BancorpSouth given 10 days to complete discovery request in Gladney case

Judge William Morvant had harsh words earlier this week for BancorpSouth and its attorneys over the way they handled a discovery request from Windy Gladney and his attorney for emails that are believed to be relevant in a case between the local developer and the bank. In a transcript from Monday’s hearing in the 19th Judicial District Court, Morvant tells attorneys for the bank he needed to choose his words carefully after learning that the bank has a disk containing some 500,000 electronic documents, which it had previously said did not exist. Earlier this year, the bank’s attorneys told Morvant emails between Bancorp South President Larry Denison and others had long since been deleted. “To have the court told these emails are deleted, they’re permanently gone, and now in 2012 I’m getting ’06 and ’07 Denison emails referencing these loans after I’m assured that they don’t exist, it causes me some real concern,” Morvant says. The judge is giving the bank 10 days to completely respond to a 2010 discovery request by Gladney’s attorney, Mary Olive Pierson, after which time he will hold a hearing on imposing sanctions. He says those could include attorney’s fees, court costs and deposition costs related to the discovery issue. “We were at a great disadvantage for many months in this case as a result of the discovery violation,” Pierson says. “So we were very happy that the judge granted our motion and the relief that we sought.” Attorneys for BancorpSouth did not return calls for comment. Learn more about the suit between Gladney and the bank in a Business Report cover story from October here. —Stephanie Riegel