Gold ship investors to receive $30M

Some of the gold Tommy G. Thompson recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean is expected to be sold off as he continues to be held in contempt in federal court for not disclosing the location of more treasure.

Coins, gold dust and gold bullion recovered from the S.S. Central America in 2014, which has been in storage in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, is expected to be sold to California Gold for about $30 million, according to Franklin County Common Pleas Court records. That’s the treasure authorities were able to locate.

Last month, there was a notice of claims for those owed money by Thompson and his companies that recovered the gold. The Dispatch Printing Co., which formerly owned The Columbus Dispatch, is expected to receive about $6 million from the sale, records show.

Investors filed suit in 2005, accusing Thompson of failing to give investors a true accounting of what happened to the gold.

The case is being handled by Common Pleas Judge Laurel Beatty Blunt. She took over the case in March 2017. Thompson, a former Battelle scientist, was a fugitive from 2012 until 2015, when he was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service in southern Florida.

Appeals court rules against judge

A panel of appeals court judges last week reversed a Franklin County judge’s decision to grant a civil protection order against a Columbus man, ruling that the judge failed to give the man a hearing as required by state law.

The Franklin County Court of Appeals ordered Domestic Relations Judge Kim Browne to schedule a full hearing for the man within 10 days of its ruling.

“It’s a very scary proposition to have a judge deny a litigant an opportunity to be heard,” Sam Shamansky, the man’s attorney, told Dispatch Courts Reporter John Futty. “It strikes at the very heart of what our system holds dear.”

Shamansky filed the appeal in August, arguing that Browne engaged in judicial misconduct and falsified the record of his client’s absence.

Browne, who said in September that she “strenuously” disagreed with Shamansky’s claims, declined to comment on the ruling.

According to the appellate panel, Shamansky’s client arrived before the hearing was to begin on the morning of April 21 and was asked by Browne’s bailiff to sit at the far end of the hallway and remain separate from the woman who filed the action against him until the judge arrived.

Julie Keys, an attorney working with Shamansky on the case, also arrived and asked for a continuance, which she was told the judge would not allow. Keys and Shamansky were waiting in a conference room outside the courtroom and their client was still in the hallway when Browne conducted the hearing without them.

“The trial court was aware appellant and his counsel were present and prepared for a full contested hearing, yet it did not permit appellant or counsel to appear before the court to present evidence,” Appeals Court Judge Susan Brown wrote for the unanimous, three-judge panel.

According to a partial transcript of the hearing, Browne’s bailiff was uncertain about how to record who attended. The judge instructed her to document that the other party and counsel “were served and didn’t appear.”