benson deposition

8/16/2019 Benson Deposition

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/benson-deposition 1/17

UNITED STATES

DISTRICT

COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA

THOM S MILTON

BENSON

, JR . ,

CIVIL

ACTION NO.

15

-

782

in hi s

capac i ty

as GR NTOR

SECTION : H

VERSUS JUDGE MILAZZO

M G . DIVISION: 2

ROBERT

A.

ROSENTH L

,

in

h i s capac i ty

as

TRUSTEE M G . JUDGE WILKINSON

Cont inua t ion

of

t he videotaped

depos i t ion

of

THOM S

MILTON

BENSON

,

JR

.

t aken

in h i s of f i c e s

loca ted

a t

58

Air l ine Drive

, Meta i r i e , Louis iana

7 3

, on the

29th day

o f

March , 2 16 , beginn ing a t 9 : 27 a . m.

REPORTED BY :

CONNIE M.

FINESCHI

,

CCR

CERTIFIED COURT REPORTER

A

Case 2:15-cv-00782-JTM-JCW Document 182-1 Filed 05/19/16 of 17



2

3

Q.

A .

Q .

CONFIDENTIAL

AND

SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE ORDER

No , I

wasn

t implying t h a t

I

j u s t want to

c l a r i f y

t h a t

.

Okay When was

your

knee surgery

age 23

4

approximate ly?

5 A . Well ,

t he

years

have gone by

,

so

I don t

6 know . I can t t ll you

whether

t h a t was two years

7

ago , t h r ee o r f i v e .

8

9

10

12

Q.

A.

Q.

A .

Q .

Okay

Okay

In

t he

l a s t f ive years?

Yes .

Okay So

it s my

unders tand ing t h a t when

13 you were marr i ed to your wife Grace , t h a t your p lan

14 was still to l e ave your

a s s e t s to Renee

, Ri t a , and

15 Ryan; i s t h a t r i g h t ?

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

t h a t

t ake

A .

Q.

A

Q.

t ime ,

A .

Q .

those

A .

Q.

Under

Grace

s

dea th though

.

Unt i l

Grace

s

dea th?

Righ t

Okay Okay . But t h a t

was

your p la n

a t

r i g h t ?

Yes

Okay

And

now

you

ve

dec ided

you

want

a s s e t s back?

Cor rec t

.

Okay And I know you

ve

exp la ined it a

ON THE RECORD, INC

(504) 378-3850

to




CONFIDENTIAL

AND


age

4

1

littl

b i t , but if you can

j u s t

t ll me

why

t h a t

2

i s

.

3

A . Well , t hey t r i e d

to

k i l l me

fo r

one

4 t h ing .

Okay

. How so?

6

Q .

A.

Well ,

you know

,

by

p ic k in g

on

my wi fe

and

7

when I wasn t

f ee l very good

, t hey were

ve ry

8 h o s t i l e .

Okay

10

Q .

A.

As

a

mat te r o f f a c t

, I

c u t them o f f

from

11 eve ry th ing . I

don

t have

them to

S a i n t s games o r

12 e l i cans o r noth ing .

13 Q . Right . So when d i d t h a t happen? When do

14

you

When

d id

you c u t

them

o f f

from

a t t e n d i n g the

15

games?

I

don

t know

6

17

A .

Q . Was

it befo re

your

dec i s ion

to t a

k e

t he

18 a s se t s back?

19

20

21

22

23

you

A .

Q .

A .

Q .

dec ide

Sure .

Like

About

About

t h a t

about

t he

same

t ime .

t he

same

t ime .

Okay

.

you d

idn

t

want them to

24

Sa in t s

o r the e l i cans

games anymore?

So

what made

a t t e n d

the

25 A . Well , first t h in g

t hey

came

i n t o

my s u i t e

ON THE RECORD, INC

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2

3

4

CONFIDENTIAL

AND


and s t a r t e d

f igh t ing

with

u s

Q. Okay

A .

Saying ugly th ings and eve ry th ing

.

Q . Your

s u i t e a t

the

Sain ts?

5 A.

Yeah

, Sain t s game .

6 Q. Okay . So what do

you

remember about

7 t h a t ? What happened?

8

MR WITTMANN

:

9 Again , we

ve

gone over t h i s

10

repea ted ly

This

i s ju s

t

r e p e t i t i o n

.

I m ob jec t ing t o

t

. Make

t

a

age 25

12

con t inu ing ob jec t ion to your repe

t i t

ive

13

ques t ions

.

14 EXAMINATION BY

MS

. SCHILLING :

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

Q. Okay I don t a c t u a l l y r e c a l l t a l k ing

about t h i s yes te rday , but i f

so

,

then

I

apologize

.

But

do you

MR WITTMANN:

Not you , Mr . Flanagan .

EXAMINATION

BY MS

. SCHILLING :

Q.

Do you

remember

what happened a t t he

Sa in t s s u i t e t h a t you re r e f e r r ing to?

A . I th ink Renee and

Rita and

maybe

Ryan

was

t h e r e

to o

,

carne

over

to our

s u i t e

and

s t a r t e d

say ing t h ings I m t ry ing to watch a foo tba l l

ON THE RECORD, INC

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CONFIDENTIAL

ND SUB

JECT TO PROTECTIVE

ORD

ER

Page

6

1 game .

Right

.

3

5

6

Q.

A . And t hey s t a r t p i

ck ing

on Gayle . And it

7

8

9

1

11

got

so bad

, Renee shook

h e r

, and I

sa id

, That ' s

enough . Le t ' s go

. Gay

l e and I l e f t

the game

.

Q. Okay . So

you

wi tnes sed

t h a t

- -

A .

Q.

A .

Q.

A .

Yes .

- - Renee shak i ng Gayle?

Yes .

Okay

.

t

was

r i g h t t here . We were

s i t t i n g

12 t o g e t h e r

.

13

Q.

Ri g h t . And th i s is a d i f f e r e n t t i me th an

14

a t

your house?

15 A . Uh-

huh

(

a f f i r ma t iv e ly

) .

16 Q. Okay . So

th e

r e was a t ime

a t

your house

17

and

t hen

a l

so

a

t ime

a t

the Sa in t s game

.

I s

18

t h a t

19

2

2 1

A .

Q.

A .

Yeah

.

- -

what you

'

re

say ing?

I don ' t remember

which

was first , but I

22

would

t h i n k

t h a t

t he house

was

second .

23

Q. Okay . Who

have

you

t a l k e d

to

about your

24

dec i s ion to

t ake

t he

a s se t s

back?

25 A . Who d i d I

t a l k

to

, one o f my lawyers . I

ON THE

RECORD

,

INC

.

(504) 378-3850




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CONFIDENTIAL

AND


Page 28

A . I fo rgo t

th e ir names

.

Q . Okay

That

s okay This i s in Texas o r

in Louis iana

A . Here , Louis i ana .

Q .

Lo

u i s i a n a ,

okay What conve r sa t ions do

you remember having wi th Dennis Lauscha o r

Mickey

Loomis o r

Greg

Bensel about

your

dec i s ion to t ake

the

a s s e t s back?

A . I

don

t r e c a l l

t h a t

.

Q .

You

don

t

r e c a l l

t he

s p e c i f i c s of the

conversa t ion

A .

Q.

Right .

Okay . Do you

r e c a l l t he

s p e c i f i c s o f any

14 conversa t ions with t he people running your

15

dea le r sh ips

16

A No

17

Q.

Okay

.

Have

you

t a

lked to

your

wife

Gayle

18 about

your dec i s ion

to

t ake back t h e a s s e t s

19 A . Gayle?

20 Q . Yes

.

21 A . I don t r e c a l l .

22 Q .

You

don

t r e c a l l .

So

you

don

t know i

23

you

have t a lk ed t o

he r

o r you have not t a lk ed to

24 he r about

i t

25

A .

I

don

t know i I t a lk ed to he r about i t .

ON THE RECORD, INC

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CONFIDENTIAL

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Page

29

Okay

2

Q.

A . I didn t want he r t o ge t too invo lved in

3 t h i s t h in g

4

Q.

Okay

Why i s

t h a t ?

5

A .

Because

,

you

know , I t hought

she might

6 ge t h u r t

and

I didn t want

he r

to .

7

Q. What

do

you

mean

by t h a t ?

8 A . Well , t hey a l r e

ady

shook

he r

and

cur sed

9 her ou t

and eve ry th ing

. She didn t

need

anymore o f

10

t h a t

2 3

24

25

Q.

A .

Q.

A .

Q .

remember

A .

kind o f

Q.

A .

Q .

A .

Q .

Okay

. Anybody

e l s e t h a t

you remember

He

was what?

Sorry?

A

p o r t e r

.

Ri g h t

Okay

ON THE RECORD, INC

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CONFIDENTIAL

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Page

33

1 Q. Right . What conve r sa t ions do you

2 remember having with Dennis about s e t t i n g up t he

3

t r u s t ?

4

A . I

don

t remember

t h a t

.

5 Q. Okay . Okay .

We

s t a r t e d

t a l king about

6 t h i s be fore , b u t you sa i d t h a t a t

some

poin t t h a t

7 Renee

and Ri ta and Ryan were no longer al lowed to

8 come to the Sain t s

games

.

9 A . Right .

10 Q.

And was t h a t

because

o f

what

happened

in

11

t he s u i t e

, o r

t h a t

was

because o f something

e l s e?

12

A .

Well

,

by

t h i s t ime

they

showed a

l o t

o f

13 i n d i ca t i o n s they didn t they wanted to t ake over

14 eve ry th ing , and then t h a t was t he f i n a l blow

15 Q. Okay Okay . So what

i n d i ca t i o n s

had

16 they

shown

t h a t

they wanted to take over

17

everyth ing?

18 A . I don t remember

19 Q. You don t remember . Okay . But was t h a t

20

your

dec i s ion fo r them not to be al lowed to

come

to

21

22

23

24

25

t he

games?

A .

Q.

A .

Q.

Yes

Did you

tell

them t h a t

yourse l f?

I

don

t

reca

ll

When s t he l a s t t ime you r emember

ON THE RECORD, INC

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CONFIDENTIAL

AND


Page

34

speak ing

to

Renee

o r

R i t a

o r

Ryan?

2

A . S h o r t l y a f t e r the inc iden t . I

to

l d

them

3 I was d i s p l e a s e d wi th them .

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

Q .

When

you say the

i n c id en t

,

what a r e

you

r e f e r r i n g

to?

A .

When

t hey came in the s u i t e and shook my

wife .

Q . Okay.

And t hen what

d id

you tell them

a f t e r t h a t

in te rms o f t h a t you were d i s p l e a s e d

wi th them?

A . What d id I

tell them?

Q . Uh- huh i n d i ca t in g a f f i rm a t i v e l y ) .

A . I most probab ly I don t remember

exac t

words

,

bu

t I most

probab ly

t o l d

them

I didn t want

to

see

them anymore

.

Q .

Are

you r e f e r r i n g to the l e t t e r t h a t

we

looked

a t

yes te rday

t h a t

you

s e n t

to

Renee

Ri ta

,

and Ryan?

A.

Q .

A .

What s

t he

da te o f i t ?

December

27th ,

2014

.

That was a little b i t

a f t e r

t h a t . This

22 happened a few

weeks

befo re t h a t .

23

Q . The

i n c id en t a t

t he Sa in t s

s u i t e happened

24

a

little be fore

t h a t ?

25 A . Yeah.

ON THE RECORD, INC

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3

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8

9

10

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

CONFIDENTIAL

AND


Q.

Okay. Do you remember

having

any

in-person conversa t ions with Renee

Rita and

Ryan

A. After t ha t happened?

Q.

Yes .

A.

No.

Page

35

Q. Okay. Do you remember

having

any

in-person conversa t ions

with

them before

you wrote

the l e t t e r ?

A .

Q.

A.

Q.

A.

Q.

A.

Q.

A .

Q.

About what?

About you being

disp leased

with

t

hem.

I

don t r e ca l l .

Okay.

You

a re

a

lawyer

huh?

I am.

Here

New Orleans?

Yep .

Okay. I j u s t wanted to ge t i t s t ra i

ght .

Sure. No

problem.

20 When we

were

t a lk ing

about

,

you know

,

you

21

witness ing Renee

shaking Gayle

a t

the Sain

t s

game

,

22

then was there anyone

e l se

there?

23 A.

Oh yeah

.

24

25

Q.

A.

Who?

We most probably had 3 0 people ln the

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CONFIDENTIAL

AND


Page

36

s u i t e .

2

3

4

5

6

Q. Okay. Who

s p e c i f i c a l l y

do you

remember

7

8

9

10

12

13

being t he re?

A .

Who

be ing t he re?

Q. Uh huh ( ind ica t ing

a f f i rma t ive ly ) .

A . No one exac t ly , no.

Q. Okay. Jus t l i k e t he t yp i ca l people t h a t

would be

in your

su i t e?

A .

Right

.

Q . Who

were

those

people?

A . Dennis

Lauscha

,

doc tors

,

and

many

managers

here , depar tment

managers

, and

some

long- t ime

f r i ends .

14 Q. When you say

doc tors

, what do you

mean?

15

A . I had two doc to r s I counted

on

a g re a t

16 dea l .

17

Q.

What a re

th e

r

names?

18

A.

I d o n t know. You would have to show i t

19

to me.

I

fo rgo t

.

20

21

22

now?

Q.

Tha

t s okay . Are they st ll

your

doc to r s

A .

One

o f

them

got r e a l s i ck

and

the

o th e r

23

one

I st ll

have

.

24

Q.

Okay.

I s t

f a i r

to

say

t h a t

your

wife

25 Gayle doesn t l i k e Renee? Do you th ink th a t s

f a i r

ON

THE RECORD,

INC

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CONFIDENTIAL

AND


Page 37

to say?

No

, I don t

know

t ha t .

1

2

3

A .

Q. You

don

t

know Do you not

know

i

she

4 l i kes

Renee?

5 A . She never to l d me .

6 Q. She

never

t o l d you

one way o r

7

A .

Cer t a in ly

a f t e r t h a t

i n c iden t

she didn t

8

l i k e he r

.

9

Q. Okay.

10 A . I

didn

t

e i the r .

11

Q. And

you mean

when she shook

her a t the

12 Sain ts game?

13 A . Right .

Then

carne to the house .

14 Q. Okay .

What

do

you

remember b etween those

15 events , between the

game and

the

inc iden t

a t the

16

house any o the r

problems

with

Renee

Ri ta

,

o r

17

Ryan?

18 A.

Not

t h a t I know

of .

19 Q. Do

you

remember any spec i f i c problems

20

with Ryan

o r what

he did

to make you angry?

21 A . I th ink

he

carne

to see

me

or

ca l l ed me

22 and t o l d me

something

l i k e he didn t have any

par t

23

o f

t h a t .

24

Q.

Okay.

And

what

d id

you

t h in

k

abo

u t

t h a t

25 when he sa id tha t ?

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20

21

22

23

24

25

A .

Q.

A .

CONFIDENTIAL

AND


That

s what

s t a r t e d

a l l

t h a t

crap .

Okay So what

do

you

mean

by th a t ?

Well

, when we pu l l ed ou t , t hey

still

Page

53

wanted

t h ings

.

They

h i r ed

a t t o rneys

,

and we didn

t

have

to

give them

any th ing .

Q. Why didn t you

have

to give them

any th ing?

A .

It was

none o f t h e i r

bus iness .

Q. So

how t he company

t he

company s

f i nanc i a l s

,

t h a t

was none o f t h e i r bus iness?

A . Oh , t hey cou ld

see t h a t

.

Q . Okay But your

A . But my

pe r sona l

s t u f f they didn

t.

Q. Got it .

So

when was t h i s in r e l a t

i on

to

the inc iden t s wi th

Gayle

and

your

daughter?

A . I t

was

a l l

about t he

same

t ime

.

Q.

Okay

. When

you

were rep lac ing

people on

t he se

on the boards o f your companies , d id you

put

your

wife Gayle on the boards o f any o f these

companies?

A . I

don

t r e c a l l .

Q .

You

don t r e ca l l ?

A . I don t

know

,

t h a t

s r i g h t .

Q .

Okay

Has Gay

l e

eve r

been

invo lved in

running any o f your bus inesses?

ON THE RECORD, INC

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CONFIDENTIAL

AND

SUB JECT TO PROTECTIVEORDER

Page

54

A . No .

MR WITTMANN :

2

3

Objec t ion . That s got no th ing to do

4

wi t h

t h i s

case

,

whether Gayle

was o r

5 wasn t

i nvo lved

i n running a bus i

ness

.

6 But

sub jec t to

my

ob jec t ion

, you can

7

answe r

t he

ques t i

on

.

8 THE

WITNESS :

9

No .

1

EXAMINATION

BY

MR

.

SCH

I LL I

NG

:

Q .

Okay

.

I s

she i nvolved now in r u

nn

i

ng

any

12 o f your

bus

i nesses?

13

A .

She

s i nvo lved wi

th

me ,

but she

don t run

14 any bus inesses .

Q .

When

you mean she s invo lved wi th you ,

you

mean

j u s t

be ing

you r wi

fe?

A . I

keep

he r

pos t ed

on

what

s

go1ng on

.

15

16

17

18

want h e r

to l ea rn t he

th

i

ng

.

My

p la n

i s t h a t

she

19

would

t

ak

e over when I

d ie

.

2

Q . And what i s what w i l l

she

t a ke

over?

2 1

A . T

he

S a i n t s ,

Pe

l

i c a n s

, and t

he two

22 au tomobi le dea l e r s h ip s he r e

23

Q .

24

now

25

A .

Okay

.

So

you re keeping he r informed

and some r e a l

e s t a t e

. We own a

ON THE RECORD , INC .

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I




CONFIDENTIAL

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Page

55

b u i ld in g and th

in

gs l i k e t h a t .

2

Q.

I s

t h a t Benson Tower?

3

4

5

A .

Q.

A .

Yes

Okay

And we got

some

o ther b u i l d

- -

no

t

6 bu i ld ings , not bu i ld ings , b u t prope r ty .

7

Q.

What o th e r

proper ty?

8

9

10

12

13

14

15

A .

Q

r i g h t

,

a t

A .

Q.

about

t h e

A .

Q.

Real

e s t a t e , vacan t prope r

t y .

Right

. There i s l i k e a parking

lo t

,

Poydras

and Cla iborne?

That

s

t

.

Okay And then I t h ink we

a l ready

t a lked

l and where the dea le r sh ips

are loca ted?

Right .

Right

. Okay

And

those are That s

16 a l l

t he prope r ty t h a t

was

involved in

the

17

18

19

20

A .

Q

A .

Q.

There

i s

nothing

e l se

.

Those

are

a l l o f

your as se t s

you

mean?

Right .

Okay

Who

has been running the So the

21 prope r ty

the r e a l

e s t a t e

prope r ty ,

those

a re owned

22 by va r ious

companies

named Zel ia ; i s t h a t r i g h t ?

23

24

25

A .

Q.

A .

Yes

Where

does

th a

t

Zel ia name

come

from?

I th ink t h a t has to do with my

- -

I don t

ON

THE RECORD,

INC

(504) 378-3850




2

3

4

5

6

you

you

t h i s

CONFIDENTIAL

AND


ge63

go t

to

n o t i f y them

.

Q . Okay. What

was

t he

change

of p lan t h a t

were n o t i f y i n g them

abou t here?

A . That Gayle

Benson would

be t he owner.

Q .

Okay

. Who

- -

Do you know who prepa red

document?

7

A .

Who

d id what?

8 Q . Do

you

know

who

prepa red

t h i s document?

9 A . No , I don ' t

know who

prepared

t h i s

10

document .

W hat s

t he da te o f

i t ?

Q .

t

' s June

25th

, 2015 i s

what

it says

on

12 page 2 .

13 A . t cou ld have

been

I

prepared

the

14 document and Vicky Neumeyer could have he lped me.

15 Q . Okay. So I t h ink you j us t

sa i d

yeah ,

16 t h a t t h e main purpose was to in form

t he NFL

t h a t

17

Gayle

was

going

to

be

t ak ing

over

t he

teams?

18

A. Cor rec t .

19

Q . Okay.

So

you say

here

, As

o f

t he

da te

20 o f Torn Benson ' s dea th , Gayle M. Benson s h a l l be t he

21 so l e Vot ing

Trus tee with r e spec t to

a l l

i n t e r e s t s

22

in

Benson F o o t b a l l , LLC under t he terms o f t he

23 m a r i t a l t r u s t . She s h a l l

be t he

Owner

24 Represen ta t ive fo r the

New

Orleans

Sa i n t s

and

s h a l l

25 have t h e so l e

power

to appo in t

and

r emove o t he r

ON

THE RECORD,

INC

(504) 378-3850




2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

CONFIDENTIAL

AND


Page

64

Owner Represen ta t ives

.

She

sha l l

have the so l e

power

to make a l l major dec i s ions with r espec t to

the

New Orleans

Sain t s

,

in c lud ing

,

but not

l im i t ed

to ,

any

dec i s i on to s e l l t he

team

.

ha l f

of

A .

Q.

dea th -

A .

Q.

Do

you

see t h a t ? I t s li ke the second

t h a t

b ig paragraph

on t he f i r s t page .

Okay .

So i s

t h a t

your

i n t en t , t h a t

a f t e r

your

Yes

Okay . I f you

ll

j u s t

l e t

me f i n i s h t he

12 ques t ion .

13 A . Right .

14 Q. Tha t a t your dea th t h a t Gayle

wi l l

have

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

the

so l e

power and con t ro l

over

t he

Sa in ts?

A .

Yes

Q.

Okay

.

So

then

if

she

doesn

t

wan

t

to

pay

back t h e

promissory

notes to t he t r u s t s , then she

could do t h a t , r i gh

t ?

A . No .

MR

. WITTMANN:

Objec t ion .

EXAMINATION BY MS . SCHILLING:

Q.

A .

What

do you

mean

by

no?

No reason t h a t

she wouldn

t .

ON THE RECORD, INC

(504) 378-3850


benson deposition

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