Fulton Judge Hits Danielle Rollins, Lawyer With $250K Contempt Order
The order said socialite and style maven Danielle Rollins and her attorney, Christopher Corbett, "engaged in a deliberate, concerted practice of abusive litigation" such that the attorney fee award is justified under Georgia law.
March 07, 2018 at 04:57 PM
5 minute read
Socialite and author Danielle Rollins has once again been slapped with hefty contempt order instructing her to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney fees and other expenses to her ex-husband, former Orkin Pest Control President Glen Rollins, and to return an array of belongings she kept in violation of their divorce settlement.
The March 1 order demands more than $176,480 in attorney fees and expenses and $77,706 to cover repairs and replacement expenses at Boxwood, the Buckhead mansion the couple once shared.
The total comes to more than $254,000.
The order said Glen also spent more than $33,000 on appraisal fees to determine the value of items Danielle took but does not include that sum in the fee award.
Danielle was awarded more than $15 million as part of the couple's 2013 divorce, which also awarded Glen possession of Boxwood. Danielle has been accused of vandalizing and stripping fixtures from the property before vacating it.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Belinda Edwards' ruling said that Danielle's attorney, Christopher Corbett of Atlanta's Corbett Firm, is jointly and severally liable for $50,000 of the fee award.
The order said Danielle and Corbett “have engaged in a deliberate, concerted practice of abusive litigation” justifying the fee award.
Edwards also found that Danielle's “flagrant and malicious” refusal to comply with earlier court orders constituted criminal contempt and fined her $1,000—the judge noted that she could have sent the woman to jail for 20 days instead.
Corbett declined to discuss the ruling other than to say he will appeal.
The order is the second time Danielle has been found in contempt and hit with a high-dollar order. In early 2015, now-retired Judge Bensonetta Lane found Danielle in willful contempt and scheduled a show-cause hearing as to why she should not be jailed.
Danielle filed both a discretionary and direct appeal; the discretionary application was denied, and the direct appeal was ruled improper. Even so, while that appeal was pending, Lane entered a final order demanding that she pay nearly $415,000, including more than $300,000 for unreturned property, nearly $80,000 for property damage and $34,000 for “acts of willful contempt.”
Lane also held Rollins and her lawyer jointly liable for $163,759 in attorney fees for “abusive litigation tactics.”
Last year, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that, even though Danielle's appeal was improper and ultimately dismissed it, Lane was barred from entering her final order while that appeal was pending.
Edwards, elected in 2016, took over Lane's seat in the court's Family Division, and the case was remanded to her.
The order, which was prepared by Glen Rollins' attorney R. Scott Berryman of Berryman Family Law, includes several lists of appraised items awarded to Glen that must be returned by March 30.
Asked whether Danielle has the wherewithal to pay the judgment, Berryman said “she absolutely does. She of course received a nice settlement in the divorce.”
But he said additional challenges are likely in the offing.
“They just keep coming,” said Berryman. “I'm sure they'll be filing another appeal.”
“Our position has always been that all Mr. Rollins wants is what he was awarded in the arbitration,” Berryman said.
He noted that Danielle also will be liable for the value of any items included in the appraisals attached to the order that she doesn't return by the deadline.
Rollins has carved out a career both as a fashion and design maven through her “Gracious Living and Stylish Entertaining” website and in 2012 published her first book, “Soiree: Entertaining with Style.”
She also has kept her lawyer busy: In addition to the litigation against her ex, Danielle in 2015 sued the lawyers who handled her divorce in Fulton County State Court, saying they didn't get enough for her in the divorce settlement.
Defense motions for summary judgment are pending in that case.
She also sued Lane and the Fulton County Family Division, arguing that the court is unconstitutional because the General Assembly didn't reauthorize the division after it started as a pilot project that ended in 2010.
That case has essentially been dormant since 2016.
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