Thursday, August 11, 2016

In telephone interview, Alabama steel executive Bill Upton was not anxious to discuss his divorce case or his admitted extramarital affair with Gincie Walker


Steel manufacturing in China
Bill Upton, president of Pelham-based Vulcan Steel Products, has not been shy about speaking out on issues that affect his industry. For example, Upton has been outspoken about Asian competitors, especially in China, dumping steel on the U.S. market for far less than fair market value.

Upton, however, was much less talkative when we gave him an opportunity to discuss his divorce from Linda Upton, to whom he had been married for more than 30 years and who played a significant role in getting the family's steel businesses off the ground.

We contacted Bill Upton via telephone and requested an interview, noting that public records indicated Upton v. Upton had been decided based on a number of legal irregularities. Upton immediately became defensive and said, "There's nothing unusual about it at all."

That's a curious statement, given that Upton admitted in court documents to having an extramarital affair with Gincie Walker, a young woman who had left an abusive home in Shelby County and been raised as the Upton's daughter for roughly 10 years. Was Bill Upton saying there is "nothing unusual at all" about a multimillionaire business executive having sex with a young woman who had called him "Daddy" for about a decade? We also wanted to know how Bill Upton had received a highly favorable court ruling, despite egregious marital misconduct that, by law, should have given Linda Upton an upper hand in the division of marital property.

We wanted to know about these issues, but Bill Upton didn't seem anxious to discuss them. Here's how the discussion wound down:

"You had an affair with Gincie Walker, right?"

No reply.

"Did you have an affair with Gincie Walker . . . is that correct?"

No reply.

"Hello."

Silence.

Bill Upton no longer was on the line. I called back and left a voice message, renewing my request for an interview and asking why he apparently had hung up on me. I'm still waiting for Mr. Upton to return that message. Bill Upton and Gincie Walker now are married.

Gincie Walker Upton
This is an executive who has been more than happy to discuss international trade issues with Reuters and other news outlets. From one report:

Small manufacturers say they have increased productivity to compete. . . . But small manufacturers insist labor costs are not relevant when in many cases heavily-subsidized goods from China have been sold in America for below what the local manufacturers pay for raw materials.

"Labor costs have nothing to do with it," said Bill Upton, president of Pelham, Alabama-based Vulcan Threaded Products Inc. Vulcan makes steel bars and rods for everything from air conditioning units to sprinkler systems, is the last American firm of its kind, and won a trade case against Chinese competitors in 2008.

"We have a lean, efficient operation and we can compete against anyone in the world on a level playing field. But there's no way we can compete against finished goods that cost less than the raw materials," Upton said.

Bill Upton becomes a veritable Donald Trump when asked about steel-industry issues. But ask him about a divorce case where he received a judgment, thanks to Private Judge Gary Pate, that clearly was not supported by facts or law . . . and well, the silence becomes deafening.

Want to experience the difference? Please check out the video below of our aborted interview with Bill Upton on issues connected to his divorce. Below that, is an interview with Upton about China and steel dumping. We invite you to check it out and note how it differs from the first video:








18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like Mr. Upton's concerns don't go much beyond business and money.

Anonymous said...

Have you heard about Dr. William Flynn Walker, Gincie's father?

legalschnauzer said...

Oh yes, in fact, I have a post on that coming very soon. He was involved in perhaps the worst child sexual abuse case in Alabama history, which was largely covered up in south Jeffco and Shelby County. He was a big shot at Briarwood Presbyterian Church, before breaking off to form Evangel Christian, was big in home schooling.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Dr. William Flynn Walker was big in Briarwood and home schooling. I think he more or less started that Evangel church, at least the home schooling part of it. Think he's incarcerated somewhere in the Carolinas.

legalschnauzer said...

Here is link to Gincie Walker Upton's Facebook page, which might be of interest:


https://www.facebook.com/virginie.l.walker

Anonymous said...

He sold his company and probably pocketed millions..he might have gotten disconnected from his yacht in the pacific. Those satellite phones can be tricky...

Anonymous said...

Hey Legalschnauzer! I guess you know you are mentioned in the latest audio tape released by yellohammer today.

legalschnauzer said...

No, I didn't know that, @2:50. Will have to check it out. Assume it has something to do with Bentley? Thanks for the tip.

legalschnauzer said...

Good point, @1:12. Under the law, Linda Upton is entitled to a significant chunk of the sale proceeds, which were $123 million, I think. Bill U. actually sold two components of the company, one had something to do with fasteners, and I can't remember what the other was about. I've only seen the $123 million sale price for the one. Don't know how much the other subsidiary sold for. Either way, Bill Upton still controls a big chunk of the overall company, which includes several different units.

I would hope that Linda Upton would reopen the divorce case, hopefully before someone other than Judge Pate, and get some semblance of justice. She would have grounds to reopen because circumstances certainly have changed.

Linda Upton's attorney in divorce case (MaryLee Abele) did such a poor job, with a sorry "forensic accountant," that Linda has no idea how much her husband is worth. Linda told me one time she thought it was around $40-60 million. This latest information suggests he is worth way more than that. I bet he's worth at least $500 million, maybe close to $1 billion.

Abele, by the way, was the same one who helped screw over Sherry Rollins. Women in Mountain Brook and other high-end areas should be very careful about hiring Abele in divorce cases.

Anonymous said...

Siegelman's prosecution back in the Mobile local paper:

http://lagniappemobile.com/what-if-siegelman-prosecution-standard-were-applied-to-hillary/

Obstructing Ejaculations said...


“You know what? When I stand behind you and I put my arms around you, and I put my hands on your breasts, and I put my hands on you (unintelligible) and pull you real close ... Hey, I love that too, putting my hands under you.”

“I love you. I love to talk to you. I do ... But baby, lemme tell you what we’re gonna have to do tonight: Start locking the door. If we’re gonna do what we did the other day, we’re gonna have to start locking the door.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/listen-alabama-governor-leaked-sex-call-advisor-article-1.2576237

Talk about stepping on your dick...

legalschnauzer said...

Thanks for the laugh, @7:12. You wonder how many more times Bentley will be allowed to embarrass Alabama before he winds up in federal prison, where he belongs.

BTW, to be called a "slimy guy" by a guy as slimy as Bentley is . . . well, quite an experience.

legalschnauzer said...

Thanks for mentioning the Siegelman article, @6:45. Look forward to checking it out.

Unknown said...

Is everyone screwing everyone else?

legalschnauzer said...

Seems like it, Phil. No wonder the legislature gets no work done.

Anonymous said...

"Is everyone screwing everyone else?" lolol... one way or another, probably.

LS: What's going on with the Spencer Collier lawsuit? That seems to have dropped off the radar screen.

legalschnauzer said...

Good question, @9:45. I think it's somewhere between Bentley and Mason and Stabler trying to have it delayed because of a criminal investigation and Collier trying to move forward with discovery. Oh, and you have Bentley claiming sovereign immunity, which is one of the stupidest concepts in the history of law.

I'm not an expert on the 11th amendment, but I think a significant portion of it needs to be tossed out the window. The notion that anyone can be immune from harming others is preposterous, un-American, and probably unconstitutional (if it were ever challenged). The only thing worse than sovereign immunity is judicial immunity, which has no basis in the constitution at all. That's just a free pass judges gave themselves.

e.a.f. said...

its a wonder any real work even gets done in the U.S.A. if this is an e.g. of how much "screwing around" goes on.