Last updated on 2020-05-27
There’s a hole in my yard that can only be filled if I sue…
Black Hawk residents perched precariously at the lip of the yawning maw of Hell are suing darn near everybody who had anything to do with approving or building the now sinkhole-riddled housing development on top of an abandoned gypsum mine. Crawling through the long opening of the lawsuit, I count 121 plaintiffs suing 21 entities and 30 individuals—lawyers, engineers, surveyor, Meade County officials, and even the State of South Dakota—for at least $75.485 million in reparations for everything from lost homes and health problems to dogs with cancer. (Relax, defendants: with so many of you listed, a verdict for the plaintiffs will only cost each of you about $1.5 million.)
Homes, lives, and livelihoods are at stake… but as a political undercard to what promises to be a spectacular courtroom show, the defendants include two sitting Republican legislators and one former legislator trying to return to the House who face primaries next week. Representative Kirk Chaffee (R-29/Whitewood… which is in District 31, which is strange), District 29 Republican House candidate Dean Wink, and Representative Dayle Hammock (R-31/Spearfish) were all Meade County officials and were present for various meetings over a six-year span at which it was treated as common knowledge that the Black Hawk housing development was going in on top of an abandoned gypsum mine, to which portent of doom Meade County officials all went Okee-dokee!
In normal political environments, candidates sued for participating in a real estate development in which dozens of homeowners are seeing their home values go to zero (and some home altitudes go below zero) would be toast in the primary. Hammock’s and Chaffee’s incumbent ticketmates likely won’t make a peep about their troubles, and Wink certainly won’t bring it up, the fourth man on the District 29 House primary ballot, Lincoln Shuck, should be raising holy heck about Chaffee’s and Wink’s reckless approval of Hideaway Hills. (Good grief, Linc, use the name: Hideaway Hills? Kirk and Dean approved Sinkaway Holes!)
Hammock has no incumbent ticketmate, just four lively challengers for two seats, so you’d think he faces a greater chance of some sharp Republicans pointing out Hammock’s poor judgment as an public official. Those newcomer challengers are Brandon Flanagan, Julie Ann Olson, Scott Odenbach, and Mary Fitzgerald.
Mary Fitzgerald happens to be the wife of John H. Fitzgerald, who happens to be the state’s attorney of Lawrence County. Their son John M. Fitzgerald happens to practice law in Rapid City and happens to be the attorney for the Black Hawk plaintiffs suing Hammock et al. Fitzgerald is eagerly recruiting more Black Hawk clients with We’ll see which Fitzgerald puts the bigger hole in Dayle’s heart: mother Mary next Tuesday with Lawrence County voters or son John in the coming months with Meade County jurors.
Political Bonus: By including the state among the defendants, the plaintiffs raise the prospect of seeing John M. Fitzgerald going head to head in court with Jason Ravnsborg, the legal lightweight whom GOP delegates nominated for attorney general in 2018 over John’s far more experienced dad. Watching Ravnsborg get crushed again in court, this time by one of his direct 2018 rivals, could set the stage for a Krebs/Gant-2013-style ouster of the boy blunder currently underrepresenting South Dakota in court.
Correction and Update 2020.05.27 05:49 CDT: I originally mistakenly identified the plaintiffs’ lawyer as Mary’s husband, John H. Fitzgerald, who is still awfully busy serving Lawrence County. I have corrected the reference and regret the error.
The Fitzgerald Firm offers potential litigants a slideshow on the Black Hawk mine’s ownership history, the firm’s record of successful lawsuits, and a contingency fee schedule indicating that, if they win, Team Fitzgerald could take home up to $30 million:
The political football fumble will have the rookie Ravansborg lateraling off to the well heeled, snappy dresser Jackley, to try to get a first down, but alas, a punt will be needed. Plaintiffs win!!
I told you fellows all some time ago that Mr. Hammock had green signs with his name strung between two trees, and people did not believe grudznick. Now Mr. H posts a picture of it. If Mr. H let bloggers post pictures here in the bloggings I could have sent you a picture of Mr. Hammock himself, swinging the bar to drive the pipes into the ground.
As to the suit, Mr. Ravnsborg will have to defer to the real lawyers. grudznick submits that Mr. Ravnsborg being involved in a kerfluffel like this is like that basketball fellow, Mr. Jordan, that everybody is all a-tingle about these days, playing marbles with one thumb tied behind his back in the middle of a Houston Oilers real-American-Football game.
According to today’s (Wednesday) RC Journal report on the details of the lawsuit, it appears that Plaintiff’s attorneys disagreed with my analysis regarding the tort of fraud. I saw multiple references to negligence and breach of contract claims, but nothing relating to any fraud tort claim nor mention of the affirmative written false representation that no mine or mining activity existed on the property as reported by a reader of DFP in a comment to the earlier DFP story.
Possibilities for this omission include: the reporter missed that part of the lawsuit; I was mistaken in my analysis; the facts were not as represented by the DFP commentor; or the Plaintiffs’ attorneys overlooked this particular cause of action.
Let the finger pointing begin!!! I just love me some law-yahs, and there is going to be a whole stew of them before this one is over. Ya think anyone is going to do the right thing and admit their part in this little caper, pay the full costs to the suckers, er…residents. You think honesty and good Christian values will prevail? This IS South Dakota, remember. When has any scammer in South Dakota been held fully accountable?
This is the civil suit. I want to know when criminal charges are going to be filed, because there certainly had to be a lot of conspiracy and fraud going on with a wink and a nod from all the “officials” and “engineers” and “real estate agents” and “law-yahs” involved in this mess That crook Hammock ought to be stringing his name between prison bars, not Ponderosa pine.
Bearcreekbat, I wonder if this is just an initial filing, and the hammer will come down later, after some discovery unmasks the entire mess. I also wonder if Fitzgerald is the best attorney in this situation. He’s too establishment. I’d rather have a Duffy, Leach or Ellison for the plaintiffs, a “two-fisted, double-jointed rough and ready man” as the song goes, or a similar female who will grab ’em by the nuts and pull them right off. I suppose the plaintiffs want their money so they can get on with their lives, and I suppose any attorney willing to play nice will get most if not all of that from someone. The fact that the state is up to their eyeballs in this means they aren’t going to do justice. This whole thing is SO South Dakota. It’s why I left.
There’s too many goddam John Fitzgerald’s to keep straight, Cory.
The eldest JF, now deceased, but the father and grandfather of the other two JFs, was a mob attorney in Boston. He delivered lively stories, probably mostly true, in his deep Boston accent about his experience being a mob attorney. He related his life was threatened once. I guess the lifestyle of a mob lawyer comes with too many drawbacks, so he moved to South Dakota. It was a different class of criminals here. His most controversial defendant that I knew about was Ben Munson, Rapid City doctor who performed abortions, along with many more deliveries. One of the abortions went horribly wrong. Attorney General Janklow brought a largely political case, which Fitz had no trouble defending. Liz, my sweetie, was on the jury pool, but Fitz struck her because she admitted she would be disturbed by graphic pictures of bloody fetuses. It wasn’t because of the fetuses. She just doesn’t like to see a lot of blood. At any rate, she answered honestly without being allowed to explain, and was struck. Fitz, apparently learning something from his mob defendant days, realized most people are swayed by the prosecution’s bloody picture exhibits. At any rate, the Judge realized Janklow’s case was non-existent, dismissed it, and Ben was free to become a friend of mine a few years later when he had mellowed and become a sweet old man.
Ben and I always discussed that Fitz was two different people in our lives. Ben loved Fitz. I thought he was a snake. But we agreed he was a character.
To me Fitz was the guy most responsible for long-drawn out Lonetree dump controversy, as well as the Gilt Edge Mine Superfund Site. He might have been a good defense attorney, but he was horrible as a member of the Board of Minerals and Environment.
it’s possible the eldest Fitzgerald might have been on the Board of Minerals and Environment when that mine was permitted or when it was released from permit. We’ll see how deeply discovery goes into the history of that mine, and the Fitzgerald family’s connection to it.
So where is drumpf wannabe Noem to declare this a hoax and all fake news?
Well Cory, just don’t be taking any fashion advice from young John, cufflinks or not. Josh…;)
My popcorn is popping. I’m ready!
Donald, another powerful attorney who had a reputation for being able to properly value a case was Frank Wallahan (RIP). There was a story about him taking over a case where the client’s original attorney urged them to accept a $40,000 settlement offer from an insurance company. Frank was said to have convinced his clients the case was worth substantially more and ultimately won a jury award of $400,000 for that family.
The story that I heard about the senior Fitzgerald was not that he was threatened, but that his car was bombed which seriously injured him. This would certainly have been a pretty good reason to get the heck out of Boston if true. Another fairly well known Fitzgerald client was reputed to be Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was arrested for heroin possession in Rapid City in 1983. In Fitzgerald’s later years as a circuit court he focused a great deal of his attention on protecting children from abuse and neglect.
As for the Black Hawk case, it is entirely possible that discovery may lead to amended or additional claims seeking punitive damages. Today’s RC Journal reports that several years ago RC Attorney Arron Eiesland represented a Hideaway Hills family in a lawsuit against a developer for failing to disclose the mine and uncovered a prior disclaimer identifying the problem, but alleged his clients never saw the disclaimer. If this disclaimer was in fact hidden from officials and consumers it would seem to give weight to my earlier fraud analysis.
Donald, great analysis. The plaintiffs have to ride the horse they brought. He had to refile the suit already due to a “technicality”. This case runs the risk of being decided on civil procedure, or the absence of it, alone.
Debbo, pop up a double batch of that kettle corn.
Bearcreekbat, Come to think of it, I did hear the bombing story, too, but not from him. From others, which I had forgotten. When I heard him discus it, it was “My life was threatened.”
One thing keeps clicking in my synapses about the JF who is the attorney in this case. Did he work in Meade County as some sort of attorney for the county, maybe States Attorney for a short time? I know he worked/works in Lawrence County, but I just have this nagging memory of him in Meade County.