The attorneys for Waffle House’s board chairman say their client’s blackmail suit against a former employee will be expanded to include the woman’s lawyers as defendants.
A motion filed earlier this week alleges that attorneys David Cohen and John Butters counseled Joe Rogers’ longtime personal assistant “to commit criminal and tortious conduct” by illegally recording the Waffle House executive in his home.
The former assistant has counter-sued Rogers for harassment, but both suits are on hold pending an appeal of last Friday’s ruling that the videotaping of sex acts between the two violated his privacy. Cobb County Superior Court Judge Robert Leonard also wrote “the video recording makes it clear that (the woman) was a willing participant in the sexual encounter and is not the victim of sexual battery.”
Cohen and Butters were granted an immediate review of Leonard’s decision. No date has been set for their appeal.
“(Rogers’ lawyers) are trying to focus on everything in this case but the merits,” Cohen told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, adding the judge made no final conclusions about his alleged involvement in orchestrating the recording.
In their motion to disqualify Cohen and Butters, Rogers’ legal team stated “discovery will be had concerning the role the that defense counsel played in arming defendant with an illegal spy camera, and in determining whether defendant’s lawyers warned her that surreptitiously making the video without Mr. Rogers’ knowledge or consent could subject her to criminal prosecution and civil damages.”
Their continued involvement in this case qualifies as a conflict of interest, wrote Robert Ingram, an attorney for Rogers.
Cohen and Butters face disbarment and possible prison time if the allegations against them are validated. It is a felony in Georgia to videotape a person in a place with an expectation of privacy without their consent.
Ingram said he has shared his findings with the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office but declined further comment.
Cohen said he and Butters neither encouraged nor assisted the videotaping of the sex act, which took place in Rogers’ bedroom two weeks after she hired them as her lawyers.
Rogers has admitted engaging in numerous sexual acts with the woman, but he has denied ever coercing her.
“I am a victim of my own stupidity, but I am not going to be a victim of a crime — extortion,” he said last November in a written statement.
About the Author
