Contract posted below.
The Mississippi Department of Human Services issued the following statement.
The Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) received approval today from the Mississippi State Personnel Board to proceed with engaging the Jones Walker law firm to move forward with civil litigation filed on behalf of MDHS in May of this year to recover TANF funds from 38 parties named as defendants in the pending lawsuit.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch had already approved the proposed contract with Jones Walker.
“This litigation must go forward to accomplish our stated goal of recovering and returning to the taxpayers the millions of dollars in misspent TANF funds," said Bob Anderson, Executive Director of MDHS. "MDHS has selected Jones Walker, a firm of some 370 attorneys with offices and professionals in eight states and the District of Columbia, to continue with this important litigation. After talking with a number of firms, many of whom had conflicts with taking on this work, we selected Jones Walker because they are, in our view, the firm best suited to handle this matter and move it forward by continuing to evaluate claims against additional parties, written discovery, depositions, trial, and appeal, if necessary."
Jones Walker has been named by BTI Consulting Group as part of its Client Service A-Team, but also, the Jackson Office has many fine lawyers who are well-qualified to handle this litigation.
Kaytie Pickett and Adam Stone, who will lead the Jones Walker team representing MDHS, focus their practices on complex commercial litigation and have handled high-profile, challenging, and large commercial cases in a number of states. Both are leaders in the American Bar Association in public contract and procurement law. Kaytie Pickett is Vice-Chair of the Public Contract Committee in the State and Local Government Section of the ABA, and Adam Stone is Vice-Chair of the State and Local Procurement Law Division of the ABA.
“While Brad Pigott initiated and prepared the original complaint in this case, we believe that Jones Walker is who we need to finish the process of getting to final judgment and recovery of funds. They have a deep bench and are well acquainted with complex electronic discovery platforms, which will be crucial in a case like this involving hundreds and thousands of documents. We look forward to working with the team at Jones Walker,” Anderson concluded.
This new contract allows MDHS to effectively represent the State’s interests and to recoup the funds for the people of Mississippi. Our commitment is to complete transparency.
MDHS is even more resolved to move the agency forward by continuing to help Mississippi families by providing tangible help today to create a lasting hope for tomorrow.
Kingfish note: Posted below is the unexecuted contract. Highlights:
*The contract term runs from August 19, 2022 to July 31, 2023.
* The amount of the contract is $400,000. Jones Walker shall submit a monthly invoice to the Attorney General and DHS for payment. Both agencies have to approve payment.
* Kaytie Pickett is the lead attorney.
24 comments:
What about the motion filed by Jim Waide against Tater to determine if Pigott was unlawfully fired?
Who is BTI Consulting and what do they do? Even after looking at their website I am still not sure.
It's coming. I'm writing my own post on that motion, not playing follow the leader and reprinting someone else's stuff.
I want to know who they expect to make a monetary recovery from?
The Jones Walker Jackson office has good transactional lawyers. None of them give decent lawyers heartburn in the courtroom.
That $400K will buy about 4 months of work-
400k is a drop in this bucket. Fees will exceed 5 mill. You heard it here 1st
'Unlawfully fired'? ROFLMAO
Better than hiring Walker Jones
@12:17 4 months? That’s optimistic I saw them burn160k on a plaintiff over the 120k he was trying to recover and withdrew after plaintiff couldn’t pony up another 20k
There are lawyers who would do it for 25% of recovery
Waste of money
Good press release from MDHS ( blowing smoke up asses). And at the end of the release, it gave the approval process for payment. I’d like to know where was the approval process from John Davis and company in the largest Mississippi scandal that was approved and stole millions from the government!
Now, I ain’t no rocket scientist but, you don’t need the Mississippi public approval to spend money on these attorneys. We didn’t have it when you spent it on Nancy New and others!
Trying to be transparent and upfront, Right!
Big Government Agency, big Government coverup.
Doubt they'll leak to Anna Wolfe.
To reader whose comments I won't approve. Just relax and stay tuned. You were reading my mind.
News reports from the outset have said this is a $77 million scandal. Yet I just heard on the local news that this law firm's job is to help recover $24 million in misspent welfare funds. Is anyone trying to recover the full amount? Obviously I can't digest each & every development based on local TV news, someone please help.
I enjoyed a case with Adam Stone several years ago. Bright, studious, good communicator and analytical. He will do a good job for the state.
RMQ
The press release makes it sound like they will only be allowed to go after the 38 named defendants. Does that mean Souther Miss and Phil are off limits?
Wasn’t Piggott paid like $78,000 for 2 days short of one year’s work?
And seemed to really kick some tires, turn some stones…seemed to have a real handle on the whole thing?
The state won’t recover enough money to pay its legal fees!
I bet this civil proceeding only further exposes additional politicos and potentially exposes Shad White's initial audit report as well. Shad questioned basically every dollar DHS provided via TANF, without really confirming anything. He then followed it up with what is reportedly a limited and certainly not "independent" external audit report, one that looks suspect at this time. If the civil suit reveals some of the spending was proper and that certain people and entities were protected, how dos that make Shad look?
I am just going to assume that those thousands of dollars Jones Walker gave to Reeves had nothing to do with their selection.
"I bet this civil proceeding only further exposes additional politicos and potentially exposes Shad White's initial audit report as well. Shad questioned basically every dollar DHS provided via TANF, without really confirming anything. He then followed it up with what is reportedly a limited and certainly not "independent" external audit report, one that looks suspect at this time. If the civil suit reveals some of the spending was proper and that certain people and entities were protected, how dos that make Shad look?"
Word on the street is that between 2016-2020, the Mississippi Dept of Human Services had about 11,600 applicants for TANF benefits. The agency approved 167 out of 11,000. With the state supposedly returning the rest of the money to the feds.
What the hell does the State Personnel Board have to do with approving a contract with a law firm? Next we'll learn that the Black Caucus, The Board of Dental Examiners and the State Fire Marshal have signed off.
I'm also reading that Tate is calling the shots and is a potential target in the federal investigation. That's concerning.
PS: 12:54...Your 'word on the street' stats are bull shit. 167 are no doubt approved each month.
One of the reforms after the Chris Epps scandal was for the SPB to review all contracts or major contracts.
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