The Livingston Parish Council is offering a “one-time final offer” of $300,000 to former contractor and federal informant Corey delaHoussaye to settle his claims against the parish in disputes related to hurricane debris removal, council attorney Chris Moody told Daily Report this morning. The council rejected an offer earlier this week from delaHoussaye to settle for $579,000.
At issue is delaHoussaye’s final payment for investigation of cleanup work after Hurricane Gustav struck in September 2009.
Shortly after taking office in 2012, Livingston Parish President Layton Ricks—who had been employed by Alvin Fairburn & Associates while the firm was working as a Gustav debris cleanup monitor for the parish—stopped payment on a $379,000 check issued by former Parish President Mike Grimmer. Grimmer had hired delaHoussaye’s consulting firm, C-del, to investigate allegations of mismanagement of the debris removal program.
The proposed settlement comes amid questions about whether action against delaHoussaye might have been political retaliation for whistleblowing on questionable activity during the cleanup.
Many concerns delaHoussaye raised were affirmed last summer when the U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals denied the parish’s $59 million in claims for reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Meanwhile, a criminal case against delaHoussaye has suffered a serious blow and his federal retaliation lawsuit against the parish is heating up. Last month, state District Judge Brenda Ricks—who is not related to the parish president—found no probable cause for prosecuting Delahoussaye on allegations of overbilling.
Livingston Parish District Attorney Scott Perrilloux—who pursued 81 counts against delaHoussaye even after a grand jury declined to indict—says he plans to appeal that ruling, declaring, “Just because they wear a black robe doesn’t mean they know everything.” Perrilloux dropped 22 counts that were based in part on allegations by public relations consultant Delia Taylor, wife of Livingston Parish Assessor Jeff Taylor, whom delaHoussaye unsuccessfully challenged for office in 2011.
In a federal retaliation lawsuit delaHoussaye filed against Livingston Parish, U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick denied him whistleblower status because he was an independent contractor and not an employee, but the judge said he can pursue claims of retaliation under the First and Fourteenth amendments. In the coming days, delaHoussaye attorney Jill Craft plans to depose Ricks, Henderson Auctions CEO Marvin Henderson and Councilwoman Cindy Wale.
Questions also are now being raised about whether Moody, an attorney who represents the Livingston Parish Council, had authority to seek an investigation by the Office of Inspector General into delaHoussaye’s case. A June 14, 2012, council resolution gives Moody “the authority to take the actions discussed in executive session with respect to the strategy for resolving the C-Del claim,” but does not say what those actions are.
Moody tells Daily Report this morning that the council directed him during a closed-door session to seek an investigation as part of its defense against delaHoussaye’s lawsuit.
“The council knew about it and directed me to do it,” he says.
But in a letter this week to Moody, Craft contends there was no public vote taken on that directive, rendering the OIG investigation illegal.
John McLindon, delaHoussaye’s attorney in the criminal matter, has filed a motion in the criminal case also alleging the OIG’s involvement was illegal, given the agency was created to investigate allegations of fraud, waste, abuse or misconduct within the executive branch of state government. delaHoussaye’s contract was with the parish, not the state.
The OIG seized 42 electronic devices from delaHoussaye’s Baton Rouge home on July 25, 2013—the day the Livingston Parish Council was to consider issuing a check for his work. Though they had obtained a search warrant eight days earlier, OIG officials didn’t act on it until the day of the council meeting. Records obtained by Daily Report show Moody has billed the council thousands of dollars for dealings with the agency, including several calls to OIG chief investigator Greg Phares.
—Penny Font
