BEAUMONT – A cease-fire has been issued in a battle to seal a controversial court document.
Last April, Klein Investigations, which is owned by area blogger Philip Klein, filed suit against Kallop Enterprises and several of its subsidiaries, seeking several hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages for services rendered.
Although Klein’s petition primarily focuses on a run-of-the-mill breach of contract claim, the litigation evolved into a feud of sorts that eventually led to Judge Justin Sanderson, 60th District Court, to withdraw from the case earlier this year.
Retzlaff
In July, Klein and his attorney, John Morgan, secured a default judgment against the Kallop defendants worth more than $569,000, court records show.
Issues of controversy were then raised on whether or not Kallop had been properly served and if Judge Sanderson should have recused himself from the case.
Klein began the collection process on the judgment he won, but the bankruptcy of Offshore Specialty Fabricators, a Kallop defendant, came into play.
In late December, Klein and Morgan requested a federal bankruptcy court lift the co-debtor bankruptcy stay, which was denied, court records show.
Klein then sought the deposition of the Kallop defendants’ attorney, Jeffrey Dorrell.
On Jan. 2, the Kallop defendants, through Dorrell, filed a response to Klein’s motion to conduct discovery and to a motion for continuance of a motion to dismiss, court records show.
The response contains several exhibits, including a divisive letter authored by Tom Retzlaff, a vexatious litigant who is neither a plaintiff nor defendant but has made his presence known in the case, to Judge Sanderson.
On Jan. 3, Klein moved to seal the response, arguing that Dorrell unlawfully attached documents in violation of a court order prohibiting Retzlaff from filing anything in the case.
The next day, Judge Sanderson held a hearing on the motion and temporarily sealed the document.
With a hearing to permanently seal set for March 16, three days beforehand Klein filed a motion to withdraw its motion to seal, stating Morgan will be on vacation that day.
The motion further states Klein will re-file the motion when his attorney can be physically present.
Klein said he did not know why he didn't seek to continue the hearing to a later date rather than withdraw because he is not the attorney.
Cause No. B-199953-A