plus 2, Hulk Hogan settles lawsuit over son's crash that injured John Graziano - St. Petersburg Times

Hulk Hogan settles lawsuit over son's crash that injured John Graziano - St. Petersburg Times
Pinellas State Attorney Bernie McCabe 'dumbfounded' by prosecutor's ... - St. Petersburg Times
Startup RV company plans 300-worker Marion plant - Herald-Bulletin

Hulk Hogan settles lawsuit over son's crash that injured John Graziano - St. Petersburg Times

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 09:57 AM PST

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By Richard Danielson, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Saturday, February 20, 2010

Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan has settled a lawsuit with the family of a young man critically injured in a car wrecked by Hogan's son, attorneys said Friday.

The terms of the financial settlement with Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, and his son Nick Bollea are confidential, said attorneys George Tragos and Kimberly Kohn, who represent crash victim John Graziano.

But this week's settlement, plus the resolution of a separate case between Bollea and his former attorneys, ends the lawsuits over the August 2007 crash that left Graziano with severe brain injuries.

"Our goals all along in this lawsuit, we believe, have been reached," Kohn said. "John is going to be provided appropriate care for the remainder of his life."

None of Graziano's relatives will receive part of the settlement, Tragos said.

"This is all for John, 100 percent for John," he said. "I know that there were a lot of statements that other family members were going to benefit from this, but that's not the case at all. This is strictly for John and his care."

Graziano suffered a broken skull when 17-year-old Nick Bollea lost control of his Toyota Supra near downtown Clearwater, crashing into a palm tree.

Graziano, an Iraq War veteran, was hospitalized for two years at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa. He was discharged in September and remains in a minimally conscious state, Kohn said.

Graziano, 25, lives in a two-bedroom apartment in Pinellas County with his mother, Debra, and his brother, Michael. His mother shares a room with her son and the medical equipment his care requires.

"His mother has provided amazing, amazing medical care to John," Kohn said. "Nursing homes and hospitals could really take lessons from Debbie Graziano on how to care for a patient such as John."

Over time, Graziano's condition has slowly improved, his attorneys said. He can't speak, but he can respond to requests. For example, he can lift his arm if he is asked to do so. If he doesn't like the way someone wipes his mouth, he makes an expression of disapproval.

Those close to Graziano hope for a full recovery one day, but "we recognize it would take a miracle," Tragos said.

The settlement was worked out Wednesday during a nine-hour meeting that had been originally scheduled to discuss exhibits for a civil trial scheduled for March.

Attorneys for Bollea raised the question of a settlement before the meeting, according to Tragos and Kohn.

Wil Florin, an attorney for Bollea, offered a slightly different account, saying that Wednesday's negotiations were a "continuation of long-standing settlement discussions."

A Pinellas-Pasco circuit court judge approved the settlement Friday morning, Tragos said.

Also on Wednesday, Bollea reached a settlement with his former attorneys from the law firm of Zuckerman Spaeder, Florin said. Last year, Bollea sued the firm, saying $1 million of the $1.5 million in fees that he paid were unnecessary.

Terms of that settlement also are confidential, Florin said, but it was negotiated on the same day as the settlement of the Graziano case against the Bolleas.

Florin would not say whether either of the settlements was contingent on the other.

With the conclusion of the litigation, Terry Bollea hopes that one day he can resume contact with John Graziano and his mother, Florin said.

"He and Nick care very deeply for John," Florin said.

In May 2008, Nick Bollea pleaded no contest to reckless driving in the wreck. He served 166 days in the Pinellas County Jail. He now lives in California.

In July, Terry and Linda Bollea divorced after 26 years of marriage.

In January, attorneys for Linda Bollea said she reached a settlement in the auto negligence suit. The terms are confidential.

Also in January, Tragos said, a confidential settlement was reached with Daniel Jacobs, who was sued along with Terry, Linda and Nick Bollea. Jacobs was allegedly racing Nick Bollea in the moments before the crash.

Meanwhile, John Graziano's father, Edward Graziano, remains in the Pinellas County Jail, awaiting trial on a charge that he tried to hire someone to kill his wife. Undercover Pinellas County sheriff's deputies say Graziano wanted his estranged wife to die in a staged car accident.

Times staff writer Rita Farlow contributed to this report. Richard Danielson can be reached at Danielson@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3403.

[Last modified: Feb 19, 2010 11:38 PM]

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Pinellas State Attorney Bernie McCabe 'dumbfounded' by prosecutor's ... - St. Petersburg Times

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 05:54 AM PST

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By Curtis Krueger, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, February 19, 2010

Pinellas County's top prosecutor said Thursday he is "dumbfounded" at the way his office handled the case of Craig Wall, accused of fatally stabbing his girlfriend after being released on $1,000 bail in a domestic violence case.

Bernie McCabe, state attorney for Pinellas and Pasco counties, said his staff needs to be reminded of fundamental principles that were not followed in this case.

His chief assistant, Bruce Bartlett, plans to meet today with prosecutors who handle misdemeanor hearings.

"They are being paid to be advocates and not just stand there with their hands in their pockets," Bartlett said.

Wall is accused of stabbing to death Laura Taft, 29, early Wednesday after kicking in the sliding glass door of her apartment. He was arrested hours later in Sumter County, where he was passed out in the driver's seat of a red four-door car.

Two days earlier, Wall was released from the Pinellas County Jail on a $1,000 bond after a bail hearing. No one at the hearing mentioned that Wall was a suspect in the death of his 5-week-old son this month, even though police had noted that fact in the arrest affidavit. They also failed to point out that Wall had spent 14 years in prison on charges related to an armed robbery.

"I think the judge should have been made aware of these other factors," McCabe said Thursday in his first public comments on the case.

Taft's sister-in-law, Nicole Bredeson, 26, was more direct.

"In my opinion that is a fatal error," she said. "My sister's life was worth more than $1,000. I think just about anybody can see how wrong that decision was."

The case stems from Wall's arrest Feb. 14 on a charge that he violated an injunction Taft took out against him because, she said, she feared for her life.

On Sunday, Wall showed up at a memorial service for his 5-week-old son. Taft said he drove through the parking lot and "flipped her off." He was arrested and initially held without bail.

The next morning, he came to his "first appearance" hearing, where judges inquire about the case and determine if there is sufficient cause to continue holding a defendant in jail; and sometimes modify their bail amount.

McCabe and Bartlett cited three problems with how an assistant state attorney handled the case during this hearing. First, he offered to settle the case during this initial hearing without spending more time to gather more facts. Second, he failed to bring up Wall's criminal record. Third, he did not mention that Wall was considered a suspect in the death of his own child.

"What kind of stunned me about the whole thing," McCabe said, was that the prosecutor offered the plea deal to Wall. That was not the right thing to do in a first court appearance in a domestic violence-related case, McCabe said, because the hearing happens within 24 hours of an arrest, typically before a prosecutor has done much research about the case and has had a good interview with the victim.

"You want to gather all the facts" before making an offer, Bartlett said.

McCabe said a plea arrangement in a first appearance hearing would have been acceptable in a minor shoplifting case, for example, but not in a case with a potential victim of domestic violence.

The assistant state attorney, James Flynn, suggested a deal in which Wall would have been found guilty of the charge, paid $650 and agreed to have no contact with Taft.

But Wall rejected the offer, saying to Circuit Judge George Jirotka, "No, sir, I didn't do anything wrong, sir."

Because Wall rejected the offer, the next matter was to discuss whether to set bail. He had been held overnight without bail because it was a domestic violence-related case. So next the lawyers discussed whether Wall could be released on bail.

The prosecutor, Flynn, suggested a $2,500 bail — high for a misdemeanor case. The public defender asked for a $500 bail. Jirotka set it at $1,000.

But Flynn did not mention that Wall, 34, was released from prison in September 2008 after serving 14 years for a 1993 robbery with a deadly weapon, armed burglary and grand theft auto.

The prosecutor's records included notes on this prior record, officials said, but he didn't bring them up during the hearing.

Wall's arrest affidavit also said he "was suspected of being the one responsible for the infant's death."

This was a reference to an ongoing investigation. Clearwater police say Wall's baby was in his care on Feb. 5 at a Clearwater apartment when the boy went into cardiac arrest and was taken to All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg. Craig Wall Jr. was removed from life support and died the next morning.

The prosecutor didn't bring this up either.

McCabe said he would communicate strongly to his staff the need to address these fundamental issues in court hearings.

But he also added that, "One of the hardest things to train is common sense. To me this whole thing smacks of a lack of common sense."

Bartlett said he would remind attorneys of the need to be vigilant.

"It's our worst nightmare for something like this to happen," he said. "The judges, the prosecutors all live in fear of somebody going out and doing something like this."

Times staff writer Rita Farlow contributed to this report.

[Last modified: Feb 18, 2010 11:31 PM]

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Startup RV company plans 300-worker Marion plant - Herald-Bulletin

Posted: 17 Feb 2010 08:51 PM PST

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Published February 17, 2010 11:46 pm - MARION — A startup company plans to open a factory in central Indiana making more environmentally friendly recreational vehicles and potentially hire 300 workers in the next few years.

Startup RV company plans 300-worker Marion plant

The Associated Press

MARION — A startup company plans to open a factory in central Indiana making more environmentally friendly recreational vehicles and potentially hire 300 workers in the next few years.

Officials of Earthbound RV said they expected to hire 60 people this year for the Marion factory and start production of its towable trailers in March.

The Marion City Council on Tuesday approved a $2 million economic development bond for Earthbound that the company will be responsible for repaying.

Earthbound officials said their trailers will weigh up to 1,500 pounds less than similar vehicles and will be made using recyclable construction materials such as aluminum.

Company CEO David Hoefer, who previously an executive for RV companies Dutchmen and Four Winds, said Earthbound was working to improve construction processes for its vehicles. He said the typical RV is still built with wood and nails and that other industries are more efficient.

"We are not like other RV companies," he said. "Our goal — from a quality standpoint — is to be more like the automotive (industry)."

Earthbound, which was founded in 2008, has been based in the northern Indiana town of Middlebury, but plans to move its headquarters to Marion.

Grant County, which includes Marion, had a 10.9 unemployment rate for December and has lost thousands of manufacturing jobs in recent years, such as when the Thomson television picture tube plant closed in 2004.

Mayor Wayne Seybold said his staff had worked for months on attracting Earthbound.

"Anytime you can bring 300 jobs at $16 to $18 per hour, it's huge. The fact that it's leading a new charge in the industry, that gives it longevity," he said. "We're excited about this all the way around."

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