Attorney Craft files Complaint in Intervention in Cavalier/LSP; Sound Off Louisiana publishes ACTUAL phone calls for people to decide if Cavalier’s claims of “coercion” ring true.

Attorney Jill Craft, who formerly represented fired LSP Trooper Carl Cavalier and who managed to negotiate and obtain a $200,000 gross payment to Cavalier but with the stipulation that he never again serve as an LSP Trooper, filed a Motion to Intervene to protect her interest in the upcoming decision by Judge John deGravelles regarding whether Cavalier can in fact reject LSP’s $200,000 offer with that non-employment stipulation in the agreement.

Well, things are getting very interesting in the Carl Cavalier v. Louisiana State Police (LSP) litigation.  We felt certain that 32-year-veteran attorney Jill Craft, who likely just about everyone would readily concede knows more about employment law, whistleblower actions, and alleged wrongful termination cases than any attorney in Louisiana, was not going to just roll over and accept allegations of “coercion” on her part.  Those allegations have been lodged against her in Court filings by Cavalier’s new attorneys, Clifton Ivey, Jr., and James C. Carver, PhD.

On Friday, December 23, 2022, Craft confirmed our belief on not just rolling over and accepting those allegations when she filed this Consent Motion to File Complaint in Intervention.  We’ll emphasize the word “consent” on the preceding link to convey the fact that there was no opposition either from Cavalier or LSP for her to make such a filing.

Craft supplied quite a bit of detail in her Motion and Complaint, and she indicated more will soon follow in the way of texts, emails, etc. which Craft essentially asserts the absence of causes a distorted scenario to be presently pending before the Court.  In essence, Craft asserts that the lack of those documents in Cavalier’s filings results in the totality to which she alleges Cavalier entered into a binding and fully enforceable agreement not to be adequately revealed to the Court as it should be.  Hence, she has a need to intervene.

There is no substitute for reading Craft’s Motion in its entirety, but we’ll try our best to highlight some of her major points from the Motion now:

In his Motion to Reopen the Cause and Rescind Settlement, Mr. Cavalier argues he was “coerced” or otherwise “pressured” into accepting settlement of all claims by Jill Craft, of the firm, Jill L. Craft, Attorney at Law, LLC. In his recent filing, an Opposition to defendants’ Motion to Enforce Settlement (Rec. Doc. 60), Mr. Cavalier again asserts he was “coerced” and fails to attach significant written communications with Intervenor and which contradict the position he asserts in brief.

The terms of settlement were recited in front of the Magistrate Judge following the Settlement Conference held on October 6, 2022, and reduced to writing by undersigned counsel by emails exchanged on October 6, 2022, at 4:27 p.m. and 4:40 p.m. and communication with and by Mr. Cavalier as to the terms of settlement by email on October 6, 2022, at 5:20 p.m.  This document will also be the subject of a Motion to Deem Privilege Waived upon the Court’s granting of leave to intervene.

Mover seeks to intervene in this lawsuit in order to protect its interests pursuant to a written contingency fee agreement entitled “Attorney-Client Contract”, which is attached as Exhibit A………Mover also seeks to intervene because, as a practical matter, disposition of either the Cavalier Motion or the Defendants’ Motion will impair and impede Mover’s ability to protect its interest and shows that in the event the question regarding informed consent to settle by Mr. Cavalier is adjudicated, mover and counsel employed by mover, have significant evidence relevant to the pending Motions including, as will be the subject of a Motion to Deem Privilege Waived, numerous writings by Mr. Cavalier demonstrating his consent to settle and his agreement to the terms and conditions of settlement. Mover also shows that Mr. Cavalier expressed no remorse or desire to “rescind” the settlement until October 13, 2022 – seven (7) days later. Only a portion of the October 13, 2022, email exchange was filed by Mr. Cavalier in this record, but which did not include the entire email chain of October 13, 2022, starting at 9:57 a.m. Upon receipt of his communication, ensuing telephone communications and correspondence on that date, and consideration of the relative positions, including undersigned’s ethical considerations, mover was placed in a conflict situation resulting in mover having to withdraw from any further representation. Accordingly, Mover, Ms. Craft, and Mr. Conrad withdrew as counsel.

Intervenor has an accounting of the time and expenses incurred by Intervenor in connection with the representation of Mr. Cavalier in the amount of $112,215.00. The accounting will be the subject of a Motion to Deem Privilege Waived upon the Court’s granting of the Motion to Intervene.

As to each term of settlement, Mr. Cavalier consented verbally and in writing and, as requested pursuant to the Motion to Deem Privilege Waived, are borne out by the communications between Mr. Cavalier and his counsel.

After Mr. Cavalier’s offer was made to defendants’ counsel, on September 1, 2022, Mr. Cavalier communicated again with counsel. It is noted Mr. Cavalier attached his email of September 1, 2022, at 3:55 p.m., but does not also attach his email to counsel on September 1, 2022, at 4:11 p.m. On September 2, 2022, (Mr. Cavalier recorded only a portion of his conversation with Ms. Craft and attached a copy of a purported partial transcript to his Motion to Reopen the Cause and Rescind the Proposed Settlement) and September 5, 2022…..These communications are likewise the subject of a Motion to Deem Privilege Waived and include Mr. Cavalier’s email and text messages with Ms. Craft, dated September 6, 2022, September 9, 2022, September 10, 2022, September 23, 2022, and September 26, 2022. These documents represent Mr. Cavalier’s written representations after the September 1, 2022, email and the September 2, 2022, partial recording.

Heading into the Settlement Conference, Mr. Cavalier and the underlying Defendants had agreed, in writing to the following terms: 1) payment of $200,000.00 in settlement of all claims; 2) LSP will rescind the termination of Mr. Cavalier who agrees to voluntarily, irrevocably resign from his employment with LSP and no re-employment (sic) with LSP. Confirmation of the
agreement to these terms by Mr. Cavalier and the underlying Defendants was also in writing and, before the position paper submitted by Mr. Cavalier was faxed to the Magistrate-Judge, its terms and conditions were approved by Mr. Cavalier.

Therefore, as agreed by Mr. Cavalier and the underlying Defendants, the only terms which remained in dispute between the parties were: 1) his resignation not be coded as a resignation in lieu of termination for the purposes of the State’s ISIS database and civil service, and 2) his suspension and enforced leave be rescinded, reversed, and withdrawn. Confirmation of this was also in writing and were approved by Mr. Cavalier.

We can confirm that Craft’s allegation about only a partial transcript of the recorded phone call of September 2, 2022 is true.

Prior to us even having knowledge of that being the case (or knowing of Craft’s filing of Friday, December 23, 2022), we asked Cavalier if it would be permissible for us to obtain audio files of ALL of the recordings for which transcripts were filed into the record.  Of course, we asked him to clear that with his attorneys.

Cavalier did so, and when he gave us the recordings, he explained the fact that his phone went dead during the September 2, 2022 phone call and he therefore had to re-establish connection with Craft.

That fact notwithstanding, he was able to provide us with both recordings of September 2, 2022 (the one up to the phone going dead and the one of him reestablishing connection thereafter), and we were easily able to combine the two audio files.  Accordingly, here is the actual recording between Craft and Cavalier on September 2, 2022 to include the 9+ minute segment Craft correctly asserts was missing from the Court filing:


9/2/22 (Friday) recorded phone call between Carl Cavalier and his former attorney, Jill Craft. We note that the phone call transpired a mere 16 days after an August 17, 2022 ruling by Magistrate Judge Richard Bourgeois wherein he granted an Order to Stay Discovery in Cavalier’s case as it pertains to LSP Col. Lamar Davis and LSP itself. Thus, Craft was likely both elated and somewhat (maybe more than somewhat) stunned once Defendants did agree to a $200,000 payout right on the heels of such an authoritative Court victory.

We want to once again reiterate the individual responsible for agreeing to accept the $200,000 offer and subsequently attempt to cram it down Cavalier’s throat notwithstanding Cavalier’s clear desire in the audio above to rescind the offer.  As a reminder, here’s the individual:

Okay.  We are now going to provide the two other audio recordings of the other phone calls between Craft and Cavalier entered into the Court record:

9/27/22 (Tuesday) phone call between Craft and Cavalier.

 10/13/22 (Thursday) phone call between Craft and Cavalier.

Now, we’re not going to comment hardly at all on either the 9/2/22 or the 9/27/22 phone calls other than what we placed beneath the video on the 9/2/22 recording.  Why?  Because we believe there will never be another opportunity for folk to get this incredible graduate-level education on what all transpires in a suit against a state governmental agency.  We further believe that education can be obtained only by investing the time to listen to the recordings.  Further, we believe these audio files rank very near the top of the list in terms of the most informative media we’ve ever published!  Being candid, we don’t think any of us in our lifetimes will ever get another opportunity like this to be educated about situations like this, and we believe it is a HUGE mistake for anyone connected with State government to pass on obtaining this vast knowledge.  We certainly don’t want to either add to or take away from either of those two recordings!  Prospective whistleblowers and employees who feel they have been wronged owe it to themselves to listen to the above two recordings.

The only comment we’re going to make is to once again reiterate that, just as Craft emphasizes at the outset of the 9/27/22 recording, here’s where the buck stops on this whole agreement:

We will, however, make limited comment on the recording of Thursday, October 13, 2022.  At the 5:33 mark of the October 13, 2022 recording, Craft references an email from WBRZ’s (Channel 2 in Baton Rouge) Chris Nakamoto indicating that Cavalier had, “settled my case.”  It’s really incredible how all that came about, so let’s take just a moment to explain.

When the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) agenda for Thursday, October 13, 2022 was published on Tuesday, October 11, 2022, we noted that, contrary to what we thought would be on it, it contained no reference whatsoever to Cavalier.  Early on the morning of Thursday, October 13, 2022 (literally about 45 minutes before the LSPC meeting was to commence), we figured maybe it wasn’t on the LSPC agenda because the matter had been settled.

Sure enough, we logged onto PACER, and we observed this Order indicating the matter had been settled.  At that point, that was all that we knew.  Also, folk familiar with this blog know that we don’t produce features fast (but try to offset that with thoroughness).  We knew this would be a matter that needed coverage fast, however, and so we did as we’ve often done in the past, and we sent an email to Nakamoto with the filing attached.  Nakamoto, in turn, called Cavalier, and Cavalier referenced that call in the email he sent to Craft which she references at that 5:33 mark of the 10/13/22 audio above.  It truly is amazing just how fast things can progress with modern technology.

If anyone has forgotten what Nakamoto did in the aftermath of making contact with Cavalier about the settlement, well, let us provide this little reminder.  Ah, heck, let’s take it a step further!  Here’s Nakamoto’s usual-excellent production (Note:  Nakamoto completely lost his voice days before airing this feature, so Brittany Weiss had to read Nakamoto’s feature on his behalf, and she did an excellent job)!:

 10/13/22 WBRZ news feature entailing Cavalier’s rejection of $200,000 to settle his suit against LSP.

As we indicated in our prior feature, we’ll stay on top of the developments in this saga and report upon Judge John deGravelles’ ruling irrespective of whether he summarily rules upon it (which we certainly hope he doesn’t and, given Craft’s intervention, we believe it’s even more compelling that all this be aired out in an open-court hearing) or sets a hearing for oral arguments of Cavalier’s and LSP’s competing Motions.

We hope everyone enjoyed a Merry Christmas and, as evidenced by the preceding feature, ours was anything but boring!

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2 thoughts on “Attorney Craft files Complaint in Intervention in Cavalier/LSP; Sound Off Louisiana publishes ACTUAL phone calls for people to decide if Cavalier’s claims of “coercion” ring true.”

    1. I agree. Very simple solution here.

      A perspective here. Let’s say Carl violated all these policies, for arguments sake. They fired him for violating policies. Furthermore, policies on writing a book and doing an interview. He was fired.

      Lt. Clary received no punishment whatsoever from the department. If colonel Davis felt The previous colonel did not do his due diligence or failed to punish clary for criminal law violations or policy violations, then he could have done so. His response was, they can’t prove it either way. Well, a grand jury did. All police need for an arrest is probable cause. The state police had probable cause Clary lied to investigators. This was from the mouth of the investigators. Remember, Clary was a supervisor. He was not fired.

      York, received a 50 hour suspension and was back to work. Multiple policy violations and criminal violations. Davis could had detectives arrest him for the criminal violations. He didn’t. York was not fired. He literally was given the equivalency of a letter of counseling for committing negligent homicide. But Carl was fired.

      Captain John Peters was indicted and was complicit in the coverup. He was transferred from Captain of Troop F to Captain of Tess. Criminal and policy violations occurred. He was not fired. But Carl was fired.

      Jacob Brown, was eventually fired but it took multiple incidents for him to be fired.

      Sgt. Shawn Boyd. Committed payroll fraud. A criminal violation as well as a policy violation. Wasn’t arrested or fired. Just suspended. He did it again. He Was fired for committing payroll fraud this time but then was un-fired. Colonel Davis promotes him to a supervisory position. But Carl was fired.

      Sheldon Perkins steals evidence out of an evidence locker. Criminal violations as well as policy violations. A Lieutenant at the time, just gets suspended. Then, later gets arreste for DWI, battery on an officer, revisiting, etc. fired but then gets his job back as a sergeant. Retired at a later date. But Carl was fired.

      Vegas trip troopers, Lt. Cannon and prostitution, old Captain of Troop F with the underage girl he brought on the gaming floor, old Troop D commander driving drunk and doctor shopping, A in Troop C beating a suspect getting promoted to Lieutenant. But Carl was fired.

      Current Captain of Troop C beating his wife and getting arrested when he was a sergeant. But Carl was fired.

      Retired colonel Bob Brown gets caught and admits to using racial slurs. Gets caught instructing troopers to falsify criminal arrest reports. Makes it all the way to Lt. Colonel. Car gets fired.

      Colonel Chavez was Captain of Internal Affairs at the time. He then suddenly gets transferred to Public Affairs. He was Captain during Ronald Greene and A cheating incident and then suddenly gets transferred to Public Affairs. Colonel Davis promotes this man to number 2.

      All of these things were reported through the years. I saw these things occur as I made my way towards retirement. Most of these people were not fired for committing criminal and policy violations. The state police makes it promotions based on and promotes criminal behaviors because these types of troopers can be controlled and will do whatever they are told no matter if it’s legal or not.

      I’ve been retired for about five years now but I heard they now are even hiring people with criminal histories and records far beyond what the public would even consider shenanigans. They go to great lengths to keep those records buried.

      In all this though, Carl was fired for blowing the whistle when told to stop and wrote a book. But when troopers and supervisors are committing crimes they aren’t, what does that say about the organization as a whole. It can also be argued Carl would have never made it to this point of losing his job if state wasn’t covering up this murder. Carl wouldn’t have had anything to say to anyone to later get fired for.

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