Tuesday, January 07, 2003

Lifted from Overlawyered.com

January 7-8 -- Trial lawyer's purchase of Alabama governor's house said to be "arm's-length". "Wray Pearce, the Birmingham accountant who bought Gov. Don Siegelman's Montgomery home for twice its appraised value, was acting as an intermediary for trial lawyer Lanny Vines, who subsequently bought the house from Pearce, according to court records filed last month in a lawsuit involving the two men. ... The governor and his representatives have described the house sale as an arm's-length transaction, with the governor and his wife placing the property on the market, and a buyer coming along and paying the asking price. ... None of the records in the court file specifically state why Vines used his longtime accountant as an apparent straw buyer for the home. Nor do they explain why Vines was willing to pay a sum that a county appraisal and a Register review showed was about twice the home's value." Vines is considered one of the most politically influential plaintiff's lawyers in Alabama. (Eddie Curran, "Papers show trial lawyer paid accountant for Siegelman house", Mobile Register, Nov. 11).