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Embattled Southern Law Professor wants $10,000 for drafting questionable will

6 years 8 months 5 days ago Thursday, August 10 2017 Aug 10, 2017 August 10, 2017 4:33 PM August 10, 2017 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE- Embattled and suspended Southern University Law Professor Dorothy Jackson wants $10,000 for her services after she drafted a will that was called into question for an elderly client at the Council on Aging.

Those revelations were revealed in court today at a hearing over Helen Plummer's estate. As recent as last week, an email chain went out from the paralegal of a court appointed executor saying they received an invoice from Jackson.

That email reads, "...She (Dorothy Jackson) submitted a claim for attorneys fees of $9,000 and court costs of $1,000. She is willing to not get paid her $9,000 if we just reimburse her the court costs that she advanced of $1,000. If all don't agree then David Koch will have to file a formal motion with the court and that will incur David's attorneys fees and court costs of probably about $500. We are thinking that it is not worth those fees and to pay Dorothy the $1,000 that she advanced for court fees."

Jackson got into trouble after she wrote the will for Helen Plummer who was attending the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging. That will would have benefited the Executive Director of the COA, Tasha Clark Amar to the tune of over $100,000. Today, we learned how much Jackson wanted for her role in it.

"It's shocking to me because it was brought to us that this was done at the Southern University Law Center Elder Law Clinic for the indigent," Tracie Davis, Helen Plummer's granddaughter said. "Those services are supposed to be free. I'm not understanding why now there's a bill or request for reimbursement."

When the Plummer family received the email, they asked to see the invoice. Aside from the email above, that invoice was not turned over.

"The dilemma these people face is once again they are hiding the baby, like a king cake," Robert Garrity, the Plummer Family attorney said. "Mr. Koch got a letter from Ms. Jackson, but now he can't show the letter because it's confidential. It's a request for fees charged against the estate. It should be filed in the record."

Garrity is from the New Orleans area and is now representing the Plummer family. He says he's never seen anything like this case before in his decades practicing law.

"I'm from Jefferson Parish, we have our problem with corruption alright," Garrity said. "This is insane. This is absolutely unbelievable that it's even being entertained. When you turn the light on, cockroaches run. I don't understand why we are still here. There's not a single person in Baton Rouge that believes this will is legitimate."

Tonight, Garrity and the Plummer family want to know what exactly Jackson expects to be paid for, after her actions were called into question for what she did.

"I'm not sure what she considers her attorneys fees to be, because I'm not sure an attorney even acts in the manner that she acted," Davis said. "I don't know what she wants to be compensated for."

"I don't understand why the District Attorney is not involved in this case," Garrity said. "This is fraud and corruption, and it's fraud and corruption involving the elderly which makes it even worse."

This week, WBRZ and The Advocate sued Southern University after it refused to produce documents related to the investigation it completed into Jackson's actions. Meanwhile, all sides involved in Helen Plummer's estate are due back in court at the end of the month in hopes of settling the estate case. The Plummer family is still being sued by Tasha Clark Amar for defamation, after they did interviews about what she did to them. That case is still pending.

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