Newsroom - September 2008

Parker Hudson represented a bank client in trial in Athens, Georgia. The Plaintiff, an obstetrics and gynecology practice, sued our client in April 2005 after the Plaintiff's office manager had embezzled over $100,000 over the course of almost two years by forging checks made payable to herself and her horse ranch. The Plaintiff claimed our client was responsible for its losses because they paid the checks forged by the office manager and permitted the office manager to make advances on Plaintiff's line of credit account with the bank. With our assistance, our client counterclaimed against Plaintiff for the almost $120,000 that Plaintiff still owed to the bank on its line of credit.

The trial team, originally composed of Nancy Baughan and Trish Treadwell, expanded to add Bill Holley as the trial date neared. The attorneys were ably assisted by paralegal, Whitney Taylor.

Trish Treadwell (as lead counsel) and Bill Holley argued that our client should not be held responsible for Plaintiff's losses, which were caused by Plaintiff's rogue employee and Plaintiff's complete failure to supervise that employee or review its own financial records.

While Ms. Treadwell cross–examined the Plaintiff's owner and direct–examined several bank witnesses, including the corporate representative, Mr. Holley handled two former bank employees and the expert witnesses, including a blistering cross examination of Plaintiff's accounting expert. In a surprise twist, the office manager, who had been named as a defendant, but had been uninvolved throughout the three years of litigation, appeared at the trial and even provided some testimony, all of which proved helpful to our client.

In the end, after several hours of jury deliberation, our client defeated Plaintiff's claims and won a complete jury verdict in its favor against Plaintiff for the amount owed on its loan and statutory attorneys' fees.