Daily Record Financial News &
Monday, June 27, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 161 • Two Sections
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Governor chooses Dees for judgeship
Shattered sanctuary
Scott passes on lawmaker heavily opposed by NRA By Jim Turner The News Service of Florida
“When Mr. Richardson took dead aim at my head and pulled the trigger, he directly attacked the rule of law that is so vital to our nation’s identity and continuity.” U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan About Aaron Richardson’s failed attempt to kill him
Man gets 343 years for shooting at Corrigan By David Chapman, Staff Writer
Corrigan
Richardson
One point six inches. It may be the reason U.S. Judge Timothy Corrigan is alive. Why his wife Nancy isn’t a widow. And why Aaron Richardson isn’t on death row. That’s the distance Richardson missed by when he fired into the judge’s home in the early hours of June 23, 2013. The Corrigans were watching TV after spending the evening at a wedding. Richardson was hiding in the bushes, then he fired the shot. A slight change here or there could have meant a much, much different outcome. Richardson stepping forward another foot, knowing more about the gun or even having a little weapons experience. He didn’t, though. And the assassination attempt came up short. One point six inches short. Corrigan
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Gov. Rick Scott appointed Robert Dees to the 4th Judicial Circuit on Friday, choosing the Jacksonville attorney from a list of six nominees that included a Republican state lawmaker who had become the target of gun-rights groups. Dees, a partner with Milam, Howard, Nicandri, Dees & Gillam, will fill a vacancy created by the appointment of Judge Harvey Jay to the 1st District Court of Appeal. Scott’s pick for the judgeship drew attention because influential National Rifle Association lobbyist Marion Hammer initiated a letter-writing campaign in opposition to Rep. Charles McBurney, R-Jacksonville, who had wanted the job. “Exposing the selfserving conduct of a legislator who seeks to become a judge is important,” Hammer, a past president of the NRA who serves as executive director of the Unified Sportsmen Dees of Florida, said in an email Friday. “That is not the kind of person you want to be a judge.” In a letter last month to NRA and Unified Sportsmen of Florida members, Hammer deemed McBurney “unfit” for a judgeship because, as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, he refused to move forward with a measure tied to the state’s “stand your ground self-defense law during the legislative session that ended in March. Florida Carry later urged its members to oppose McBurney. As of Friday morning, the governor’s office had received 7,985 responses in Judge
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Artifacts sale could solve Titanic bankruptcy
Financial difficulties forced the owner of artifacts from the RMS Titanic to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy petitions two weeks ago. However, according to a case document filed last week, all of the company’s problems could be solved if it’s allowed to sell just a handful of its 5,500 Titanic artifacts. Atlanta-based Premier Exhibitions Inc. and several subsidiaries, including RMS Titanic Inc., filed for Chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida in Jacksonville on June 14. The company
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owns exclusive rights to recover artifacts from the wreck of the Titanic. “The Debtors believe that a limited sale of artifacts (perhaps as few ten to twenty) from the French Collection would generate enough revenue to pay all of the Debtors’ creditors in full, return all of the equity to the Debtors’ shareholders and provide working capital for the Debtors as they emerge from bankruptcy,” RMS Titanic Inc. said in the court filing last Monday. The French Collection consists of about 2,100 artifacts first recov-
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ered by the company in 1987 during a salvage mission in conjunction with the French government’s oceanographic institute. The remainder of its collection was salvaged in expeditions that began in 1993. The combined collection of 5,500 artifacts has an estimated market value of $218 million,
according to a 2014 appraisal included in the filing. The court filing was a motion seeking to sell that limited number of artifacts. Premier has been severely restricted from selling its artifacts, in the interests of preserving history, by a U.S. federal court decision and by French authorities. However, Premier is arguing that a limited sale would be in the best interest of all stakeholders. “The Debtors regret the Debtors’ current financial circumstances, but welcome the opportunity to make every creditor
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whole, while preserving the investments of the shareholders, and providing the Debtors a fresh start going forward with 99.5 percent of the French Collection intact,” the filing said. Premier owes creditors about $12 million in unsecured debts. Premier is a publicly traded company that, in addition to Titanic-related activities, also produces exhibitions for other ventures. Its financial problems were caused in part by a failed Saturday Night Live exhibition in Basch continued on Page A-11
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