“It’s a lawsuit for equity,” said Jacksonville based lawyer John M. Phillips, who specializes in personal injury and wrongful death cases and is representing Lewis’ family in the action. Tiger King has spawned no shortage of celebrity estate planning developments.
Wealth Advisor’s recent article entitled “Family of Tiger King’s Don Lewis files lawsuit against Carole Baskin and others” explains that that the attorney filed a “pure bill of discovery.” That’s a pretty obscure legal pleading. It demands that the defendants produce information they might have about the Lewis case for possible use in later lawsuits. The plaintiffs are Lewis’ adult daughters, Donna L. Pettis, Lynda L. Sanchez, Gale Rathbone and Lewis’ longtime assistant, Anne McQueen.
At a news conference, Phillips explained that his legal move could mean depositions and subpoenas to determine who exactly the family will sue in the future. The complaint demands that the defendants turn over electronic device data, diaries and investigative material related to Lewis. Phillips said Carole Baskin, one of the stars of the Netflix series is “invited to the table” to willingly come forward with information on Lewis.
“Generally you announce a $150 million lawsuit and how we’re going to get justice,” Phillips said. “And we are going to do all of that, in time. But our office wants to invite reason, to invite civil conversation where it can be had.”
Carole Baskin was married to Lewis, when he disappeared. Kenny Farr worked as a handyman for Lewis for many years and continued working for Baskin after Lewis went missing. The third defendant in the suit, Susan A. Bradshaw, is listed as a witness on Lewis’ will and durable power of attorney. Bradshaw told the Tampa Bay Times in 2005 that Baskin asked her to testify that she was there for the will signing—but she wasn’t.
Phillips said that his law firm is also conducting an independent investigation into Lewis’ disappearance.
“We may or may not have hopped a fence yesterday just to try to investigate and find out if, you know, if this was a place where Don Lewis could have been buried,” Phillips said in an interview with HLN.
A judge is tasked with deciding whether to allow the bill of pure discovery to go forward. The family’s attorney will have to convince the judge that the lawsuit isn’t filed as a “fishing expedition,” simply looking for evidence, or that it’s not being used to harass the defendants.
Lewis was never found after his wife reported him missing in August of 1997, a day before a scheduled trip to Costa Rica. Lewis was declared legally dead in 2002. The interest in Lewis’ case again came into focus, when it was part of the hit Netflix series “Tiger King”, which was the story of the feud between Baskin and Oklahoma zookeeper Joe Exotic. Lewis’ daughters suspect that Baskin was somehow involved in their father’s disappearance. Stay tuned for more celebrity estate planning developments.
Reference: Wealth Advisor (Aug. 11, 2020) “Family of Tiger King’s Don Lewis files lawsuit against Carole Baskin and others”
