Former Mayfield attorneys sue to recover fees

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP)—Jeremy Mayfield’s former attorneys filed a civil suit Wednesday against the suspended NASCAR driver seeking nearly $400,000 in unpaid fees.

Meanwhile, Mayfield’s new attorney filed a motion in U.S. District Court that claims NASCAR chairman Brian France misrepresented his primary residence to have Mayfield’s lawsuit moved to federal court.

The two filings marked a busy day of legal wrangling in the case of Mayfield, who was suspended May 9 for failing a random drug test. NASCAR said he tested positive for methamphetamines, while Mayfield has denied using the illegal drug.

Mayfield is currently suing over his suspension.

In the first filing, the firm James, McElroy and Diehl claimed in North Carolina Superior Court that Mayfield owes $371,973.66, plus attorney fees, late charges and interest since Oct. 22.

The firm represented Mayfield from May until October, when he hired high-profile attorney Mark Geragos.

The claim admits Mayfield made some payments during the time he was represented by Bill Diehl, but it states Mayfield was constantly late, often “represented that payments were ‘on the way,’ or ‘being delivered today’ “ and that if Mayfield did come through with money, it was typically “for less than the promised amount.”

The suit also claims that Mayfield agreed in September to make monthly payments of $20,000 until Dec. 15, when he was to make a lump sum payment to cover the full amount. The suit claims Mayfield promised to sign the agreement, but never did.

The second filing, by Geragos’ legal team, is in response to NASCAR’s attempt to temporarily halt the discovery process. In it, Mayfield claims NASCAR should not have succeeding in moving the original lawsuit from North Carolina state courts to federal court.

The change of venue came after France admitted he owns a home in North Carolina, but that Florida is his primary residence.

Mayfield claims in a separate lawsuit France filed against his former in-laws filed four days earlier, France claimed to be a citizen of both states. Mayfield argues that France can’t be a resident in North Carolina for one case to be heard in state court, but then claim to be a resident of Florida so that the Mayfield case is heard in federal court.

“Apparently, Mr. France claims to be domiciled in Florida when it suits him for tax-avoidance purposes, but claims be domiciled in North Carolina when it suits him in litigation,” the filing states.

Updated Nov 25, 9:57 pm EST
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2,000 Comments

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    Me Thu Dec 03, 2009 05:07 am PST Report Abuse
    Albert,Nascar's drug test maybe fool proof and it may not.Money can give you any outcome one would want..I for one don't trust France nor Helton after this past years senario..I do believe there is some crookedness going on within the sport between the ceo's and the one owner of 4 cars..Look all around you,people are being bought off everyday so the outcome will be swayed their way..There's definitely more to this story than we know..
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    Dion D Wed Dec 02, 2009 10:09 am PST Report Abuse
    1985. Posted by earlsims@... Sat Nov 28 10:55am EST Report Abuse
    I hope when jeremy runs out of money people will come forwardto help him
    win his case. then the nascar group can clean up there act. many or the old timers this not good raceing. maybe nascar will wise up. our family has been in
    raceing since 1949 now we realy don't care if we watch the races anymore. i could go on and on how raceing has failed the fans. enougth said.

    words from the wale.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    PLEASE DO US ALL A FAVOR AND DON'T GO ON AND ON ABOUT "RACEING". YOUR POST GAVE ME A HEADACHE.
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    Lucky Lou Sun Nov 29, 2009 07:49 pm PST Report Abuse
    Ah ha. Seems it always comes down to who is sleeping with who (or is it whom)?. Oh well some idiot will correct me regardless. But I digress. Main issue here kind of leads to Jeremy doing the drug trick or was it the hide the weiner game. Only the shadow knows. Wouldn't you know it? Racing is awful on the track so these good ole boys cook up a real soap opera type of situation. This is going to be better than The Beverly Hillbillies. Got more juicy details. Old Roy wants to know which trail the France ex-wife took. He may want to do some of his own investigating there. In the meantime you all send your donations to assist Jeremy in paying his bills. He never could drive. Now he needs all the help he can muster. See y'all next time.
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    Albert Sun Nov 29, 2009 08:56 am PST Report Abuse
    To "me": my comments has nothing to do with allegations concerning any alledged relationship between Mayfield and France's ex-wife. I'm referring to the criteria and guidlines set by precedent in Federal case law on drug testing programs and how its administered. Nascar's policy has been examined and compared to these guidelines and not found wanting. This doesn't mean that Gerago won't attack it as I'm sure he will.
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    Scott S Sun Nov 29, 2009 08:09 am PST Report Abuse
    1996, that is true, but its the way that Mayfield is going about this whole thing that is leading me to believe that both sides are in the wrong, and this could really turn bad under a perfect storm of conditions.
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    Curtis Sun Nov 29, 2009 05:59 am PST Report Abuse
    Me cant spell!................ ha ha ha ha ha let your mom help!!!!!!!!!
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    Curtis Sun Nov 29, 2009 05:32 am PST Report Abuse
    me....#1992 your parents should call you a idiot for reading my stupid comments. dont cry by the way you cant spell.............( stupid)!!!!!! and im a IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT A LOSER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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    Me Sun Nov 29, 2009 05:22 am PST Report Abuse
    Albert,Please explain to all of us How you know there is nothing wrong with nascar's drug testing policy.If Jeremy was seeing France's ex wife and France found out about it wouldn't that be a cause for him to go after Mayfield..I believe we will be seeing alot of dirt coming out on France..People with lots of wealth and control feel they can just do as they damn well want.We see this everyday in our lives..It's gonna be a Huge story if we find Mayfield was somehow set up..Mayfield doesn't look anything like someone that is a meth addict to me..Guess we All will find out the Truth in the end !
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    Charles Sat Nov 28, 2009 07:47 pm PST Report Abuse
    I read he was doing Frances ol lady!!! Veryyyy interesting.......
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    Charles Sat Nov 28, 2009 07:44 pm PST Report Abuse
    I read he was doing Frances ol lady!!! Veryyyy interesting.......
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    Albert Sat Nov 28, 2009 06:22 pm PST Report Abuse
    Jeremy is in over his head and hasn't got enough sense to realize it. He's been royally screwed by his first law firm he could not afford and who accomplished nothing and Gerago is not doing one thing until he is paid up front which is why Mayfield is auctioning off everything he owns. He's got two drug tests against him and there is nothing wrong with Nascar's testing policy.
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    Me Sat Nov 28, 2009 02:01 pm PST Report Abuse
    Curtis, Your parents need to put parental control on their computer.Idiots as yourself need to stick to a topic that they know alil' about..All you do is make supid comments..
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    Buddy Sat Nov 28, 2009 11:40 am PST Report Abuse
    nascar has turned into,a sport that looks and acts a whole lot like pro wrestling (which aint worth watching anymore) Bring back the old points system. One last thing take those restrictor plates and shove em, let the drivers have a say in how fast they think think they should go. Start the race and anybody who wants to get out at any time they want to let the others race.
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    Texas_Hurricane Sat Nov 28, 2009 11:23 am PST Report Abuse
    All Of This Is Dale Junior's Crew Chiefs Fault!

    Junior Nation Just Plain Sucks....
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    Mark Sat Nov 28, 2009 08:12 am PST Report Abuse
    He might have been porking Frances Ex-wife. Now France has sued her to keep her quiet about something. Probably that Jeremy is much better in the sack due to the meth enhancer. LOL
    Shannon defintely isn't doing the powder. Girl's put on some junk.
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    jkenneth S Sat Nov 28, 2009 08:06 am PST Report Abuse
    Who Cares ? All of them will be pennyless soon enough. No sponsors, no races , no venues, no nascar, no drivers ,no owners. OB man running the country, no life.
  • 0 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 0 users disliked this comment
    EARL Sat Nov 28, 2009 07:55 am PST Report Abuse
    I hope when jeremy runs out of money people will come forwardto help him
    win his case. then the nascar group can clean up there act. many or the old timers this not good raceing. maybe nascar will wise up. our family has been in
    raceing since 1949 now we realy don't care if we watch the races anymore. i could go on and on how raceing has failed the fans. enougth said.

    words from the wale.
  • 0 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 0 users disliked this comment
    Curtis Sat Nov 28, 2009 05:50 am PST Report Abuse
    i think sarah is a little whore!!!! does your mom or dad know???????
  • 0 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 0 users disliked this comment
    james v Sat Nov 28, 2009 04:13 am PST Report Abuse
    Everybody,s jawjacking about mayfield,s supposed drug use but what about the france family own druggies. wasn,t a police stop of 2 members of france,s family made with actual drugs in their possition 1 a driver in the arca series the other i,m not sure. what happened did france pay, bribe or make a shady deal of some sort to hide this amid the battle with mayfield who was accussed of drug use. longtime users of meth shows a lot of symtoms non apparent to me in mayfield,s case like nascar,s ruling family claims. iwant to know why isn,t those 2 family members being dragged through the (mud) public picture like mayfield is being done they shouldn,t be let their trangresion be quitly hid away in the family closet. i think the 2 should be held in the public spot light just as mayfield is being done. i am not a mayfield fan , i just think that brian france& company shouldn,t be able to force any member of the racing fraturnity thru the process they have done to mayfield and not do the same to france family and realatives who has done simaler offences. people don,t remember big bill,s iron fist ruling of nascars early yrs drivers had to do what they were officially told to do or never race anywhere again even little known dirt tracks. it,s time the france dynasty was held accountable for their own actions and trangresions iam a former dirt track driver and i beive no person in the fraternity should be made do what the frances hasmake them do example new track at talledigla was deadly to drive on but drivers either raced or never drove a race anywhere again. do not allow them to rake any driver thru the process then effectivy cover up what they do their selves.
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    james r Fri Nov 27, 2009 07:44 pm PST Report Abuse
    France should pay the bill. He's the real crooked one in this deal and hes learning the ropes from the super criminal in racing...........Rick Hendrick.
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    I HATE SPAM! Fri Nov 27, 2009 04:57 pm PST Report Abuse
    The new SPAMMER name today is 'Sarah' They swear it's not a scam but it's the same picture using 4 different names & locations.....REAL BELIEVABLE!! They are removed daily but keep coming back with the same BS! Help report these bottom feeders of the internet!!!
  • 0 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 0 users disliked this comment
    Curtis Fri Nov 27, 2009 12:23 pm PST Report Abuse
    booooo hoooo me!!!!!! waaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!
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    Easymoney Fri Nov 27, 2009 06:54 am PST Report Abuse
    In the bigger picture of life's daliy issuses. This Mayfeild thing is really like a pimple on a nat's A@@.
  • 0 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 0 users disliked this comment
    Me Fri Nov 27, 2009 05:57 am PST Report Abuse
    Hey Curtis,If Dale #88 were to give Kyle the finger ,Kyle would see it in his rear view mirror...You're an Idiot for making such statements..Why don't you get your mom to help you on this site.
  • 0 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 0 users disliked this comment
    Curtis Fri Nov 27, 2009 05:34 am PST Report Abuse
    #88!...........drink amp!!!!! and give kyle the finger

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