F. Lee Bailey Punitive Damages Award Overturned
By Christine Blank

Famed attorney F. Lee Bailey does not have to pay $3 million in punitive damages after a Federal judge reversed the damage award won by the government.

Anne Conway, U. S. District Judge for the Middle District of Florida, ordered the U. S. government’s case against Bailey dismissed, and set aside the $3 million punitive damage award. Bailey had appealed a Florida jury’s decision finding that he owed $2 million in legal fees to the government plus $3 million in punitive damages.

“The plaintiff, the United States of America, shall take nothing on its claims against the defendant, F. Lee Bailey,” Conway wrote. In addition, she said that Bailey, who represented himself in the case, can recover his costs.

Conway said that Bailey was unfairly “singled out” in the government’s case, which alleged that Bailey’s took legal fees from his clients, insurance salesman William McCorkle and his wife, after they were convicted of fraud. The money, from a Cayman Island fund Bailey and McCorkle set up, rightly belonged to the government, the US attorney said.

“There is no evidence that the U. S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida has ever sued any attorney other than Bailey for the return of attorneys’ fees,” Conway said. In addition, other attorneys on McCorkle’s defense team actually received the majority--$1.2 million—of the legal trust fund, but the government sued only Bailey.

Further, Bailey should not be liable for the $2 million judgment, because he received only $777,545 from the trust fund.

After examining the “degree of reprehensibility” in the case against Bailey, Conway ruled his actions did not constitute “reckless disregard for the health and safety of others” and the target of Bailey’s conduct—the U. S. government—was not financially vulnerable.