly concluded that Dr. Bruce Vest of the Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Clinic in Alton had not been negligent in the death of James Greco’s wife, Tamara, in 2004.
That should have been the end of it. Yet, here we are, three months later, breaking our promise and bestowing more, richly-deserved critical press on David Horan and associates.
But don’t blame us. Blame Horan.
In May, Horan and his co-counsel moved for a new trial, arguing that some of the testimony in favor of the defense was improper.
Why didn’t he object to it at the time? Who knows? Maybe he’s a little slow. Maybe he wasn’t paying attention. Whatever. He’s objecting now. Give the guy a break.
Dr. Vest also has filed a motion, seeking to be reimbursed for the $50,000 he spent defending himself against a light-weight lawsuit. A verdict in Dr. Vest’s favor could provide a valuable lesson for David Horan.
In the meantime, we’ve learned ours: Never make promises you can’t keep.