Mayfield on the attack and being attacked

The season is over but not Jeremy Mayfield's battles with NASCAR and such. Wednesday proved to be an interesting day for Mayfield.

First, it turns out that Mayfield's former attorney, Bill Diehl, and his law firm have filed suit against Mayfield on Wednesday to recover almost $372,000 in unpaid legal fees, according to The Charlotte Observer. Diehl states his law firm is owed that for services performed in defending Mayfield as he battled NASCAR in regards to his suspension for failing a drug test in May. NASCAR says that Mayfield tested postitive for methamphetamine; Mayfield denies it and blames a combination of medicines for producing the positive result (although after he received an injunction against the suspension, NASCAR re-tested him in July and said he again tested positive for methampphetmaine.).

Diehl is no longer on the case. Mayfield replaced him with the firm led by celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos. Mayfield held an auction of his home, land and property last week.

As for Mayfield's case against NASCAR, Mayfield's lawyers filed more paperwork Wednesday. Mayfield's attorneys responded to NASCAR's motion that U.S. District Court Judge Graham C. Mullen rule against Mayfield based on the pleadings in the case.

Among the issues Mayfield's side bring up is what state is NASCAR Chairman Brian France a resident of. That's important, Mayfield's side notes. They mention that when Mayfield's case against NASCAR was in state court that it was moved to federal court because NASCAR's lawyers "claimed that the case should be removed to this Court because, they claimed Brian France was not a citizen of North Carolina, and, therefore, complete diversity -- they alleged -- existed. They had Brian France swear under oath that he was a citizen of Florida.''

But Mayfileld's lawyers note another court case involving France: "On May 27, 2009, however, only 4 days before he submitted his sworn affidavit to this Court, claiming to be a citizen of only Florida, Defendant France submitted a verified (italicized in the court document also) Amended Complaint in a separate case in Mecklenburg County, claiming to be a citizen of North Carolina and a resident of Charlotte, in Mecklenburg County. ... France twice (italicized in the court document also) swore to the accuracy of the statement that he was a citizen of North Carolina. Defendant France filed this Amended Complaint -- apparently seeking to evict his former in-laws from their residence in Meckleburg County, a home which he owns -- after he was already a Defendant in the same court in the present case.

"So on May 27, 2009, in that case, France claimed to be a resident of Mecklenburg County and a citizen of North Carolina, yet four days later, to avoid the preliminary injunction hearing scheduled the next day, he and his lawyers claimed, essentially, that he was NOT (capitalized in court document) a citizen of North Carolina, but solely a resident of Florida. Defendant France perjured himself at some point during the period May 4, 2009, when he filed the lawsuit against his former in-laws, and June 2, 2009, when in an effort to evade the preliminary injunction hearing in this case, he swore he was a citizen solely of Florida. That was only the start of the gamesmanship exhibited by Defendant France and his lawyers at every stage of these proceedings.

"As we deomonstrate below, Defendants,  have likewise filed this motion (judgment based on pleadings) only as a delay tactic ,just as Plaintiffs had begun to (serve) depositions. In the process, they hoodwinked Plaintiff's counsel into agreeing to move the dates of noticed depositions by claiming that people were too sick to be deposed, that corporate representatives were unavailable (because they would be attending junkets in Las Vegas), and that extra time was needed to accommodate James Wyatt, who was substituted in as defense counsel. Plaintiffs agreed to these requests, assuming (incorrectly it appears) that Defendants' requests were made in good faith.''

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