The original article can be found in: Virgin Island Daily News
A federal judge last month entered a $1.2 million default judgment against former Schneider Regional Medical Center chief executive Rodney Miller Sr. in a civil case brought by his former attorneys.
U.S. District Judge Curtis Gomez awarded Dudley, Clark and Chan a $1,211,534 judgment in a lawsuit the firm filed against Miller, alleging breach of contract and unjust enrichment.
Dudley Clark and Chan represented Miller in two criminal cases that went to jury trial, a successful appeal in the V.I. Supreme Court and various other motions, according to the judgment.
Miller, who was chief executive of Schneider Regional from May 2002 to November 2007, was charged in the two criminal cases in 2008.
In one, he was accused of fraud in connection with failing to disclose his bad conduct discharge from the Navy on his government job application. In the other, he is accused of a multitude of white collar crimes – including violating the territory’s anti-racketeering statute – with two other Schneider executives. They are accused of conspiring together to steal money from the hospital.
At trial, Miller was convicted of the fraud charge stemming from his government job application, but he successfully appealed to the V.I. Supreme Court. The V.I. Supreme Court threw out the conviction, finding that the three-year statute of limitations had expired when the charge was filed.
The other case led to a six-week trial two years ago that ended in a mistrial when a jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on any one of the 44 charges against Miller and his two co-defendants, Amos Carty Jr. and Peter Najawicz.
Prosecutors are planning to retry that case in a jury trial scheduled for October.Because violations of the Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act are among the charges against Miller in that case, some of Miller’s bank accounts and assets are frozen by court order to keep them within the government’s reach if he is convicted. The accounts initially were frozen in 2008.
Miller hired Dudley, Clark and Chan to represent him sometime around 2009 and executed a written retainer agreement with the firm, promising to pay the firm at various hourly rates in exchange for legal services, according to the judgment. He also promised to pay other expenses and costs related to the legal services, it says.
According to the judgment, Miller was in breach of his obligations under the agreement by August 2011. In September 2011, the firm filed the lawsuit. In December 2011, Superior Court Judge Michael Dunston granted the firm’s motion to withdraw from the case in which retrial is pending.
Although the court file indicates that Miller was served with the lawsuit, he has “failed to appear, answer or otherwise defend in this matter,” Gomez’ judgment states.
Dudley, Clark and Chan eventually moved for a default judgment against Miller, and it was granted.
According to the judgment, interest continues to accrue on the $1.2 million Miller owes.
Dudley, Clark and Chan is no longer doing business. The partners have formed new firms, according to Adriane Dudley, one of the partners.
She declined comment about the judgment.
Asked whether she thought she would ever see the money, she said, “The likelihood is not great, but one hopes.”
The Daily News was not successful in attempts to reach Miller.
Miller also is facing an additional criminal case in federal court that was unsealed in April. That case accuses him of fraudulently underreporting his income in his tax returns for two years during his tenure as Schneider chief executive.
In that case, the judge has appointed a federal public defender to represent Miller.
