EAST ST. LOUIS – Roimero Harris of St. Clair County, who hired a lawyer to argue that Travelers Indemnity owed him money, owes Travelers thousands in sanctions and has no lawyer.
William Daniels of Fairview Heights dropped him as a client in U.S. district court on Dec. 15, stating they hadn’t communicated this year.
“Roimero Harris appears to have abandoned his role and his civil litigation duties and obligations in this case,” Daniels wrote.
Magistrate Judge Gilbert Sison ordered sanctions in November, to reimburse Travelers for its expenses in enforcing discovery rules.
Travelers issued a policy to Harris in May 2018, for rental property at 2606 St. Louis Ave. in East St. Louis.
In July 2018, two fires damaged the dwelling three days apart.
Harris claimed loss of use at $650 a month and presented repair estimates.
Travelers issued checks to him and his lender for cash value less deductibles.
Travelers advised him that he could seek to recover depreciation upon repair or replacement of the dwelling.
It paid him $7,800, a year’s rent.
Travelers sued Harris in 2019, seeking declaratory judgment that it paid enough.
Travelers counsel Ellen Brooke of St. Louis claimed Harris’s attorney demanded a depreciation payment even though the dwelling wasn’t repaired or replaced.
Brooks also sought relief from demands for additional repair costs, ongoing loss of rent, penalties, and attorney fees.
She claimed the depreciation demand was based on Harris’s intent to buy a replacement dwelling in Cahokia.
She claimed his attorney later purported to have purchased a dwelling at 1929 Fleur de Lis Boulevard for $170,000.
She claimed that when asked for validation of the purchase and amount, Harris claimed the sale was private and he had no evidence of the amount.
She claimed Travelers would have accepted a bank transfer or other document as proof of the amount, but Harris didn’t produce it.
She amended the complaint in October 2019, to allege fraud, concealment, and misrepresentation, and to recover amounts Travelers paid.
A year later, Travelers moved to compel discovery responses from Harris.
Sison granted the motion and set a deadline, which Harris didn’t meet.
Travelers moved for sanctions last December, asking Sison to strike Harris’s pleadings and dismiss the case.
This November, Sison found lesser sanctions might deter future dilatory behavior.
He ordered Harris to pay Travelers for its costs in bringing the sanctions motion, and ordered him to pay for his own deposition.
Travelers filed an account of expenses on Dec. 2, redacting portions to hide strategy as rules allow.
Its bill for October 2020 showed a total of $4,117.50, at $125 and $135 an hour.
Later bills didn’t show totals.
The lines that Travelers didn’t redact from those bills add up to $2,625.50, meaning Harris owes $6,743 plus a confidential amount.
Daniels didn’t formally move to withdraw on the 15th, and instead styled his document as a response to the claim for fees.
He wrote that the time charged for legal service appeared fair and reasonable, and the hourly fee appeared to be on the low side of fair and reasonable.
He conceded that Harris hadn’t produced a few certain specific documents that Travelers appropriately requested.
Sison construed the document as a withdrawal motion on Dec. 16, and directed Daniels to give Harris notice before Jan. 6.
He set a status conference Jan. 11.