Teehee.
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Originally posted on freep.com »
Judge dismisses Kwame Kilpatrick’s text message lawsuit against Skytel
9:28 PM, Jan. 10, 2012
A federal judge in Mississippi today dismissed ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s lawsuit against Skytel, the City of Detroit’s former communications provider, for releasing the text messages that brought about his downfall.
U.S. District Judge William Barbour Jr. of Jackson, Miss., said Kilpatrick filed an amended lawsuit there in March 2010 without first getting court approval to do so, as required by Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure.
Barbour kicked the case back to a state court in Hinds County, where Kilpatrick could fight the legal battle. The case conceivably could wind up back in federal court.
The case was scheduled to go to trial Jan. 30 trial in federal court.
There was no immediate comment from lawyers for Kilpatrick or Skytel.
Kilpatrick sued Skytel for invasion of privacy and violation of the federal Stored Communications Act for releasing text messages to Royal Oak attorney Michael Stefani in response to a subpoena in a police whistleblower lawsuit.
Stefani requested the messages after a Wayne County Circuit Court jury in 2007 awarded a $6.5-million judgment to two cops who said Kilpatrick and his chief of staff, Christine Beatty, ruined their careers for asking questions about a rumored wild party at the mayoral Manoogian mansion in the fall of 2002.
Stefani used the messages to leverage an $8.4-million settlement of the case in question and a second lawsuit involving another cop.
In January 2008, the Free Press published excerpts from text messages that showed Kilpatrick and Beatty lied at the whistleblower trial about their intimate relationship and misled jurors about the firing of one of the cops. The newspaper has never said how it obtained text messages.
Kilpatrick and Beatty subsequently were charged with perjury, pleaded guilty in the case and served time in jail. Beatty resigned shortly after the scandal broke. Kilpatrick’s plea deal required him to resign.
Contact DAVID ASHENFELTER: dashenfelter@freepress.com.
