By LARRY THOMAS
newsroom@newsandtribune.com
July 11, 2006 02:59 pm
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A Jeffersonville lawyer has been sued for defamation of character for the second time in about two months, with the latest suit coming after he implied that a New Albany developer bribes public officials to avoid environmental and drainage regulations.
Robert F. Lynn, CEO of New Albany’s Robert Lynn Company Inc., sued Jeffersonville attorney John R. “Jack” Vissing over a letter dated June 22 that Vissing sent to the attorney for the Clark County Drainage Board on behalf of a client who has been sued by the drainage panel.
In his letter, Vissing wrote, “There are other developers out there such as Mr. Lynn who pay money as bribes to avoid protecting the environment and our drainage problems within the community.”
Vissing’s letter does not provide specific allegations against Lynn.
Lynn’s suit was filed by attorney C. Greg Fifer on Monday in Clark Circuit Court. In his complaint, Lynn demands a jury trial and seeks unspecified damages.
A woman who answered the phone at Vissing’s home on Monday evening said he was not there. Fifer did not return a reporter’s call to his home.
In early May, Vissing and Clark Superior Court No. 1 Judge Jerome F. Jacobi were sued for defamation by attorney Lonnie Cooper. Cooper claims Vissing and Jacobi defamed him when they publicly defended Jerry Lemmons, Jacobi’s former chief of staff, from allegations of various crimes.
Cooper had served as an unpaid attorney for Jacobi’s Teen Court, and Vissing claimed that Lemmons’ would not have made mistakes related to the program’s finances had Cooper provided Lemmons with more thorough advice.
On May 26, a special grand jury concluded that there was enough evidence to charge Lemmons with failure to deposit public funds and three counts of theft but the panel declined to do so due to Lemmons’ failing health. Had indictments been returned, Lemmons could have faced 59 years in prison upon conviction.
Lemmons died on June 24.
Vissing is an assistant city attorney in Jeffersonville. Cooper is Charlestown’s city attorney and the husband of Jeffersonville City Court Judge Vicki Carmichael, who beat Jacobi in the May 2 Democrat primary for Clark Superior Court No. 1.
Lawsuits only represent the plaintiff’s version of a case’s facts.
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