LOUISIANA STOLEN COMPUTERS LEAD TO CLOSING OF LAW FIRM 2theadvocate.com News Lawsuit filings document end of BR law firm: "Lawsuit filings document end of BR law firm
By ADRIAN ANGELETTE
Advocate staff writer
Published: Mar 12, 2006

During the good times, the DeSalvo and Harris law partnership crowed of having a winning combination: the attack dog and the bookworm.

Those days are gone because the two Baton Rouge lawyers no longer work together. And while law partnerships come and go on a regular basis, the circumstances that led to this split are far from run-of-the-mill.

Allegations of one lawyer wiretapping his partner and scheming with a secretary to steal clients has taken a once prominent Baton Rouge law firm and reduced it to rubble.

The breakup of the law firm has also landed in court with Jack Patrick Harris claiming that Vincent P. DeSalvo not only wiretapped Harris’ phones and schemed with Harris’ former secretary to steal clients, but DeSalvo has locked Harris out of the office.

And when Harris’ clients came calling, DeSalvo told them that Harris had quit practicing law, had given up on the client’s lawsuit, and even offered bribes to some clients to get them to sign DeSalvo on as their attorney and dump Harris, according to a lawsuit filed by Harris.

“The ulterior motive was to unethically absorb the caseload of Harris, financially cripple Harris and seal the coffin,” the lawsuit claims.

DeSalvo vehemently denies the claims in his answer to the lawsuit. In fact, DeSalvo has countersued, claiming that Harris was evicted from the office because he had abandoned his job and was no longer contributing to the partnership.

Harris had fired his entire secretarial staff, was no longer generating cases, and was mishandling those that he had obtained before being locked out in September, DeSalvo claims. Harris also loaned more than $450,000 to clients who had “no viable cause of action,” DeSalvo says in his countersuit.

DeSalvo did not return phone messages at his office left by The Advocate.

Harris also is on disability status with the Louisiana Supreme Court. He said Friday that stress created by the ordeal with DeSalvo led Harris’ doctor to recommend that he take some time off. He also said it will take time to unravel the financial problems.

“I believed in my heart that Vince would never do anything like this,” Harris said. Harris declined any further comment about the case, saying the petition speaks for itself.

According to Harris’ suit, the ordeal began when he discovered more than $100,000 was stolen from his law account over a five-year period by Darnell Owens, Harris’ long-time secretary. The lawsuit also alleges that Owens was involved in a conspiracy with DeSalvo to steal clients from Harris.

For directing the clients to DeSalvo, Owens would get a share of the attorney fees, Harris claims in the suit.

Problems in the partnership ratcheted up on Aug. 13 when Harris found that his computers had been sabotaged, destroying years of records, client lists, court calendars and legal forms, the suit claims.

“The only plausible conclusion circumstantially …is that (DeSalvo) directly orchestrated the theft and sabotage of data,” Harris claims.

Harris said he confronted DeSalvo about the computer problems, but DeSalvo had a “cavalier” attitude and refused to report the incident to police.

A month later, Harris attempted to go to work and discovered that DeSalvo had changed all of the locks to the law office at 7918 Wrenwood Blvd. Harris was leasing space from DeSalvo.

Since being locked out of the office, Harris has been unable to get to his equipment, furniture, law library, files or anything else he needs to practice law.

Desalvo “has aggressively pursued (Harris) in an attempt to financially crush his ability to practice law or maintain relationships with any existing clients,” Harris claims in the suit.

The suit also claims that for years, possibly dating back to 1990, DeSalvo has wiretapped Harris’ telephone conversations at work. More recently, the wiretapping has expanded to include off-site cell phone conversations as well communications made via Harris’ home telephone and home computer.

Harris’ “every communication was under direct surveillance” by DeSalvo, the lawsuit says.

On one occasion, Harris claims DeSalvo came to Harris’ home and for 30 minutes was screaming and honking his horn. The ordeal ended only when Harris called police, but DeSalvo left before police arrived.

“DeSalvo’s office intercepted the call (to police) and telephoned DeSalvo, warning him in time to flee the premises prior to the arrival of authorities,” Harris maintains in the suit.

Harris is seeking damages for several items, including a refund of $156,500 he has paid in rent to DeSalvo over the years. He also is seeking $100 for each day that DeSalvo wiretapped his phones — or a minimum of $547,500. Harris also wants legal fees he claims are due.

In addition, Harris claims he deserves “special damages” because the ordeal has caused him to lose his $400,000 home, his car, $300,000 in retirement funds, and general pain and suffering.

In his reply, DeSalvo claims the allegations are “scandalous,” the allegations are not backed by fact and he calls for sanctions to be imposed against Harris because the “outright lies” have caused emotional distress.
DeSalvo didn’t stop there.

DeSalvo claims Harris breached his contractual duties as a partner by taking on cases outside the partnership. He also alleges that Harris stole computer equipment and files from the law offices.

Harris also deliberately failed to attend a hearing or file the necessary briefs in a case, resulting in a client’s case being dismissed, DeSalvo says in his suit. That has resulted in a lawsuit by the client against Harris and DeSalvo, the countersuit claims.

Harris also hurt the partnership financially by loaning more than $450,000 to 17 people, one of whom was not even a client of DeSalvo and Harris, DeSalvo’s lawsuit claims.

Additionally, DeSalvo claims that Harris could be liable for the actions of his secretary — Darnell Owens — because Harris failed to supervise her properly while she was his employee.

Owens has a May 17 trial date scheduled on the felony theft charge, but prosecutor Brandon Fremin said the matter remains under investigation.

In a police affidavit, Owens admits that she wrote checks to herself from company accounts without the permission or authorization from Harris. Owens said she wrote the checks to pay for her gambling problem, the affidavit says.

The lawsuits have been assigned to state District Judge Wilson Fields. No trial date has been set.