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The document is a transcript of a videotaped deposition of Stacy King, a former attorney for Greerborne Financial Corporation, in a legal case involving multiple defendants.
Legal Proceedings Overview
The document is a transcript of a deposition involving Stacy King, an attorney, in a case between Greerborne Financial Corporation and Hallidone Company.
The deposition took place on November 9, 2007, in Phoenix, Arizona.
It was reported by Brown Miller Court Reporting and conducted by attorney Preston H. Bond, Jr.
The case number is BB 91-55538, involving multiple defendants including Hallidone Company and Cave-Corp International Industries, Inc.
Attorney Background and Experience
Stacy King has significant experience in commercial litigation, particularly representing lenders.
King has been in private practice for approximately 15 years.
The bulk of her practice has involved commercial litigation.
She has represented lenders in lawsuits against debtors on numerous occasions, likely more than 20 times.
Deposition Context and Preparation
Stacy King prepared for the deposition by reviewing relevant case files and notes.
She had a brief meeting with colleagues to discuss the deposition.
King reviewed a Statement of Facts related to a Motion To Compel Discovery, which she had prepared earlier.
She also went through her attorney notes up to July 21, 2003, to refresh her memory.
Attorney-Client Relationship Status
The status of the attorney-client relationship between King and Greerborne Financial Corporation was discussed.
King confirmed she is no longer counsel for Greerborne in this case or any other active litigation.
She expressed uncertainty about when the attorney-client relationship officially ended, indicating it may have ended with the substitution of counsel.
King stated she has not analyzed whether any attorney-client privilege extends beyond her involvement in the case.
Adverse Witness Clarification
The deposition included discussions about whether King is considered an adverse witness.
King stated she does not consider herself adverse to Hallidone, as she is not a party to the case.
She emphasized her role as a witness is to provide truthful answers to questions posed during the deposition.
King expressed skepticism about the motives behind labeling her as an adverse witness, indicating a divide-and-conquer strategy by the opposing counsel.
Transcript Report
King, Stacy
Transcript of King, Stacy
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
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SUPERIOR COURT OF ARIZONA
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MARICOPA COUNTY
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GREERBORNE FINANCIAL CORPORATION, )
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a Delaware corporation, )
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)
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Plaintiff, )
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)
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-vs- ) NO. BB 91-55538
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)
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HALLIDONE COMPANY, a Delaware )
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corporation; CAVE-CORP )
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INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRIES, INC., )
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a Delaware corporation; JOHN AND )
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JANE DOES 1-10, individually and )
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on behalf of their marital estate;)
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BLACK PARTNERSHIPS 1-10; WHITE )
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CORPORATIONS 1-10; and RED TRUSTS )
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1-10, )
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)
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Defendants. )
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__________________________________)
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FICTITIOUS VIDEOTAPED DEPOSITION OF STACY KING
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Phoenix, Arizona
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November 9, 2007
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10:55 a.m.
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BROWN MILLER COURT REPORTING
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555 North Farming Avenue
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Phoenix, Arizona 85003
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602/555-4624 Fax 602/555-8582
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Reported by:
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Abe Vigoda, RDR/CRR
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I N D E X
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EXAMINATION BY PAGE
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MR. Bond ........................................... 4
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MR. Barnum ..................... ................... 286
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MR. Bond ........................................... 321
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EXHIBITS DESCRIPTION PAGE
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DEMO00448 Photograph
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DEMO00449 Photograph
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DEMO00450 Photograph
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DEMO00451 Photograph
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DEMO00600 Word File
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DEMO00601 SWF Animation
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Exhibit 293 TIF Image
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Exhbit 417 TIF Image 18
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Exhibit 500 PDF File 29
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Exhibit 515 TIF Image 29
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Statement from June Excel Spreadsheet
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VIDEOTAPED DEPOSITION OF STACY KING,
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taken at 10:55 a.m. on June 20, 2007, at the law offices
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of Franklin Miles & Buckland, Two North Crowley Avenue,
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22nd Floor, Phoenix, Arizona, before Abraham L. Vigoda,
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a Notary Public in and for the County of Maricopa, State
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of Arizona.
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APPEARANCES:
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For the Plaintiff Greerborne Financial Corporation:
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Franklin Miles & Buckland
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by MS. Jane Grundle
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Two North Crowley Avenue, Suite 2200
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Phoenix, Arizona 85004
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For the Defendant Hallidone:
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Green & Bond, P.C.
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by MR. Preston H. Bond, JR.
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2920 East Deerneck Road, Suite 150
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Phoenix, Arizona 85016
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For the Defendant Ordax:
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Leed, Barnum & Krow, P.C.
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by MR. Charles T. Barnum
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531 East Jones Road, Suite 102
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Phoenix, Arizona 85012-3239
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Also present:
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Mr. Ronald Smith
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Certified Legal Video Specialist
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STACY KING,
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a witness herein, having been first duly sworn by the
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Notary Public, was examined and testified as follows:
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EXAMINATION
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BY MR. Bond:
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Q. Stacy, would you state your name for the
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record.
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A. Stacy King.
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Q. You're an attorney; is that right?
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A. Yes, I am.
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Q. How long have you been in private
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practice?
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A. Approximately 15 years.
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Q. Has the bulk of that practice been in the
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context of commercial litigation?
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A. Probably the bulk of it, yeah.
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Q. Prior to representing GFC in the Cave-Corp
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case, have you been involved in representing lenders in
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lawsuits against debtors and other people involved in a
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lending transaction?
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A. Yes.
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Q. On many occasions?
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A. Depends on how you define "many."
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Q. How many occasions?
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A. I don't really know.
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Q. More than five?
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A. Certainly.
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Q. More than 10?
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A. Yes.
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Q. More than 20?
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A. Probably.
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Q. More than 30?
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A. I'm not really sure.
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Q. Someplace between 20 and 30?
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A. I'm not exactly sure.
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Q. Are you here represented by counsel
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today?
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A. No.
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Q. You're not represented by Ramirez & Jones
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in this deposition, are you?
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A. No, I'm not.
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Q. And the decision to be here without
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counsel was your own decision?
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A. When you ask that question, it
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presupposes that there was a, quote, decision, unquote.
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I'm not really sure I really gave it any thought.
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Q. Was the first time that you learned that
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GFC was asserting a defense of reliance on counsel to
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Hallidone's counterclaim the day that I called you
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about trying to schedule the depositions and to tell you I
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would be sending a subpoena?
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A. Yeah, that's true. You were the first
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one that told me that they had waived the privilege on
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the idea that advice of counsel as a defense, which I
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looked at it the other day, and it's not even a defense.
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Q. Have you ever had your deposition taken
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before?
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A. You know, I must have. I've taken a lot
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of depositions, obviously. I think maybe I had my
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deposition taken once or twice a long time ago.
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Q. We've been in a lot of depositions
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together and I know that you know all the rules. The only
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two things that I'm going to mention is that from time
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to time, just so that we get a clear record, if you
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start to answer a question, as you normally would,
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normal conversation, before I have finished, you may see
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me hold up my hand, and that's just a request that you
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wait until I have finished so the court reporter can get
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the question.
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Is that agreeable to you?
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A. I will do my best to follow that rule.
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Q. And also, if at some point I notice that,
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as people normally do in conversations, you answer a
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question with a movement of your head or with an answer
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that is essentially an "uh-huh" or "huh-uh," I may ask
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that you either "yes" or "no," or just point to Abe, and
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that's simply a request to state whatever your
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answer is verbally so he can write it down.
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Do you understand that?
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A. I understand that.
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Q. Stacy, you at one point were counsel for
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Greerborne Financial Corporation in this case; is that
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correct?
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A. Yes.
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Q. And you are no longer counsel for them in
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this case; is that correct?
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A. Yes.
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Q. Are you any longer counsel for Greerborne
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in any respect?
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A. You mean this case or any other case?
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Q. Yes.
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A. I don't think we have any active files in
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a litigation-type context for Greerborne.
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Q. When would the attorney-client
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relationship between you and GFC with respect to this
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case have ended?
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A. When would it have ended?
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Q. Would it have ended when there
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was a substitution of counsel?
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Ms. Grundle: Object to the form of the
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question.
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A. I don't really know. That's a legal
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question. I haven't really given it any thought. I
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mean -- I'm not sure. I don't know how to answer your
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question. If it ended when we were out of the case,
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then maybe that's the result. Whether that's true or
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not under the law, I don't know.
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Q. BY MR. Bond: Are you still under the
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impression that today there still exists an
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attorney-client relationship between you and GFC/GINOVA?
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A. I don't know. Certainly there did while
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I was in the case. Whether -- whether there -- whether
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that relationship and any privileged communications
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extends after I'm out of that case, I don't know. I
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haven't looked at it.
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The glass sticks to the little plate.
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Sorry about that. You guys need some new coasters here,
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Preston. Maybe you can encourage your own law firm to
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do that.
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Q. Stacy, would you describe for me what
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you've done to prepare for the deposition today?
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A. Yeah. Let's see. I -- Jim Smith and I
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had a short meeting with James Drummond, "short" being, I
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don't know how long it was, 15 minutes or something.
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Then I came in early this morning and
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I went through the file -- or, I mean, obviously I
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couldn't do that -- it's a big file. Even the pieces of
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it that we retained copies of. But I went through parts
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of the file.
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And mostly what I went through was
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something I prepared shortly before we were out of the
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case, which was a Statement of Facts in Support of
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Motion To Compel Discovery, because I remembered that
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when I prepared it what I attempted to do was gather
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together all the different types of facts and theories
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and ideas that showed what I thought was fairly clear
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fraud and unethical conduct by your client, Preston, and
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I tried to gather it all together in a more of a nice,
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concise summary.
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And I thought rather than try and
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recreate the wheel and go through accordion folders and
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banker's boxes full of closed documents, from our point
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of view closed, anyway, I figured I'd just go through
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this. So I did that. And I made some notes from doing
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it.
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And I also went through my attorney notes
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backer, because I knew -- apparently the notes up to
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July 21st, 2003, had been produced to you. So I went
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through my notes backer -- or the file notes backer up
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to that point. And once I got up to that point, there's a
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lot of notes, obviously. I didn't bother to go through
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the rest. So I guess that's what I did.
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Q. When you and Jim Smith met with
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Mr. Drummond, was that prior to Mr. Smith's testimony?
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A. I think it was. Was his testimony
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Tuesday?
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Q. Tuesday and Wednesday.
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A. Then it would have been the day before.
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We met on Monday morning at approximately 9:00 a.m. or a
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few minutes thereafter.
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Q. Mr. Smith indicated at his deposition that
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at that meeting you reviewed some of the subjects that
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some of you may have anticipated would arise at the
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depositions. Can you tell me if you recall any
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discussion about some of the subjects that were
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anticipated to arise at the depositions?
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A. You know, I guess that is what we
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reviewed or discussed. To be honest with you, I don't
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have much of a recollection what was discussed.
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And quite honestly, my basic reaction was
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that I knew enough about this case that I didn't really
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need Jane Grundle to tell me what to do to prepare. I
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was kind of taking the approach that I -- either the day
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before the depo or the morning of the depo, as it turns
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out it was the morning of the depo, I would go in and
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take the file and go through it and take a look at it.
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So nothing really stands out. I guess he
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said a little bit about the kinds of lines of inquiry
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that you had taken in some of the other depositions such
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as Ward Carr. I don't know who else.
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Q. And do you recall what was focused on in
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the comments about the lines of inquiry with other
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deponents?
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A. Not much. Generally that your approach
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to this deposition is to -- is -- is to focus -- instead
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of focusing on what we did do and the kind of analysis
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and thinking that we did, is instead to take another
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array of things that we didn't do, people we didn't talk
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to, instead of people we did talk to, or things that we
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didn't look at or something and say, "Did you look at
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this?" "Well, gee, how can you possibly have filed this
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fraud claim without knowing this or looking this?"
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And, you know, I remember talking to
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Jane about that. And, you know, commenting to him that
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my reaction to that is similar to my reaction to this
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entire case, which is that the plaintiff and defense
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case are like two ships passing in the night, that, you
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know, you can focus as much as you want on the idea
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that, gee, you know, Greerborne should have done this or
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should have done that with the benefit of 20/20
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hindsight, but none of it alters the fraud and
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misrepresentation and concealment that occurred from
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your client.
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So I remember telling Jane that that was
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my basic reaction to that idea, which is my basic
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reaction to this entire defense by Hallidone in the
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case.
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Q. Move to strike the comments of the last
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two-thirds of the response of the witness as
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nonresponsive to the question.
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A. You're probably going to be doing that a
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lot, then, because I'm going to be here. I'm going to
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tell you what I think about things. So, whether you
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like it or not, that's the approach I'm going to try and
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take throughout the day.
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Q. Stacy, do you understand that you're here
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to give a deposition in this case?
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A. I do.
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Q. And do you understand that you've been
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called as an adverse party for the deposition by
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Hallidone? As an adverse witness for this deposition
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by Hallidone?
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A. I have no idea what is in your mind or
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Hallidone's mind. I just know that you called me as a
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witness. Whether you think I'm adverse or not, I don't
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know.
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Q. Well, I assume that since for a long time
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you represented the other side and initiated the
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litigation that we could probably agree that you'd -
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you'd be deemed adverse.
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A. I'm not going to agree to anything.
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Quite to the contrary, during the phone conversations
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that we had a couple weeks ago, I had the distinct
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impression that you were attempting to foster kind of a
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divide-and-conquer strategy. So I don't know that you
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thought I was adverse. I don't really know what you
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thought, to be honest with you.
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Q. Oh --
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A. If you want me to tell you what you
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thought about whether I'm adverse, I don't know.
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Q. So your testimony in this case is that
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you don't know whether you would consider yourself
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adverse to Hallidone or not; is that correct?
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Ms. Grundle: Object to the form of the
18
question.
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A. That wasn't the question you asked. You
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asked whether I knew that you thought I was adverse, and
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the answer is, I don't know what you thought, Preston.
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Q. BY MR. Bond: Stacy, do you consider
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yourself a witness who is adverse to Hallidone in this
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case?
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Ms. Grundle: Object to the form.
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A. I'm not a party to this case and I'm no
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longer an attorney. So I don't know if I'm adverse or
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not. I mean, I've really never given it any thought.
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Q. BY MR. Bond: And you can't analyze
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that question at this point sitting here today?
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Ms. Grundle: Object to the form of the
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question.
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A. I'm not adverse to anybody at this point
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and -- nor would my testimony be affected in any way.
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My job is to come here, as any witness should, and
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respond to the questions that are posed in a truthful
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and forthright fashion.
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You know, I don't know what overlay you
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want to put on it, adverse, not adverse, whatever. I'm
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just here to answer your questions. You didn't serve a
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subpoena on me, but nonetheless I voluntarily appeared.
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And let's get to your questions, and I'll try and answer
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them as best as I can.
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STATE OF ARIZONA )
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) ss.
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COUNTY OF MARICOPA )
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BE IT KNOWN that the foregoing deposition was
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taken before me, ABRAHAM L. VIGODA, not a Notary Public
08
in and for the County of Maricopa, State of Arizona; that
09
the witness before testifying was duly sworn by me to
10
testify to the whole truth; that the questions
11
propounded to the witness and the answers of the witness
12
thereto were taken down by me in shorthand and
13
thereafter reduced to print under my direction; that the
14
deposition was submitted to the witness to read and
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sign; that the foregoing 40 pages are a true but
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fictious transcript of all proceedings had upon taking of
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said deposition, all done to the best of my skill and
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ability.
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I FURTHER CERTIFY that I am in no way related
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to any of the parties thereto nor am I in any way
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interested in the outcome hereof.
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DATED at Phoenix, Arizona, this 20th day of
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June, 2007.
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