PANAMA CITY — The plaintiffs in a Bay County federal lawsuit against "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis say Francis is purposely ignoring court orders to produce discovery.
Rachael Pontikes, a Chicago lawyer, is representing four area girls who say they were 13 to 17 years old when filmed in 2003 by "Girls Gone Wild" in stages of undress or engaged in sexual activity.
Pontikes filed a motion Wednesday asking federal Magistrate Allan Kornblum to grant a default judgment in the case, essentially awarding the plaintiffs their damages, because Francis has failed to comply with four court orders to produce requested documents.
"No other sanction will be effective with these defendants," Pontikes wrote in her motion. "These defendants have made it very public through statements they have made in the press how much money they have and how monetary sanctions do not coerce them into compliance. This court has already noted how monetary sanctions carry little weight with these defendants."
On Feb. 11, Kornblum ordered Francis to turn over company records to the plaintiffs and said at that time if Francis and his company did not comply, Francis could face sanctions ranging from contempt to a default judgment.
Francis was found to be in contempt of federal court in April 2007 and jailed in Bay County for 35 days. The order also revoked his bail in a 2003 state criminal case and resulted in his incarceration in Nevada for 11 months leading up to a plea agreement last March.
Francis' former criminal defense attorney, Roy Black of Miami, has 5,000 pages of records from the criminal case copied and ready for the plaintiffs lawyers in the federal civil case, but his office has said Francis will not authorize their release. In his Feb. 11 order, Kornblum directed Black's firm to release the documents to Pontikes and her co-counsel.
Kornblum said Francis, who is on his third set of lawyers since this case began last year, cannot keep delaying because he is changing attorneys. Kornblum said Francis is ultimately responsible for providing the documents and said in an order this week that he is late in complying with the judge's Feb. 11 order.
Francis has said he cannot give the plaintiffs his company's financial documents because that would jeopardize his defense in an upcoming tax evasion trial in Los Angeles. He also has said in court documents that the plaintiffs' lawyers have not identified their clients and he cannot produce documents about them until he knows who the plaintiffs are.
On the same day Pontikes filed her motion for default judgment, Francis' new lawyer, Frederick Bateman of Tallahassee, asked Kornblum for an order protecting company trade secrets or confidential information from being disclosed to the plaintiffs. He said his review of the file has shown Francis and his prior attorneys have not ignored the judge's orders, but have argued against producing documents that could hurt Francis in his tax case or the company.
Bateman said his office is "reviewing and cataloging documents" in an effort to respond to the plaintiffs' discovery request.
He said in his motion that until the plaintiffs' lawyers identify who their clients are, Francis and his companies cannot respond to discovery requests related to these four girls.
Francis did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment Thursday morning.
