Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Lawyer's Affair Costs $1.5 Million

A Mississippi attorney must pay $1.5 million for having an affair with a former client's wife.

Affirming a jury verdict in Rankin County Circuit Court, the Supreme Court of Mississippi found Ronald Henry Pierce liable to his former client, Ernest Allan Cook, who, along with his wife Kathleen Shorkey Cook, had hired Pierce to represent them and their son in a medical malpractice action.

The appellate court found Pierce, a solo practitioner, liable for intentional infliction of emotional distress, breach of contract and alienation of affection.

Pierce began having an affair with Kathleen Cook in September 2000 after her husband had moved to California to pursue a film career. Ernest Cook discovered the affair and hired a private investigator.


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1 comment:

phoenixksc said...

In this particular case, the PI took the guy's money and essentially gave him nothing in return. Wife admitted adultery to shorten the divorce because of kids. As you exploit this lawsuit outcome for your gain, please realize this was an abused wife with a disabled child whose husband named Ernest went to Hollywood. As that wife, I would do it again even at the cost of $1.5 million bucks. That is how bad the marriage was. We had no marital property because everything was titled to his trustfund, which was worth millions of dollars. My then husband did not have a job. He had a therapist to deal with the issue of why he hated marriage and kids. Investigators can be useful tools, but they can also be used to harass and intimidate people in bad situations.In our case, they were virtually useless. The only way he got adultery was by contesting the divorce for 2 years and making the kids miserable. I would have said anything to get my kids out of that situation.This case was more about good lawyering than good investigating.