Tracy Morgan must hand over six years of tax returns and other highly
personal information in an ongoing dispute over his megabucks crash
settlement with Walmart.
A federal magistrate judge in New Jersey gave the comedian 20 days to
cough up the documents sought by Walmart insurers in a ruling last week.
In the underlying dispute, Ohio Casualty Insurance Company and Liberty
Insurance Underwriters are fighting their obligation to the “exorbitant”
cash windfalls promised to Morgan and fellow comedian Ardie Fuqua by
the retail behemoth.
Morgan and Fuqua both received confidential settlements from Walmart
after the deadly July 7, 2014, crash on the New JerseyTurnpike that
killed their friend James McNair.
The crash was caused by a sleep-deprived Walmart truck driver who
plowed into their limo van as they traveled back from a show in
Delaware.
Morgan, 48, suffered a serious brain injury.
In March 2015, Walmart agreed to pay $10 million to settle claims brought by McNair’s children over the horrific pileup.
The company didn’t disclose the size of its final pacts with Morgan and
Fuqua when the deals were announced a couple months later.
The insurers revealed in follow-up filings that 90% of the money paid
in crash-related settlements went to Morgan and Fuqua claims.
That suggests the two received at least $90 million together.
The insurance companies now argue Walmart acted too soon and opened its purse strings too wide.
They’re trying to prove Morgan’s potential future earnings weren’t as compromised as first believed.
In a November court filing, a lawyer for the insurance companies said
Morgan should be forced to hand over his tax returns from 2009 through
2014 and documents related to certain activities after the crash.
The insurers want anything related to Morgan “appearing on national
television shortly after the settlement, driving a Lamborghini in
midtown Manhattan shortly after the settlement, (walking) around midtown
New York shortly after the settlement and his appearing at the Emmy
Awards to make a presentation.”
The judge on the case ordered Morgan and Fuqua to comply with the
subpoena and produce the documents after failing to pose adequate
objections, the order issued Thursday said.
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