[StBernard] Meraux foundation files 2 lawsuits against firm partially owned by St. Bernard sheriff

[Westley Annis]

Meraux foundation files 2 lawsuits against firm partially owned by St.
Bernard sheriff

Published: Sunday, January 15, 2012, 6:20 AM

 By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune 

The nonprofit Arlene and Joseph Meraux Charitable Foundation on Friday filed
two lawsuits against Amigo Enterprises Inc., a company partially owned by
St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stephens. The suits were immediately sealed
by a state judge.

The multimillion-dollar Meraux foundation previously has accused Amigo of
not paying the foundation its share of the $5.5 million that Amigo got from
renting marina space in Hopedale to BP during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill
cleanup efforts in the summer of 2010.

Stephens resigned from the five-person board in September along with fellow
member, lawyer Sal Gutierrez, a longtime legal adviser to Stephens.

Also on Friday, Rita Gue, the president of the foundation, announced that
board has filled Stephens and Gutierrez's seats with her two sons, Chris
Haines, 45, and Bill Haines, 44.

"They have both worked for the foundation for several years and they are
very knowledgeable about everything," Gue said.

Both Gue and the foundation's attorney handling the case, New Orleans-based
Eddie Castaing, said they could not comment on the suits against Amigo.
Castaing said he could not even say whether any suits were filed.

St. Bernard Chief Deputy Clerk of Court Lena Nunez confirmed on Friday
afternoon that the suits were filed and that state Judge Kirk Vaughn
immediately sealed them.

Nunez's brother, lawyer Sidney Torres III, is a member of the foundation's
board.

The Meraux Foundation oversees one of the single largest collection of real
estate holdings in St. Bernard Parish, prime properties throughout downtown
New Orleans and the French Quarter, and numerous other businesses connected
to the estate, a vast fortune estimated at $50 million to $250 million.

Amigo has a long-term lease with the foundation for the waterfront marina
property in the eastern part of the parish. Amigo is supposed to pay $1,500
per month to the foundation, with inflation adjustments every five years
since 1996. That would put the figure to about $2,000 per month.

In addition to the rent, the lease states that Amigo is supposed to pay 10
percent of all gross income from any subleases or contracts to the
foundation.

Stephens has a one-third interest in Amigo, along with his cousin and former
chief deputy, Tony Fernandez Jr., and another associate, John Despeaux.

In the summer of 2010, Amigo was renting marina space in Hopedale to BP for
$1.1 million per month, the oil company previously acknowledged. The
arrangement came to light in September 2010 when Amigo Enterprises sent St.
Bernard Parish government a 10-day notice to vacate the Breton Sound Marina
area, where oil spill cleanup operations had been based since early May.

At the time, Parish President Craig Taffaro said Amigo was owed more than $3
million. Soon after, BP made a $1.1 million monthly rent payment to the
company. A BP spokesman at that time said the company had been paying Amigo
Enterprises $1.1 million per month since the beginning of the spill.

Gue, the president of the Meraux Foundation and Arlene Meraux's niece,
complained at that time that Amigo was not paying the stipulated 10 percent
of its gross income from BP to the charity, as outlined in a lease
agreement.

Neither Stephens nor Fernandez returned calls on Friday for comment, but
each has briefly touched on the matter in the past.

Fernandez previously disputed that Amigo was paid $1.1 million per month,
but he would not say how much the lease actually was, and would not comment
on the disparity between the lease with the Meraux Foundation and the
sublease to BP.

Fernandez also previously would not say whether Amigo Enterprises has paid
10 percent of the gross income to the foundation, but has said that the
lease document itself "is something that we adhere to, and whatever the
arrangements are, the payments between us and (the Meraux Foundation) is
between us."

Stephens has said in the past that his Amigo Enterprises contract was
originally with Joseph Meraux, Arlene Meraux's longtime companion, which
predated both the foundation and his being elected sheriff in 1983.

Joseph Meraux inherited large swaths of undeveloped land that had been in
the name of his father, legendary St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Louis A. "Doc"
Meraux. When he died, the land went to Arlene Soper, his longtime companion,
who changed her name to Arlene Meraux soon after.

Her will stated that her entire multimillion dollar fortune should go to a
private foundation to "improve the quality of life and standard of living of
the residents of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana."

There was a protracted and dramatic legal fight over Arlene Meraux's estate
after she died. A feud escalated over who would control the foundation. On
one side was Gue, who was named to the board in court documents; on the
other was Sal Gutierrez, who was appointed to run the estate by former St.
Bernard Parish Judge Wayne Cresap, who has since been sentenced to five
years in prison for taking part in an unrelated judicial kickback scheme.

.......

Benjamin Alexander-Bloch can be reached at bbloch at timespicayune.com or
504.826.3321.

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