BENTON – Senior U.S. District Judge Phil Gilbert, who refused to remand a dispute between former lawyer Tom Lakin and Geico Casualty to Madison County when they both asked for it, dismissed it when they asked for that.
He turned Lakin’s suit loose on June 19, after Lakin and Geico told him that Lakin would refile it in Madison County.
Lakin sued Geico anonymously last November in the courthouse at Edwardsville, where he once exercised greater power than any other lawyer.
In a John Doe complaint, attorney Rodney Caffey of Godfrey sought $50,000 for Lakin for a car crash involving an underinsured motorist in 2016.
The complaint also sought statutory damages for unreasonable and vexatious delay in settling his claim plus attorney’s fees and costs.
Geico removed it to district court in December, asserting diversity jurisdiction as a Maryland corporation.
The insurer identified Lowell T. Lakin as holder of the policy at issue.
The court clerk assigned Gilbert.
In 2008, Gilbert sentenced Lakin to six years in prison for keeping a drug house and distributing cocaine to adults and minors.
At sentencing, he called Lakin demented and disturbed.
Gilbert’s senior status allows him to turn down assignments, but this one he took.
He ordered Caffey to explain the need for anonymity, finding that concealing a name impedes public access to the facts.
Caffey amended the complaint to identify his client in January.
He moved to remand the suit to Madison County, claiming it didn’t meet the $75,000 minimum for federal jurisdiction.
He attached an affidavit from Lakin disclaiming damages above that amount.
Geico counsel John Gilligan of Chicago didn’t oppose the motion but asked Gilbert to cap damages at $74,000 before remanding it.
Gilligan wrote that a promise to limit damages must be clear, unambiguous, and binding on the state court with no opportunity to revisit relief.
He wrote that Lakin’s motion seemed to make inherently contradictory statements.
In February, Caffey stipulated that maximum statutory damages including his fees were $60,000.
Gilbert denied the motion in March, finding events after removal don’t negate establishment of a sufficient amount at the time of removal.
He found the amount in controversy was $80,000 plus unspecified fees.
He wrote that not even an irrevocable promise could justify remand.
In April, Lakin and Geico jointly moved to remand the suit to Madison County.
They stipulated that their agreement would bind the Madison County judge, Lakin, Caffey, and any future counsel.
Gilbert denied the joint motion at a hearing on June 16, finding the parties didn’t heed his earlier statement of the law.
“If the parties both truly wish to proceed in state court, they may stipulate to dismissal of this case without prejudice and refile the case in state court with, if necessary, an agreement not to assert the statute of limitations as a defense,” Gilbert wrote.
Caffey moved for voluntary dismissal on June 19, and Gilbert granted.