Sylvia Weatherford is begging a Perry County Chancellor for relief after her attorney, Corey Ferraez disappeared.
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| Corey Ferraez, Esq. (for now) Credit: WLBT |
Stephen Weatherford died in a car wreck. His wife, Sylvia, hired Ferraez to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit. The insurance company paid $450,000 to settle the case. Unfortunately, the grieving widow never got her money. She testified in Chancery Court neither Ferraez or his staff returned her phone calls.
Ferraez strung out the case in court until Chancellor Sheila Smallwood ordered him to appear at a show cause hearing on June 16 and explain what happened to the settlement proceeds. After the shyster failed to appear in court, Judge Smallwood ordered him to deposit $450,000 with the Court. The deadline came and went with no deposit although Ferraez filed a motion for reconsideration, claiming he missed the hearing due to a medical emergency. However, he did not provide any documentation of said emergency.
The Chancellor issued an arrest warrant for Corey Ferraez on June 20. The wayward attorney disappeared and is currently a fugitive from justice.
Ferraez might be on the lam but he somehow manage to respond in an emergency motion to vacate on June 25. The motion stated:
2. Ferraez has attempted to retrieve documents requested by the Court and apologizes for the delay given the change of firm entities and different bank accounts created for two separate entities, as well as ongoing medical issues. Within 24 hours of this filing, the amount of $214,831.23 will be deposited with the Court registry representing all remaining portions of the Estate funds following disbursements to Weatherford and the Court approved attorney’s fees and costs...
Although he stated he would not deposit the entire settlement amount, Ferraez justified the reduction. He said he "facilitated" pre-settlement loans of $42,190 to Mrs. Weatherford. The motion claims she borrwed another $40,000 from February 2024 to March 2025.
The defendant claims the court approved his 50% contingency fee in December 2019. However, he agreed to reduce his fees to 40%. Ferraez claims Mrs. Weathorford is entitled to only $214,831. He deposited a check for that amount with the Court.
The ploy did not work as Judge Smallwood did not rescind her order for his incarceration and depositing $450,000 with the Court.
A destitute Sylvia Smallwood filed a motion Friday for partial disbursement of the estate Friday. The widow asked for $20,000 to pay her bills such as mortgage, utilities, prescriptions, and living expenses.
The motion included an inventory of all liens against the estate or Ms. Weatherford. The inventory states Ferraez gave his client a $25,000 bad check in December 2024.
Judge Smallwood has not scheduled a hearing.
The Hattiesburg lawyer is under indictment for alleged embezzlement from clients and his former law firm as well. Although the indictments were served in 2021, the cases are still pending as Special Circuit Judge Forrest Johnson has not appointed a special prosecutor even though the prosecutor withdrew from the case over a year ago. Earlier post.
Kingfish note: Make no mistake, this poor woman is destitute. She doesn't even have a working air-conditioner.
Posted below: Motion for partial disbursement, inventory of liens, emergency motion to vacate, contempt of court order.
25 comments:
How does he disappear?
He's supposedly in Alabama. The cops over there are busy stopping five-foot tall teenage girls from Mississippi for window tint violation (and the windows are factory tint). Fine: $189.
Beware. Alabama is running a modern update to the old speed trap scam.
Supposedly fled the state but the warrant has been sent to other jurisdictions as well.
I will bet that his “mugshot” picture is not nearly as “smug” as this one.
why does the chancellor need to approve a fee agreement that doesn't involve minors or someone under a conservatorship???? Did the lady borrow the money from a lending service or not. I don't get what's going on here now.
He looks like the villain in a Spy Kids film.
Won't hold up in court. Can't write tint violation to another state who doesn't have tint law. Class action waiting to happen.
Did they learn how to do this in Rankin county?
No Justice to be found anywhere! I'm sending this JJ thread to the Mississippi Bar Association.
Why doesn't she get a job to buy an air conditioner?
indictments from 2021?! Are you kidding me? This woman lost her husband and everything. Yet its 4 YEARS later and still nothing? Seize any assets he has and help this widow.
My two cents: This guy didn't just up and run on a whim. He had a plan and, lawyer that he is, was smart enough to work it out. My bet is he's not presently in the USA. But I am surprised he'd do all this for $450,000. Sure, that's a wad of cash but not a huge amount in this day and time.
11:49 - Bet it's that stretch just West of Tuscaloosa. They're a bunch of fucking piranha in that area.
Looks like we have the opening for the next John Grisham novel.
12:59 We don’t know her age or health. She maybe unable to work. He will be found as the US Marshal Service will assist. He can run but not Hide!
Watch out with the comments, it might give lawyers a bad name. oops too late
Indicted in 2021...that only gave him four years to plan his escape from justice!
That isn't enough to destroy a life and stay on the run with. It was stupid and he will be caught at some point. $450k is not worth all that in any sense.
If he is as smug as he appears to be, he is going to have a hard time making it.
Bros, He won't do well in jail!
The only lawful claim the decedent's estate would have would be for medical bilsl and funeral bills arising from the accident. How does the Chancery court captiure proceeds which belong to the WD beneficiary, individually.Those proceeds are not a part of the estate.
Agree, makes no sense. Could have an addiction problem. Gambling, drugs, sex, they all cost money and they all get more expensive as the problem worsens.
What's with the suppressed eyebrows and gooberesque little 'Young Sheldon' hairdo? Is it to make him "look professional", or look "more American", like when the actress who became Rita Hayworth, had her hairline shaved upward, in order to "look American"? (worked for Rita, since her "Put the Blame on Mame" number, in 'Affair in Trinidad', is a highpoint of cinema - inspiring Michael Jackson to take a pause from becoming Joan Crawford, in order to take a shot at being Rita Hayworth).
But back to doing dumb, ugly things, in order to pass oneself off as all-American. The Jackson Metro used to have a big developer/landlord, whose notorious family were from the wrong end of Long Island. He corrected me, once, when I said 'Clique', to rhyme with 'Unique'. "NO! It's CLICK!" (the collective wisdom was that correctly pronouncing foreign words, in his childhood era of Senate Subcommittees on Unamerican Activities and Racketeering, somehow called attention to one's "OTHER" status).
At Tulane, I'd known plenty of girls, also from sketchy parts of the NYC Megalopolis, who pronounced 'Danielle' as "Daniel", and 'Adrienne' as "Adrian", and so I just let the godfather have his way. And later, when our own ambit came to include Central Park and the Hamptons, I registered no surprise or bewilderment, when a gaggle of former Queens girls, at a Southampton White Party, were talking about "Susan Goodfriend". I passed the test, realizing insiders automatically translated the German surname into English (another New York thing, originally developed to help people "pass").
So, without missing a beat, I'm saying, "So, has ANYBODY made it past the board, where her apartment is concerned? The price - even with the Multiple - shouldn't be a problem, considering the building - and that it's an undisturbed Renzo Mongiardino interior. Do you know WHO's tried for approval? I'd love that list..." (and suddenly, they're waving HER over, and I'm getting the list)
...all of this to say, I'm wondering what level of deceptiveness, and how many layers of deceptiveness, are involved, here. Does he think that the Young Sheldon up-do and the missing eyebrows, help him blend-in? By the way, I used AI to sleuth this lawyer's surname. Interesting. I long-ago researched 'Taliaferro'. There are similarities... Both in the names and the maskers.
Are a state employee? Way too much time on your hands.
I don't understand why people post AI-generated comments on forum discussions. Can a human please explain this to me?
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