Appeals court grants Sawyer 7-day reprieve
By Sheila G. Miller / The Bulletin
Published: November 07. 2009 4:00AM PSTTami Sawyer
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A last-minute stay from the chief judge of the Oregon Court of Appeals has kept Tami Sawyer out of jail for contempt of court, at least for seven days.
Less than an hour before Sawyer was required to report to the Deschutes County jail for summary contempt of court, lawyers in the case and the Deschutes County Circuit Court received notice from the Appeals Court staying her incarceration for at least a week. Now Sawyer has until Nov. 13 to file an appeal of Deschutes County Circuit Court Judge Stephen Forte’s summary contempt ruling, which stems from her refusal to answer questions and produce documents during a court-ordered debtor exam.
The stay came after a Friday morning hearing in which Forte denied a similar request for a stay..
Tami Sawyer’s attorney, Marc Blackman, asked Forte to delay her incarceration because he questioned the court’s authority to hold her in summary contempt.
He also said that if the court compels the Sawyers to produce documents and an appeal later determines the court acted incorrectly, it could damage the government’s ability to prosecute the Sawyers in any pending criminal cases.
On Nov. 4, Blackman received a letter from the U.S. Attorney’s Office that says it is investigating Tami Sawyer and her companies for investment fraud, mail and wire fraud, and money laundering. They’ree also reportedly the target of an Oregon Department of Justice investigation.
After Forte refused to grant the stay and told Sawyer she had until 5 p.m. to hand over the documents or report to the Deschutes County jail, Blackman announced his intention to appeal the summary contempt judgment to the Court of Appeals.
On Friday afternoon, the Appeals Court granted a stay, giving Blackman until Nov. 13 to file that appeal.
When reached Friday, Blackman refused to comment and said it is his policy not to speak outside the courtroom on pending litigation.
This latest twist comes nearly 19 months after the lawsuit was originally filed.
David and Laurie Redwine filed a lawsuit in May 2008 alleging the Sawyers’ company, Starboard LLC, owed them more than $800,000. In March the Redwines received a judgment against the company for more than $900,000, and since then have conducted two debtor exams to try to determine where their money went and what assets the company has that could begin to repay the debt.
In May, the Sawyers invoked their Fifth Amendment privilege at their first debtor exam, refusing to answer questions or produce documents.
On Oct. 5, Forte held the Sawyers in contempt at the second debtor exam and imposed sanctions on them in an Oct. 30 hearing, ordering the pair to relinquish their passports and requiring Tami Sawyer to report to the Deschutes County jail by Friday unless she brought forth the ordered documents.
“We’re very disappointed. We feel like we have been victimized for the last four or five years by the Sawyers, and the victimization continues and will probably escalate,” David Redwine said Friday. “We had hoped for a more efficient judicial process that would not allow wrongdoers to go free.”
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