Kilpatrick lawyers seek $100M from SkyTel for violation of his rights
By Suzette Hackney • Free Press Staff Writer • March 9, 2009
Attorneys for ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick today sent a letter to SkyTel – the city’s onetime communications provider – demanding $100 million and charging that the company violated Kilpatrick’s privacy and constitutional rights.
A so-called demand letter is often the precursor to a person seeking damages through civil litigation.
The letter, sent by Florida attorney Willie Gary and Detroit attorney James Thomas, claims that Skytel violated various state and federal statutes, including the Stored Communications Act, by unlawfully releasing the text messages that spawned the scandal that ended Kilpatrick’s mayoral career. The Free Press broke the scandal in January of last year after obtaining messages that showed Kilpatrick and his top aide, Christine Beatty, lied at a police whistleblower trial.
Reached by the Free Press this afternoon, Thomas referred calls to Gary.
“Everyone is entitled to privacy as given to us by the U.S. Constitution and other laws that govern this great nation,” Gary said in a statement. “My client’s constitutional rights have been violated in the worst of ways, and we are merely seeking justice. We aren’t asking for any favoritism, we just want justice.”
Gary's career has been profiled on "60 Minutes" and in "The New Yorker," while his waterfront mansion and twin Bentleys have been chronicled on "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" and on his Web site, www.williegary.com.
He has not yet returned a call to the Free Press seeking additional comment.
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