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Stinging Slap Against Balch & Bingham Stooges in JeffCo
Even Balch & Bingham’s closest political allies have had enough of the bull. Balch & Bingham stooges in JeffCo who foolishly uploaded an incomplete certified record of appeal of the Newsome Conspiracy Case that was intentionally missing thousands of pages of Burt Newsome’s pleadings, defenses, and oral argument transcripts were given a stinging slap in the face by the Alabama Supreme Court. Forty-eight hours after Newsome filed a Motion for Extension of Time due to the unprofessional and unsavory tactics, the Alabama Supreme Court issued an order stating: IT IS ORDERED that the Motion is treated as a Motion to…
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Ugly! Roberson’s 90-year-old Mother-in-Law Targeted by Thugs
Anna Roberson’s mother went to school with Garry Drummond. Why in heaven’s name would anyone do an act of vandalism against a respected, elderly woman? The vicious diatribe and back-and-forth regarding the treatment of ex-Drummond executive David Roberson and his wife Anna has hit a new low. Anna Roberson’s 90-year-old mother returned to her home in Jasper last week after a hospital stay to find the windows of her home shattered, both in the front yard and backyard. Nothing was stolen from the home. Nothing. Was it a message of intimidation and fear? Last summer, thugs smashed the car window…
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One Year Later, Criminal Convictions Still Sting Balch & Bingham
Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of when both Balch & Bingham partner Joel I. Gilbert and Drummond Executive David Roberson were found guilty on all six federal criminal counts. And the stigma still stings Balch & Bingham. The firm has refused to apologize to the North Birmingham African-American community for Gilbert’s misconduct. Worse, Balch appears to be still engaging in alleged unsavory and foolish conduct. Examples: Look at Balch’s lack of integrity when they spliced and diced the law in a briefing in May before a judge in Roberson’s $50 million lawsuit against the firm and his former employer. Look at…
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Drummond, Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, RICO, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham
Have Balch and Drummond Agreed to a Murder-Suicide Pact?
Let’s first talk about Drummond Company. We have no bones to pick with Drummond; we believe the company was given bad legal advice by Balch & Bingham; and before the criminal trial we even thought that David Roberson could be acquitted. Then six-months after his criminal conviction and Drummond’s vow to support a “man of integrity,” Drummond fired David Roberson and 12 days later his charity of choice. Roberson filed a $50 million civil lawsuit against Balch and Drummond. Roberson is now considering singing like a canary and he probably has a stockpile of dry powder that federal investigators would love…
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Bombshell: Balch Stooges in JeffCo Try to Screw Newsome with Incomplete Record of Appeal
In what looks like a deliberate attempt to carry out another unbelievable act of injustice in the Newsome Conspiracy Case, the Circuit Court Clerk of Jefferson County left out thousands of pages of responses and transcripts from Burt Newsome’s defense. In a motion filed today with the Alabama Supreme Court, Newsome’s legal team writes: In volume 30 of the record of appeal, document numbers 1358 to 2110 from the Circuit Court are missing. These records contain all of Appellant’s responses to the defendants summary judgment motions that were filed by the as well as some other pleadings. The transcripts from the…
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Striking a Raw Nerve…
This weekend, our website was under fierce cyber attack with alerts coming multiple times. Yesterday, there were over 1,000 attacks in less than an hour. 257 attacks in 10 minutes from the Netherlands. We haven’t been under attack in over two years since June of 2017. What could have possibly spurred the renewed cyber attacks? Our reporting of Drummond Company’s cutting off David Roberson’s charity of choice only 12 days after firing him. The charity of choice was a school that helps special needs and autistic children. Besides the hackers, thousands of readers have also tuned in over the weekend.…
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Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, RICO, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham
Is Alabama Power’s Crosswhite in the DOJ Cross-hairs?
In Alabama, the plantation mentality wants everyone to stay in their place and to accept the injustice or unsavory conduct—quietly. Even if you are a success story and not from the gentry class, the people with the plantation mentality won’t accept you, especially if you are African-American. If ex-Drummond Vice President of Government Affairs David Roberson sings to the feds, who will be hurt the most in this evolving Greek tragedy? Alabama Power. And who would be in the DOJ’s cross-hairs? Most likely Mark Crosswhite, the current CEO of Alabama Power and a former long-time Balch & Bingham partner. In…
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Independence Day
Update from our post Tuesday about the shenanigans surrounding the over six-month delay in certifying the record regarding the Newsome Conspiracy Case appeal: In a swift and prompt rebuke of Balch & Bingham’s stooges, the Alabama Supreme Court issued an order yesterday extending Burt Newsome’s time to file his appeal brief until the end of July. The Newsome Conspiracy Case is not only an embarrassment to the once-prestgious silk-stocking law firm of Balch & Bingham, but to the entire Alabama judicial system because the Newsome matter appears to demonstrate blatant corruption, incompetence, and sheer injustice. Yesterday, the Alabama Supreme Court…
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Alabama Supreme Court Shenanigans
At 1:02 a.m. on Saturday, June 29, 2019, Burt Newsome was officially notified that the Clerk of Jefferson County had certified the record of appeal, six-months past the 28-day rule. As we reported, Balch & Bingham stooge Judge Carole Smitherman had her corrupt hand in the cookie jar behind this scripted delay of the appeal of the Newsome Conspiracy Case. In March, Smitherman even foolishly signed an illegal order granting the Clerk of Jefferson County more time to compile the record even though she, as a Circuit Court judge, had no authority to grant orders in a Supreme Court case.…
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Drummond, Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham
Roberson Preparing to Sing like a Canary
Facing 30 months in federal prison, bankruptcy, the loss of the family home, and the insurmountable emotional toll he and his family have suffered, ex-Drummond Commpany executive Dave Roberson is prepared to talk with federal prosecutors about the intricate details of the North Birmingham Bribery Scheme. Roberson never testified in his criminal trial and has never told anyone outside legal counsel about the meticulous and unsettling details. Just a few months back, Balch & Bingham and Drummond Company were not concerned because Roberson’s criminal lawyers were paid by Drummond and Balch’s grip on Jefferson County including federal probes was solid.…
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Will Crosswhite Reform Balch & Bingham?
[This post originally appeared on October 29, 2018. Now that Drummond and Balch & Bingham are in the midst of a $50 million lawsuit that could expose the ugly truth, will Crosswhite lead or not?] When Mark Crosswhite, the CEO of Alabama Power withdrew from the Business Council of Alabama (BCA) early this past summer, creating headlines, he wrote: “[W]e have become concerned that membership in BCA has become a liability rather than a benefit….To be candid, BCA has needlessly alienated federal and state officials, failed to communicate with its own members, squandered our collective corporate goodwill, allowed its financial…
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Where Have We Been?
We missed you, dear readers. We have had an intense week: meeting in the halls of power on Capitol Hill, and with respected investigative reporters and criminal investigators. Regardless of what Balch & Bingham foolishly continues to do or say, the fact remains that the fat lady has not sung. The Washington Post article on Balch & Bingham was a lightening rod. Doors have swung open as people hear in disbelief the stories of Burt Newsome, a staged arrest, a corrupt Star Chamber, “fall guy” Dave Roberson, and the deceptive pleadings by Balch & Bingham that appear to show a…
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Watch Out! $2,000 Bribe Lands Businessman 6 Months in Federal Prison
Breaking news tonight from AL.com: A California business executive was sentenced to six months in federal prison Tuesday for conspiring to bribe the former majority leader of the Alabama House of Representatives. G. Ford Gilbert, 71, paid former Alabama House Majority Leader Micky Hammon $2,000 to drum up support for a bill that would force Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama to cover diabetes treatment provided by his company, Trina Health. But the bill died in the 2016 legislative session after failing to advance out of committee. The judge overseeing the case ordered Gilbert to serve six months in federal…
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Update: Two Balch & Bingham Women, Two Races, Two Outcomes
The two Balch & Bingham female attorneys assigned as lead attorneys to the Newsome Conspiracy Case that left in the last month appear to have had different outcomes. According to our sources at Alabama Power, Katie C. Hill has joined Southern Nuclear as the Director of Compliance and Concerns. She will work most likely under Millicent Ronnlund, General Counsel for Southern Nuclear and a former Balch & Bingham partner whose husband, Robert M. Ronnlund, is a key figure in the Newsome Conspiracy Case. Robert M. Ronnlund appears to have engaged in alleged criminal obstruction of justice and alleged altering of…
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Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham
Do Black Women Need Not Apply at Balch & Bingham?
Of the 203 attorneys, staff, and partners we counted on Balch & Bingham’s webpage, only three are African-American women. Scattered each in a different regional office, none are located in Balch’s principal office in Birmingham. Kimberly Bell appears to have been the only African-American female attorney in Balch’s central office in Birmingham. No more we learned on Friday. This afternoon, we wrote to Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning thanking him for quietly distancing the utility from the embattled law firm and observing: We are sure the layoff or firing of the only African-American female attorney at Balch’s offices in Birmingham,…
