A new report from Legal Schnauzer focuses on why Joann Bashinsky, the widow of the founder of Golden Flake Foods, was allegedly mislead by Balch & Bingham’s partner Amy Adams and forced into a court ordered guardianship and conservatorship by Judge Alan L. King.
The conclusion is simple: Mrs. B’s enormous wealth. She is worth $218 million.
What we do know is that Balch was going to bill Mrs. B at $425 an hour, according to audio recordings published by Alabama Today.
However, Legal Schnauzer writes:
A legal source spells out in stark terms the law and math in the Bashinsky case, while also providing insight into Alabama’s nasty courtroom culture:
Judge King completely ignored the letter of Ms. Bashinsky’s personal physician of five years and instead used a report from a Dr. Carolyn Harada to declare her incompetent and appointed a conservator so that the conservator could hire out Balch and Bingham as the conservator’s attorney and they could all claim a fee of 4 percent of her $218-million estate–a total of almost $9 million and a complete scam. I wonder how much of that fee was going back to Judge King as a reward for his dirty deed.
Our source has little doubt about what drove judge King’s retirement:
Judge King has resigned over the leaked Bashinksy tapes. I do not think he wants the FBI investigating how much of that 4-percent fee, which he was going to award to Balch on Ms. Bashinsky’s $218-million net worth, was [allegedly] going to be kicked back to him.
Judge King abruptly announced his retirement on Sunday just hours after damning audio files were posted by media outlet Alabama Today. (Audio files can be heard here.)
Now federal investigators appear to have 9 million reasons to investigate Judge King, Balch partner Amy Adams, and the Conservator of Jefferson County, Greg Hawley, a friend of Judge King who appointed Hawley Conservator in 2013.
Thankfully for Mrs. B and the rule of law, the Alabama Supreme Court stayed all actions on this case in January, a major setback to Balch and company.
