Published: May 05, 2006 03:04 pm      

Cooper sues Jacobi, Vissing for defamation

Judicial nominee’s husband says he’ll ‘take every dime I can’

Embattled Clark Superior Court No. 1 Judge Jerome F. Jacobi took another hit late Monday afternoon when the husband of his primary election opponent sued him and supporter Jack Vissing for defamation of character.

Jeffersonville attorney Lonnie Cooper claims his “personal and professional reputations have been damaged” by comments Jacobi and Vissing made against him in defense of Jerry Lemmons, Jacobi’s former chief of staff.

Cooper is the husband of Jeffersonville City Court Judge Vicki Carmichael, who beat Jacobi by nearly 1,200 votes in Tuesday’s Democratic Party primary. Jacobi was elected to the bench in 1994 and again in 2000.

Cooper said he filed the suit in Clark Circuit Court at around 4:30 p.m. Monday. He said he tried to arrange the timing of the filing so that it would be almost impossible for news of the action to reach the media until after the election, something he said Carmichael insisted upon.

“It isn’t about the election,” Cooper said during a telephone interview Thursday. “I will only take so many shots to my integrity.”

A woman who answered the phone in Clark Superior Court No. 1 on Thursday said Jacobi will not return to the office until Monday.

During a telephone interview on Thursday afternoon, Vissing said he had not seen the suit but called it “incredible.”

“I always thought truth was a defense,” Vissing said.

Lemmons, who is either 71 or 81 depending on reports, resigned as Jacobi’s chief of staff Feb. 8, but is under investigation by Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Stan Levco. The investigation is the result of at least two former Clark Superior Court No. 1 employees accusing Lemmons of inappropriately receiving, handling and depositing fees collected; committing theft; engaging in ghost employment; and using public funds for personal purposes.

Levco is scheduled to meet with a special grand jury May 25 to seek indictments against one or more unnamed targets.

Cooper’s name has been associated with two issues that have surfaced as part of the investigation into Lemmons’ alleged behavior.

Last year, court funds were allegedly used to pay a $265 bill for baseball caps and T-shirts for Cooper’s campaign for sheriff. Cooper, who ultimately decided not to run in this year’s primary, eventually paid the bill himself after learning that court funds might have been utilized to pay for the campaign materials.

Cooper also served as an unpaid volunteer providing legal advice to a pair of not-for-profit corporations that had been established to support Teen Court, a program that has served more than 6,000 youths since Jacobi founded it. Vissing and Jacobi have made public claims that Cooper failed to properly advise Lemmons on bookkeeping matters, but Cooper contends he repeatedly recommended that Lemmons seek the advice of a certified public accountant.

Cooper said he believes Jacobi and Vissing have orchestrated their responses to questions from the public and media about Levco’s investigation of Lemmons in an effort to use Cooper to hurt Carmichael’s election bid.

“I think they have developed this in concert for their own personal and political gain,” Cooper said.

“I simply answered questions,” Vissing said. “I don’t see how I could have defamed him.”

In his suit, Cooper does not specify the damages he is seeking.

“If they don’t admit what they said is not true, I’ll take every dime I can,” Cooper said.

The law generally protects judges and lawyers from defamation actions, but Cooper’s suit argues that those privileges are not applicable in this case because Jacobi’s and Vissing’s comments were made “with actual malice or reckless disregard as to the truth.”

The state’s Code of Judicial Conduct generally bars judges from commenting on pending criminal investigations and cases.