Thread: Minutemen open new front against lawyers

Minutemen open new front against lawyers

Group claims attorneys withheld state settlement money

By MARK WALKER - mlwalker@nctimes.com
December 14, 2009 6:20 pm | (9) Comments

The San Diego Minutemen are at war again, this time with the attorneys who represented them in a successful signage battle with the California Department of Transportation.

The anti-illegal immigration group filed a complaint Oct. 30 with the Carlsbad Police Department contending the firm of Kaloogian and Fuselier won't hand over nearly $100,000 the Minutemen won from the state in a fight over an Adopt-a-Highway cleanup sign.

Minutemen founder Jeff Schwilk said Monday the group was supposed to receive $97,000 from the $157,500 it won from Caltrans after a judge ruled the state agency acted improperly when it refused to permit the Minutemen's name on the sign near the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 5 in North County. The remainder was supposed to satisfy attorneys fees.

"They think that because some other money is owed in a personal case of mine that they can just take this money," Schwilk said. "We want them to pay the money."

The personal case was a reference to an unrelated defamation suit Schwilk recently lost to a woman named Joanne Yoon. He was ordered to pay her $135,000 in that matter. A judge ruled the woman cannot recover any of that money from the state settlement.

Repeated attempts to reach Howard Kaloogian, a conservative former state Assemblyman from San Marcos, or partner Robert Fuselier were unsuccessful. Numerous messages seeking comment were not returned.

Schwilk went public with the dispute Monday, issuing a news release saying the Minutemen had filed criminal charges against the Carlsbad law firm.

The complaint filed with Carlsbad Police was investigated, but the dispute is not considered a criminal matter, said Investigations Commander Kelly Cain.

"Our detective made a couple of calls and learned the attorneys have put the check into escrow and that litigation is pending," Cain said. "We consider it a civil matter."

The Minutemen won the $157,500 settlement after arguing its constitutional rights were violated when the state took down the Adopt-a-Highway cleanup sign near the San Onofre immigration checkpoint two years ago.

When they made that move, state officials said they feared confrontations and offered to move the Minutemen sponsorship to a site near Santee.

The Minutemen said Caltrans was bowing to political pressure because the state Latino Legislative Caucus and immigrants-rights activists had urged that the permit be revoked.

When the case was settled during talks mediated by a federal judge three months ago, Caltrans agreed to pay up, apologize and get the activist group two signs advertising its volunteer trash pickup efforts.

Schwilk said numerous attempts to resolve the matter with Kaloogian and Fuselier have been unsuccessful. In addition to holding onto the entire settlement, he said the attorneys were paid $45,000 to represent the Minutemen against the state.

A copy of the settlement check sent to the newspaper shows it was made out to the Minutemen and the attorneys. Without the money, Schwilk said his nonprofit group is deprived of funds to "fight for secure borders, safer communities and to help elect strong border security candidates."

If the matter cannot be resolved, Schwilk said the Minutemen may file a civil suit.

Call staff writer Mark Walker at 760-740-3529.

http://nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/ ... 3e376.html

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