by Based upon a document filed yesterday by attorneys for the New York Attorney General’s Office and Wilson “Woody” Phillips, it appears that Phillips and the Attorney General’s Office have come to a settlement agreement. They mutually agreed to adjourn the briefing schedule with “respect to equitable relief applicable to Mr. Phillips.” This is pending a stipulation of settlement. Judge Joel Cohen has signed off on this stipulation and proposed order regarding the briefing.
Going back to the jury trial, Phillips was found liable for breach of fiduciary duty along with damages of $2 million. He was also found to have engaged in a related party transaction. It will be interesting to see if the stipulation of settlement will be for the full $2 million in damages as found by the jury.
Along these same lines, it would probably be in Wayne LaPierre’s best interest, though expensive, to execute a similar settlement. The jury said he must repay $5.4 million of which he had already repaid $1 million. I believe the Attorney General’s Office set the amount of damages at a much higher level and could be asking Judge Cohen to approve the higher amount.
Now that the Board of Directors has elected three out of four candidates for leadership positions, has named a Chief Compliance Officer, and voted to give the reformers five out of nine positions on the Nominating Committee, it may have a good case for reaching a settlement with the Attorney General’s Office without the imposition of a special monitor. The settlement of the NRA Foundation with the DC Attorney General certainly has set a precedent to do this. More importantly, a settlement before the next phase of the trial would allow the NRA to finally be free from the greedy grip of Brewer, Attorneys and Counselors. Personally, I can’t see any advantage to the NRA of actually going to the next phase of the trial if a settlement can be made that allows them to move forward without a special monitor. The only one who wins would be Bill Brewer as his pocket would be even more padded than it already is.
You can see the court document embedded below or linked here.