By Scott Ritter
Editor's Note: Mr. Ritter is a 1L law student at Indiana University Maurer School of Law and recently participated in a shadow day program with the Firm.
An ordeal that began in 1996 has culminated in a judgment of $1.7 million for former refinery manager, Hubert Vidrine. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana awarded Vidrine that sum based on the EPA's malicious prosecution for violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The Court held that the EPA did not have probable cause that Vidrine was storing hazardous waste, and that the EPA's 1996 search of the Canal Refinery Company in Church Point, Louisiana did not yield evidence of RCRA violations.
The Court found that Keith Phillips, the member of the EPA's Criminal Investigation Division who led the effort in Church Point, acted maliciously by lying to secure the indictment and perjuring himself in front of a grand jury. The Department of Justice charged Vidrine with a RCRA violation in 1999, but eventually dropped all charges in 2003. According to the Court, Phillips "permeated the entire investigation with omissions, half-truths, overstatements, inflammatory language, misstatements, patent falsehoods, and tortured readings of regulations." Phillips' behavior was motivated in whole or in part by three different factors according to evidence presented in this case: a personal vendetta against Vidrine, overzealousness with new power following a promotion, and a desire to continue the investigation in order to carry on an extramarital affair with an FBI agent.
While the United States government is on the hook for the $1.7 million judgment, Phillips did not escape unscathed. Phillips pled guilty earlier this month to charges of perjury and obstruction of justice stemming from his testimony in the Vidrine case. The former EPA agent faces up to 10 years in prison for the obstruction of justice count and five years in prison for the perjury count.
