Monday, May 18, 2009

Hearing tomorrow in Zenaida Gonzalez Case: Casey Anthony seeks to have suit dismissed

There will be a hearing in the case of Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez tomorrow at 10:00 AM in Judge Jose Rodriguez’s courtroom. According to the article published at the WESH website, Casey’s attorneys are seeking to have the suit filed by Gonzalez dismissed.

In recent depositions, both George and Cindy stated that they had never seen the babysitter but knew she was a “10" while the plaintiff isn’t. Apparently, that’s all the testimony it will take to have the suit dismissed if Casey’s lawyers prevail.

On the other hand, Gonzalez’s attorney, Keith Mitnik stated in the article that he doubted the suit would be dismissed and that, "There could be some fireworks."

In addition, the Morgan and Morgan firm has recently filed a new document entitled PLAINTIFF’S PROFFER IN SUPPORT OF ADDING CLAIM FOR PUNITIVE DAMAGES AGAINST DEFENDANT CASEY ANTHONY AND INCORPORATED MEMORANDUM OF LAW.

To briefly summarize the motion to file an added claim for punitive damages, the Morgan & Morgan firm stated:

...Caylee’s grandmother, Cindy Anthony, called 911 when her daughter Casey Anthony, Caylee’s mother, would not tell here where Caylee had been. Cindy had not seen her granddaughter for weeks and became very alarmed when she admitted that she smelled the odor of a “dead body” in the trunk of Casey’s car.

The motion goes on to recount how Casey had told the investigators that she had left Caylee at the Sawgrass Apartments (on June 16). It also states that this Zenaida Gonzalez had ridden to the same complex to view an apartment on June 17.

Leasing agent Harry Garcia filled out a guest card, including the names of two of Plaintiff’s children, Ms. Gonzalez had ridden to the property in a car with New York plates. This detail, along with others, subsequently ended up in part of the ever-evolving description of the supposed kidnapper...

The motion continues with the details of the way in which this Zenaida had been identified and questioned by investigators.

According to police reports, Casey Anthony was shown a photo pack containing Plaintiff’s photo and Casey Anthony did not identify her...

The document continues with the “Jail Defamation And Subsequent Publishing.” This section goes to the heart of the motion. You may remember from the depositions and jail videos of Casey with her parents, that Casey denied being shown a photo of this Zenaida Gonzalez. Casey also gave her mother permission to publish that information. Shortly thereafter, Cindy repeated this information in an interview.

In addition, when Casey answered the interrogatories for the case, she wrote her name and went on to claim the Fifth Amendment privilege on all the other questions. She refused to state that the Zenaida Gonzales pictured was NOT the person she described.

It’s interesting that in Casey’s countersuit, she claims to have been shown the picture and denied this was the correct person. When it comes time to repeat something she states in her counter-suit, she refuses!

I’ll be watching for any live coverage of tomorrow’s hearing and will cover it here on Trials & Tribulations if possible.

Meanwhile, we have another hearing in Judge Rodriguez’s courtroom this week. I believe it is for the 21st. Unfortunately, I checked his calendar and it does not include any hearing for that date yet.

At this point, all four Anthonys have motions to compel filed against them. Let’s hope that the good judge will rule on them all then!

Documents:

Zenaida’s original lawsuit

Casey’s response and countersuit

Zenaida’s proffer

WESH article

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