Personal Injury Law

Stewart Parnell, et al - Have You No Shame? Like Vultures on a Carcass

By Bill Marler, Esq.

Coming up on about a year ago the CDC announced that Peanut Corporation of America was responsible for sickening over 700 and killing at least nine.  In hearings before the United States House of Representatives, peanut butter with Salmonella positive test results where shown to be knowingly shipped by Stewart Parnell and others.  Now the Lynchburg News Advance reports that, like vultures on a carcass, the "executives and former managers of the now-bankrupt company ... [are] fighting among themselves for a piece of a $1 million corporate insurance policy."  Here are the details:

- PCA President Stewart Parnell had demanded $951,000 of the $1 million policy for his legal defense;

- Former Blakely plant manager Samuel Lightsey asked for $500,000 for his defense in an ongoing criminal investigation;

- David Royster III and David Royster IV, former members of the PCA board of directors, asked to have unspecified funds reserved for their use; and

- Joe Sams, a former Blakely plant manager, and Mary Wilkerson, a former Blakely quality assurance manager, asked for $182,000 for legal costs.

So, to date no criminal prosecution of the above (so what exactly have their attorneys been doing?) and not a penny has made it into the hands of the true victims of this horrific food poisoning outbreak.  Stewart Parnell, et al - Have you no shame?

Full post as published by Marler Blog on December 09, 2009 (boomark / email).