Kilpatrick sues Stefani over leaked text messages

Former mayor seeks $2.67M from lawyer to be paid to Detroit

Doug Guthrie / The Detroit News

Detroit --Kwame Kilpatrick on Wednesday sued the lawyer who gave the Detroit Free Press copies of text messages that showed the former mayor lied under oath.

That lawyer, Michael Stefani, later struck a deal with Kilpatrick to keep the messages secret.

After long denying he was the newspaper's source, Stefani admitted it under oath earlier this month at an Attorney Discipline Board hearing where he and lawyers who represented the city and Kilpatrick face charges of professional misconduct stemming from their handling of the text message settlement.

The lawsuit demands approximately $2.67 million to be paid to the city, not Kilpatrick. The figure is the amount agreed to as the penalty for violating the confidentiality agreement authored by Stefani.

"He was the source. He turned those materials over to the Free Press, and that was before he designated the confidentiality agreement," said Kilpatrick's lawyer James C. Thomas. "He held out on one hand that they were going to be confidential documents and on the other hand made them public. He knew he misled them."

When reached by telephone Wednesday at his office, Stefani did not comment on the lawsuit.

Publication of the messages by the Free Press in January of 2008 precipitated an investigation by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy that culminated with Kilpatrick's jailing and ouster from office. The messages showed Kilpatrick and his former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty lied under oath during the whistle-blower trial about their extramarital affair.

Stefani had represented three Detroit Police officers in a whistle-blower lawsuit where they claimed the Kilpatrick administration had retaliated against them for investigating potential misuse of the mayor's police body guard unit. Jurors on Sept. 11, 2007, found in the officers' favor and ordered the city to pay $6.5 million.

Kilpatrick had vowed to appeal, but quickly settled about a month later when Stefani told Kilpatrick's lawyer, Samuel McCargo, he had obtained the messages after the trial and planned to file them with the court. Stefani and McCargo both face professional ethics violations for failing to tell the judge about the messages, which the judge wanted to review first.

Suit cites 'unclean hands'

In the lawsuit, Stefani is accused of misleading Kilpatrick and the city's lawyers by promising to turn over "all" copies. The suit claims that the messages already had been given to "the media" and Stefani was able to "benefit from their unclean hands."

Stefani testified at his hearing on Oct. 8 that he gave the messages to Free Press reporter Jim Schaefer because he feared the messages might be destroyed and "would never see the light of day."

"That is a misrepresentation and a breech of the confidentiality agreement," Thomas said Wednesday. "Would there have been a settlement without the text messages? No."

Stefani had long denied he was the source, and McCargo's Attorney Discipline Board panel ruled on Monday that he lied twice while under oath when asked if he was the source.

The lawsuit is assigned to Wayne County Circuit Judge Robert Colombo Jr. No date has been set for hearings.

'He's delusional'

When Kilpatrick arrived at Detroit Metro Airport on Wednesday to prepare for today's court hearing over an alleged probation violation, Kilpatrick told Detroit News reporting partner WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) that he hoped to come back to Detroit.

"I think he's delusional if he thinks he can come back," said Steve Hood, a Detroit-based political consultant.

Consistent polls show the ex-mayor's negatives are so strong that they continue to harm the re-election efforts of his mother, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick, D-Detroit, Hood said.

Hood added that suing Stefani won't help his image.

"He thinks he can win people over again and he's going to lay the blame on anyone but himself," Hood said. "He's not going to change."

dguthrie@detnews.com (313) 222-2548 Detroit News Staff Writer David Josar contributed.