Did Republican House Candidate Deceive the Public About Her Wealth?

Michele and Ted Rollins

Documents in an Alabama-related divorce case indicate a 2010 GOP candidate for a U.S. House seat made deceptive statements about her family wealth.

Michele Rollins ran for Delaware's at-large House seat and lost in the Republican primary. Before bowing out in a race that ultimately went to Democrat John C. Carney, Rollins tried to downplay her wealth. In the process, she seemingly presented deceptive information to Delaware voters.

If that's not the case, then it appears someone was playing fast with the facts in a high-stakes divorce case with Alabama ties.

Had Rollins won the Delaware House seat, she immediately would have become one of the wealthiest members of Congress. With assets between $90 million and $350 million, Rollins would have been in the rarefied financial air occupied by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), worth at least $184 million, and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), worth at least $156 million.

Rollins, however, apparently decided that her chances of winning would be enhanced if she downplayed her wealth. An article on the financial disclosure forms of Delaware candidates, described Rollins assets:

Rollins' disclosures, for example, tell you that she is a wealthy woman, with personal assets of $30 million to $141 million and her name attached to total property and investments worth at least $92 million and maybe as much as $350 million.

The forms don't tell you, though, that the estate of her late husband, businessman John W. Rollins Sr., was placed in trust for his 10 children and is inaccessible to her. John Rollins, a former lieutenant governor of Delaware, made his fortune with a truck-leasing firm, an entertainment complex that included Dover Downs and Dover Motorsports, and the lavish, 7,000-acre waterfront Rose Hall Resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Michele Rollins' income comes largely from the dividends and interest emerging from the trusts Rollins set aside for the children.

That last sentence appears to be a reference to RMT Trust, the largest shareholder of Dover Motorsports  Inc. of Delaware. RMT Trust is controlled by a man named Henry B. Tippie, of Austin, Texas, who long has been the "money man" behind various Rollins ventures. Dover Motorsports Inc. has not been performing well, as the Bush recession has hurt a number of NASCAR venues, and one unhappy investor commissioned a study titled "Dancing on the Deck of the Titantic: Henry B. Tippie and Dover Motorsports Inc." Here is how that study described RMT Trust:

Following the death of John W. Rollins, Senior on April 4, 2000, Henry Tippie (at the time, Vice Chairman of Dover) was named executor of Mr. Rollins’ vast estate, and thereafter, Mr. Tippie possessed more than 50% voting control of the Company. The Last Will and Testament of John W. Rollins, Senior, established the RMT Trust as the primary vehicle to transfer assets to his wife, Michele M. Rollins. Among many of its stakes in property and operating assets, the RMT Trust held 8 million shares of Class A Common Stock in 2009, which represented approximately 39.4% of the voting control of Dover Motorsports. The Last Will and Testament stipulated that the RMT Trust would be administered by three trustees, presently Michele M. Rollins, R. Randall Rollins, and Henry B. Tippie. Through an agreement which renews annually, Michele Rollins and Randall Rollins yielded sole discretion over the voting power of shares held by RMT Trust to Henry Tippie. Therefore, at the behest of the Rollins, Henry Tippie maintained the dual role of Chairman of the Company and voting trustee of RMT Trust and was able to single-handedly determine the outcome of any and all shareholder votes.

As you can see, Rollins family finances can get complicated. But we have tried to sort them out because the Rollinses have strong connections to Alabama--and we have seen signs that they tend not to play fair.

One of John Rollins' 10 children is Ted Rollins, the CEO of Campus Crest Communities and the subject of numerous posts here at Legal Schnauzer. Our interest in Ted Rollins stems mostly from a divorce case that Sherry Carroll Rollins launched against him in 2001. It also should be noted that Ted Rollins has strong business interests in Alabama. His primary corporate law firm is Birmingham-based Bradley Arant, and Campus Crest Communities recently announced that it plans to develop a $26.3 million student-housing project at Auburn University.

As for the Rollins v. Rollins divorce case, it was filed in Greenville, South Carolina, where the couple lived, and was litigated there for roughly three years. When Ted Rollins failed to make court-ordered payments on the former marital residence, Sherry Carroll Rollins and the couple's two daughters were kicked out of their house and forced to flee to Alabama, where Ms. Rollins had relatives.

Ted Rollins proceeded to sue Sherry Rollins for divorce in Alabama, even though jurisdiction already had been established in South Carolina and could not lawfully be changed. Ted Rollins wound up with an extraordinarily favorable judgment at the Shelby County Courthouse in Columbiana, the same venue where Mrs. Schnauzer and I have repeatedly been cheated by corrupt lawyers and judges. Hence, our interest in Rollins v. Rollins, which I've called the worst case of courtroom abuse (civil division) in my experience.

Why should Rollins almost induce vomiting in anyone who is remotely familiar with jurisdictional law? There are several reasons, but here is the biggie: Ted Rollins was ordered to pay the grand sum of $815 a month in support for two children. And this is for a guy who owns multiple private jet craft and is CEO of a company with a $380 million Wall Street IPO in hand.

Because of that judgment from Shelby County Circuit Judge D. Al Crowson, who could not lawfully hear the case, Sherry Rollins and her two daughters are on food stamps. As for Ted Rollins, his ties to the highest levels of the Alabama legal community, through Bradley Arant, apparently paid off big time.

How well did those ties pay off? Let's consider the math. Ted Rollins' efforts to reduce his family-support obligations actually began in South Carolina--and that is where Michele Rollins entered the picture. A South Carolina judge issued a temporary order calling for Ted Rollins to pay $8,355 a month in overall support. Upon a motion to reconsider from Ted Rollins' lawyer, that amount was reduced to $4,500 a month.

How did Ted Rollins justify the motion for reconsideration? He more or less blamed it on Michele Rollins, stating that she controlled his trust account with an iron fist. Here's how a court order dated October 17, 2002, sums it up:

[Mr. Rollins] also presented evidence that he is among nine (9) contingent remainders to his deceased father's marital trust estate and that his access to this possible source of funds is permanently restricted to the discretion of his deceased father's widow who does not intend to give him an advance.

I don't claim to be an expert in estate law, and marital trusts can be a tricky subject because they come in several varieties. Something, however, seems incongruent here. We have Ted Rollins stating in court that access to his trust funds are strictly controlled by Michele Rollins. But we have Michele Rollins stating that the trust funds for John Rollins' children are inaccessible to her.

Could Michele Rollins have control over her late husband's trust without having access to it? Does that make sense?

This much is clear: Ted Rollins got one heck of a deal by shifting the divorce case against him from one state to another. It looked at first, in South Carolina, like Ted Rollins would be paying somewhere in the neighborhood of $8,300 a month in family support. By the time the case was finished in Alabama, he was paying $1,315 a month ($815 in child support, $500 in alimony). And the Alabama court, in its final judgement, never mentioned any marital assets--businesses, property, investments, etc.--to which Sherry Rollins might have been entitled to a share over 14 years of marriage.

I'm not a mathematician, but it looks like the unlawful shift of the Rollins divorce case to Alabama helped reduce Ted Rollins monthly support bill by about 640 percent. And that doesn't count any marital assets that should have been divided up, but were not.

Rollins-family finances can create a tangled web, but we do know this: Sherry Rollins and her daughters are on food stamps in Alabama because of the paltry support sum ordered by Judge Crowson. And public documents indicate Michele Rollins played a prominent role in making that happen. We also know that Ted and Michele Rollins are very much aware that their relatives in Alabama are on food stamps; we know that because I notified both of them via e-mail. Neither one of them seems to give a damn because they have done nothing about it.

When I questioned Ted Rollins about the Rollins divorce case, he said--in so many words--that it was litigated long ago, his ex wife received a fair hearing, and it's all a private matter anyway.

That, of course, is a bunch of horse feces. Sherry Rollins' appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court was denied in 2008, which isn't that long ago. The case could not be lawfully heard in Alabama, so it clearly was not handled in a fair fashion. And it was litigated in courts that are funded by taxpayers, including me, so it is a public matter.

As for Michele Rollins, she asked voters to make her a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, helping to form policy that affects all Americans. Clearly, her affairs are a matter of public interest.

The public has every right to ask, "Do Ted and Michele Rollins conduct their business in a fair, honest, and open way?" When a reasonable person looks at matters connected to RMT Trust and the Rollins v. Rollins divorce case, he can conclude that the answer is no.

Best we can tell, someone is playing fast with the facts on matters of the family trust. It seems Michele Rollins fudged regarding her financial disclosure forms, in an effort to disguise her true wealth. Or Ted Rollins fudged regarding Michele Rollins' control over his trust funds, in an effort to reduce his family-support payments. Which one was it?

Either way, the Rollinses appear to be sending disturbing messages about the business methods that make them one of the nation's wealthiest families.

In an effort to clear up confusion, I sent several questions regarding RMT Trust to Ted Rollins, with a copy to Michele Rollins. I received no response to my queries, which can be viewed below.


Ted Rollins E- Mail--RMT Trust

Shelby County's Al Crowson, one of Alabama's most dreadful judges, apparently will leave the bench from lingering effects of a stroke and serious car crash

Al Crowson (second from left) and some of the other
sleazeoids who inhabit the hideously corrupt
Shelby County Courthouse
(From facebook.com)

The effects of a stroke and a car crash likely mean one of Alabama's worst judges is gone from the bench, sources tell Legal Schnauzer.

Shelby County Circuit Judge D. Al Crowson not only is awful on the bench, his rulings indicate he is a dreadful human being. If Crowson now is suffering in pain, well, you won't be hearing any sympathy from here. In fact, we file it under the heading of "Karma is a Bee-atch."

We don't have all the details about Crowson's condition, but a source said he had a stroke and was involved in a serious car crash a few weeks back. We're not sure if the stroke caused the car crash, but it appears the judge is not in good shape. His son, Danny Crowson (also a Shelby County judge) has written on Facebook about his father's general condition and the car crash.

How horrible a judge was Al Crowson? Learning the details of just one case -- the Rollins v. Rollins divorce -- will tell you all you need to know. Here are some of the basics from the Rollins case:

Ted Rollins, the head of Charlotte-based Campus Crest Communities, helped his company complete a $380-million IPO late last year. And a South Carolina divorce-court judge found that Rollins belongs to one of the nation's wealthiest families and has the use of multiple private aircraft. But Rollins managed to get the divorce case unlawfully moved to Alabama, and the resulting judgment means that his ex wife and two daughters qualify for food stamps.

Sherry Carroll Rollins said she and the girls now are on food stamps--and have been for some time. That's because Alabama Circuit Judge D. Al Crowson ordered Ted Rollins to pay only $500 in alimony and $815 in child support--a monthly total of $1,315. Our research indicates that is a shockingly low level of support for a man of Rollins' means, a CEO whose family owns Orkin Pest Control and other highly profitable enterprises.

Yes, Al Crowson caused a woman and her two young daughters -- who were connected to one of the nation's wealthiest families -- to wind up on food stamps. What a prince of a guy! What a responsible use of public resources!

Did someone pay Crowson under the table to make such outlandish rulings? The evidence overwhelmingly suggests the answer is yes. The following shows that Crowson's actions were crooked to an almost unreal extent:

The case was heard in Shelby County, Alabama, and Mr. Rollins received an extraordinarily favorable judgment, even though Mrs. Rollins had sued him for divorce some three years earlier in Greenville, South Carolina--where the couple had lived and where numerous court orders already had been entered. Simple jurisdictional law--call it Law School 101--shows that such a judicial heist cannot be done. But Alabama Circuit Judge D. Al Crowson did it anyway, violating all sorts of law that perhaps is best explained in a case styled Wesson v. Wesson, 628 So. 2d 953 (Ala., 1993). Here is the key finding:

"Once jurisdiction has attached in one court, that court has the exclusive right to continue its exercise of power until the completion of the case, and is only subject to appellate authority."

Legal doctrine doesn't come much shorter or simpler than that. Based on the clear language in Wesson, Sherry Carroll Rollins and the two daughters she had with Ted Rollins (now teens and living with their mother in Alabama) received a "shaft job" that would make Isaac Hayes blush.

Yes, the case had been litigated for three years in South Carolina, jurisdiction had been established there, and it could not be moved elsewhere -- in South Carolina and certainly not to Alabama. But Al Crowson essentially stole the case and robbed Sherry Rollins of marital assets that lawfully were hers -- and robbed her daughters of childhoods they never will get back.

So, we hear Al Crowson is suffering now? I can't wipe the smile off my face. The Bible says I'm not supposed to have such a reaction? But I'm a human being, I know what it's like to be abused by individuals in authority, and I'm glad to see Al Crowson get just a taste of what he has dished out for many years.

The only bad thing, in my view, is that the bastard is still alive.

The Road from Clarence Thomas to Harlan Crow Runs Close to Home

Harlan Crow

Mounting evidence indicates Justice Clarence Thomas is so ethically compromised that he should be removed from the U.S. Supreme Court. The latest evidence comes from a New York Times piece about Thomas' ties to a Texas real-estate baron named Harlan Crow.

We have discovered that the Thomas/Crow story, in a roundabout way, links to one of our storylines here at Legal Schnauzer. In fact, our story is about judicial chicanery in Alabama, the kind that favors the wealthy over regular citizens. That theme should sound familiar if you have been following the trail of Clarence Thomas' numerous ethical lapses. And it raises this question: How far will some wealthy Americans go to buy justice?

The answer, in the case of Harlan Crow, appears to be "pretty darned far." When you examine the actions of another wealthy titan, a man whose family has ties to Harlan Crow, you get the same answer.

How did we stumble upon what might be called a "side road" to the Thomas/Crow freeway? Mrs. Schnauzer and I have become acquainted with a woman named Sherry Carroll Rollins, who lives not far from us here in Birmingham, Alabama.

Sherry Rollins moved from South Carolina to Alabama eight years ago, in the midst of her divorce from Ted Rollins, the head of Campus Crest Communities and other enterprises. Ted Rollins is the son of the late John W. Rollins, a right-leaning businessman who helped found Orkin Pest Control and a number of other highly profitable companies. The Rollinses, now based mostly in Atlanta, are one of America's wealthiest families.

John Rollins, it turns out, was a friend and business associate of the late Trammell Crow, who was Harlan Crow's father. Here is how The New York Times' describes the Crow businesses--and the family's political leanings:

Mr. Crow, 61, manages the real estate and investment businesses founded by his late father, Trammell Crow, once the largest landlord in the United States. The Crow family portfolio is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and includes investments in hotels, medical facilities, public equities and hedge funds.

A friend of the Bush family, Mr. Crow is a trustee of the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation and has donated close to $5 million to Republican campaigns and conservative groups. Among his contributions were $100,000 to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group formed to attack the Vietnam War record of Senator John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, and $500,000 to an organization that ran advertisements urging the confirmation of President George W. Bush’s nominees to the Supreme Court.

The Crow and Rollins empires intersect in several ways. John Rollins built two hotels that were sold to Wyndham Hotels, which is owned by the Trammell Crow company. Both Rollins and Crow were in the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO), American Friends of Jamaica and the Horatio Alger Society.

Michele Rollins, John Rollins' widow, ran as a Republican in 2010 for a Delaware Congressional seat, narrowly losing to Glen Urquhart. Before becoming a corporate attorney and marrying John Rollins, Michele Rollins worked for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Justice Department, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of Interior.

Michele and Ted Rollins

During her time in D.C., Michele Rollins got to know Clarence Thomas--and the Supreme Court justice served as master of ceremonies at John Rollins' 80th birthday party and roast at the Dupont Circle Hotel.  In his opening remarks, Thomas talked extensively about his friendship with Michele and John Rollins.

How do certain members of the Rollins family view the American justice system? Public documents indicate that Ted Rollins, for one, treats it as his personal plaything.

Mrs. Schnauzer and I got to know Sherry Rollins when she contacted me in spring 2010 after doing a Google search related to injustice in Alabama and stumbled upon my blog. Sherry Rollins told us that she had filed for divorce in Greenville, South Carolina, but was forced to flee to Alabama, with her two daughters, when Ted Rollins ignored a court order to maintain payments on the family home.

After settling in Alabama, where she had family, Sherry Rollins discovered that her husband had sued her for divorce here, in Shelby County Circuit Court. I'm not a lawyer, but that sounded strange to my ears, that a judge in Alabama could snatch a case that already had begun in South Carolina.

It turns out that it can't be done, at least when the law is followed. But Ted Rollins belongs to one of America's wealthiest families, and he has ties to the influential Birmingham firm of Bradley Arant, and that apparently helped supersede the actual law.

Ted Rollins wound up with a judgment in Alabama that was so favorable his ex wife, and his daughters, have been on the verge of homelessness several times--and they have had to file for food stamps.

Since starting this blog four years ago, I've learned about a number of highly irregular court cases. But the Rollins v. Rollins divorce case might rank No. 1 on my "hit parade" of grotesque courtroom abuse--at least on the civil side.

When Sherry Rollins described her experienced to me, I thought it sounded like she had been railroaded. But when I checked the court file, I discovered that her treatment by our "justice system" was even worse than she had described. Consider just two factors from Rollins v. Rollins:


* Mounds of law--procedural, statutory, case, you name it--says that Shelby County Judge D. Al Crowson simply could not take a case where jurisdiction already was established elsewhere. I recently described the jurisdictional shenanigans in the Rollins case to a new law-school graduate, and she almost laughed out loud. "You must be kidding," she said. "That can't be done." But it can be done when a case involves the well-heeled Ted Rollins--and he has ties to one of Alabama's most powerful, conservative law firms.

An Alabama case styled Wesson v. Wesson, 628 So. 2d 953 (1993) does a nice job of summing up the actual law:

Once jurisdiction has attached in one court, that court has the exclusive right to continue its exercise of power until the completion of the case, and is only subject to appellate authority.

Sherry Rollins wound up getting cheated by an Alabama judge who could not possibly hear her case. Curiously, Judge Crowson retired, early and unexpectedly, as the Rollins case was winding down.

* In an Alabama child-support affidavit, called a Form CS-41, Ted Rollins stated under oath that he made $50,000 a year. This is a guy who has the use of multiple personal aircraft. He routinely sends private planes to pick up his daughters--and his Bradley Arant lawyer, Dawn Helms Sharff--in Birmingham. How many guys do you know who make $50,000 a year and have their own airplanes?

We will be the first to acknowledge that there are several degrees of separation between Ted Rollins/Al Crowson and Harlan Crow/Clarence Thomas. But Ted Rollins' father and Harlan Crow's father were close chums--they did business together, belonged to several of the same organizations.

What kind of values did the fathers pass on to the sons? How did they teach them to view the American justice system? We've seen clear evidence here in Alabama that someone taught Ted Rollins that justice is to be manipulated. You can see that in the Form CS-41 below, which Ted Rollins signed under penalty of perjury.

Were similar values instilled in Harlan Crow? Is that why he is so close to Clarence Thomas?


Rollins CS-41 Form

Ted Rollins, CEO of Campus Crest Communities, Is A Deadbeat Dad

Campus Crest Communities, a Charlotte-based developer of student housing, completed a $380-million Wall Street IPO in late 2010. So why do court documents show that CEO Ted Rollins is a deadbeat dad?

Rollins derives a handsome income from convincing college students and their parents to live in one of his 30 or so properties near campuses around the country. Rollins also appears to make a nice income from various investments and family enterprises.

But documents from Rollins' divorce case show that he stiffed his own children on support payments over a 33-month period from 2002 to 2005.

Rollins' teen-aged daughters, Sarah and Emma, now live in Birmingham with their mother, Sherry Carroll Rollins. Judges in the divorce action found that Ted Rollins owns multiple private jet craft and belongs to one of America's wealthiest families--the folks behind Rollins Inc., the parent company for Orkin Pest Control and other profitable businesses.

Why would a man of such means be a deadbeat dad? Why have support payments that were due more than six years ago still not been paid? We will put those questions, and others, to Ted Rollins in writing--although he has a tendency to not respond to our e-mails.

How big a deadbeat dad is Ted Rollins? To answer that question requires some background--and some math.

Sherry Carroll Rollins filed a complaint for divorce on June 5, 2001, in Greenville, South Carolina, where the family lived. The case was litigated in South Carolina for roughly three years and included a court order requiring Ted Rollins to maintain the mortgage and insurance payments on the former marital residence. A judge found that Sherry Rollins was entitled to "undisturbed use, possession, and occupancy" of the home "during the pendency of this action."

Were Sherry Rollins and the children undisturbed in their home? Not exactly. The mortgage was held by First National Bank of Oneida in Scott County, Tennessee. Former U.S. Sen. Howard Baker was a long-time board member of the bank and also was a close ally to John W. Rollins, the business magnate who was Ted Rollins' father. Court-ordered payments on the home apparently were not made, and officials from First National Bank kicked Ms. Rollins and her children out on the streets. They fled to Alabama, where Ms. Rollins had family.

Ted Rollins

Ted Rollins proceeded to file a divorce complaint against Sherry Rollins in Alabama, even though jurisdiction already had been established in South Carolina and could not lawfully be moved. Shelby County Circuit Judge D. Al Crowson did not let the actual law keep him from taking the case and giving Ted Rollins a judgment that was so extraordinarily favorable that his ex wife and children now are on food stamps.

Why was Shelby County such a friendly jurisdiction for Ted Rollins? Well, his primary business lawyers are at the influential Birmingham firm of Bradley Arant. It appears that someone made sure Sherry Rollins and her daughters were the victims of legal "home cooking," Alabama style.

Shelby County, of course, is the same locale where Mrs. Schnauzer and I were on the receiving end of numerous unlawful rulings in a bogus lawsuit filed against me by a criminally inclined neighbor named Mike McGarity. So I was not at all surprised to learn that another adult, Sherry Rollins, had received a monstrous cheat job in Shelby County. I was slightly surprised to learn that a judge in Shelby County, a conservative outpost that touts itself as a "great place to raise a family," would go out of his way to screw two children.

You might call Al Crowson the "Jerry Sandusky of the Alabama legal world." What would you call Ted Rollins, the man who sat by while his own kids got hammered in court? "Deadbeat dad" probably is not a strong enough term to describe this guy.

To fully grasp the depravity of Ted Rollins' actions, you need to follow me with some math through several steps:

* A second pendente lite order, issued on February 8, 2002, in South Carolina, required Ted Rollins to pay $4,500 a month during the pendency of the divorce case. A pendente lite is a temporary order, issued while discovery is pending, to make sure that parties in a divorce case have support while the case is heard.

* A contempt order, issued on October 17, 2002, in South Carolina, found that Ted Rollins was behind on his court-ordered payments by $70,410--$50,000 in attorney fees and $20,410 in family support. (See contempt order below.)

* After the case unlawfully was moved to Alabama, attorney G. John Durward Jr., wrote a letter to Judge Crowson that claimed his client, Ted Rollins, no longer owed support in South Carolina. Durward attached a South Carolina order stating that Ted Rollins had made a lump sum payment of $14,175 that left him with a support balance of zero. How could the balance be zero when Ted Rollins owed $70,410, and there is no record in the file of him paying that amount? John Durward's letter does not address that issue. (See Durward's letter below, with the accompanying court order.)

* A final judgment of divorce was issued in Shelby County on July 18, 2005.

How do the numbers stack up? When a contempt order was issued against Ted Rollins in October 2002, he was already behind on support by $70,410. From that date until the final judgment of divorce in July 2005 was 33 months--and throughout that time, Ted Rollins was under a court order to pay $4,500 in unallocated family support.

If you multiply $4,500 over 33 months, you find that Ted Rollins owed $148,500. When you add the $70,140 arrearage that apparently never was paid, you get a total of $218,910.

Sherry Rollins states that after she moved to Alabama, she received a payment from the state of South Carolina for $100,000. Why that figure? What was the explanation? She does not know.

As for the other $118,910, Sherry Rollins says that never has been paid--and there is no indication in court documents that it has been paid. Therefore, Ted Rollins is a deadbeat dad.

Rollins and one of his current attorneys, Chad Essick of the North Carolina firm Poyner Spruill, seem to acknowledge this in a recent letter to me. I had e-mailed Mr. Rollins several questions in writing, per his request, and part of the response from his lawyer was this:

You have suggested in your articles that Mr. Rollins does not adequately provide for his children and has missed child support payments. This is entirely false. Mr. Rollins has never failed to make a monthly payment as required by Alabama courts.

Note the clever wordplay from Mr. Essick. He states that Ted Rollins has never failed to make a monthly payment "as required by Alabama courts." He makes no reference to the South Carolina court order, and the payments that Mr. Rollins failed to make there.

In fact, Mr. Rollins still owes $118,910. And that amount almost certainly is conservative.

The South Carolina court had ordered Ted Rollins to maintain mortgage and insurance payments on the family home. Sherry Rollins states that the monthly mortgage payment was roughly $4,500. A judge had ordered Ted Rollins to make sure that Sherry Rollins and their daughters had undisturbed use of the home throughout the pendency of the case. The case went on for roughly another 33 months, and payments obviously were missed because Ms. Rollins was kicked out of the house and wound up having to provide for her own shelter.

How many payments for shelter and insurance did Ted Rollins miss? It's unclear, but since Sherry Rollins was forced to flee to Alabama in 2003, he almost certainly missed at least 24 months. That would add another $108,000 to his unpaid amount, bringing the total to $226,910.

We should note that the first pendente lite order in South Carolina called for Ted Rollins to pay $8,355 a month ($3,355 in child support, $5,000 in alimony). That was reduced to $4,500 a month in unallocated family support, based on a motion for reconsideration from Ted Rollins' attorney. But the court's order on reconsideration never makes it clear why the reduction was justified. The reduction seems odd, considering that a judge had found that Rollins has substantial business interests, multiple private planes, and significant family wealth.

Curiously, Sherry Rollins' lawyer never objected to the reduction in payments. Is that a sign that her own lawyer was working against her? Based on my experiences in court, and a review of the Rollins v. Rollins file, I would say the answer is yes.

If the original pendente lite order had stayed in place, Ted Rollins would have owed $8,355 over 33 months, which comes to $275,715. When the $70,410 is added for the South Carolina arrearage, plus our conservative estimate of $108,000 in missed housing-related payments, that would bring the total to $454,125.

With credit for his $100,000 payment, Mr. Rollins would owe $354,125.

The bottom line? Our figures, based on public documents and statements from Sherry Rollins, show that Ted Rollins owes somewhere between $200,000 and $350,000 in family support. That amount has gone unpaid for more than six years.

How big a deadbeat dad is Ted Rollins? You make the call.

Below is a court order from October 2002, showing that Ted Rollins was behind on his court-ordered support payments by $70,410. After that is a letter and court order, from May 2005, showing that Rollins had made a payment of $14,175 and that--somehow--gave him a balance of zero.

How do you owe $70,410, pay $14,175, and wind up with a fully paid balance? We have no idea.

Court records show that, from October 2002 to May 2005, Ted Rollins was under a court order to pay $4,500 in family support, plus mortgage and insurance payments on the former marital residence. That's roughly 31 months of payments, and there is nothing in the record to indicate that was paid. How do you skip more than 30 months of court-ordered payments and wind up with a fully paid balance? We have no idea on that one either.

The Rollins v. Rollins file is filled with such legal and financial skulduggery. We are left with this overarching question: Did Ted Rollins' financial clout, from being a card-carrying member in one of America's wealthiest family, help him buy some mighty friendly "justice" in Alabama?

Ted Rollins Contempt Order


Ted Rollins Durward Letter

Here Is More Evidence That CEO Ted Rollins Lied Under Oath To Reduce His Child-Support Payments

Ted Rollins

(With update at 1:20 p.m., 3/14/12; please see end of post.)

Campus Crest Communities CEO Ted Rollins offered his ex wife $300,000 to settle their Alabama divorce case just weeks after stating under oath that he made $50,000 a year.

If you are thinking those numbers don't add up, join the crowd. Sherry Carroll Rollins, who lives in Birmingham with the couple's daughters Sarah and Emma, rejected the offer for a variety of reasons. But she quickly noted the incongruity between the settlement offer and Ted Rollins's sworn statement about his finances. Ms. Rollins discussed the settlement offer during the third installment of a videotaped interview with Legal Schnauzer. (See the interview at the end of this post.)

Ted Rollins swore in a child-support affidavit, called a CS-41 form in Alabama, that he made $50,000.04 a year from employment with Reynolds Mortgage and Investment Company of Brentwood, Tennessee. Sherry Rollins said she knew the sworn statement was false for a couple of reasons--one being that she called Ken Reynolds, the head of Reynolds Mortgage, and he said that Ted Rollins had never worked for him.

"The other reason I know it's fictitious is that (Ted) offered me $300,000 outside of court, after I had filed my appeal . . . ," Sherry Rollins said. "A guy making $50,000 a year probably does not have $300,000 to offer.

"I also know he has extravagant taste and lives an extravagant lifestyle, with very nice houses, and $50,000 a year doesn't do that."

Public documents show that Ted Rollins was president and/or CEO of both St. James Capital LLC and Campus Crest Communities at different times during the divorce litigation. But his CS-41 form makes no mention of either company--or of any income he derived from them.

The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals, as it often does, rubber-stamped the decision of Shelby County Circuit Judge D. Al Crowson, meaning Ms. Rollins' appeal failed. That left her with $1,315 a month in combined child support and alimony to raise two daughters. Crowson's ruling was so stunningly favorable toward Ted Rollins that his ex wife and two daughters have been on food stamps in Alabama.

As has been my practice since I started reporting on Rollins v. Rollins, I sent Mr. Rollins written questions   about the false-swearing allegations well in advance of my post on the subject, giving him every opportunity to respond or explain himself. As has been Mr. Rollins' practice, he failed to respond to our questions.

For the record, here are the questions that we posed to Ted Rollins--and he ignored:

Ted:

Following are questions, sent in writing per your request, regarding your involvement in the Rollins v. Rollins divorce case and Campus Crest Communities.


I. The CS-41 Affidavit You Filed Regarding Child Support in Alabama

Sherry Carroll Rollins, your ex wife, states in an interview that information on your CS-41 form is false and that your child-support payments in Alabama are based on perjury and fraud. Ms. Rollins states that she spoke with Ken Reynolds, of Reynolds Mortgage Company in Brentwood, TN, and she called him because your child-support payment was two months late at the time. Ms. Rollins states that Mr. Reynolds told her you had never worked for him, even though your CS-41 form says you did. Ms. Rollins also states that the lifestyle you lived while married to her indicates your income was substantially higher than $50,000.04 a year.


A. Do you have any documentation to prove you worked for Reynolds Mortgage Company? Will you provide me with a copy of those documents?

B. Do you have any documentation to prove that your only income was $50,000.04 from Reynolds Mortgage, that you had no other sources of income at the time?

C. Do you have any documentation regarding the existence of St. James Capital LLC and Campus Crest Communities at the time? Did you derive any income from those entities?

C. Do you have other sources of income now? If so, are you aware that Alabama law would allow for adjustment in child-support payments, based on a change in your financial status?

D. Are you aware that the CS-41 is a sworn affidavit, which you signed under penalty of perjury? Are you aware that swearing falsely in an official proceeding constitutes perjury in the first degree, a Class C felony in Alabama?

I ask that you respond to these questions by 9 a.m. CDT on Monday, March 5

Is this a serious matter? Mr. Rollins' actions, as described by his ex wife, appear to constitute perjury under Alabama law. And here is how the Code of Alabama defines the crime:

Section 13A-10-101 - Perjury in the first degree.

(a) A person commits the crime of perjury in the first degree when in any official proceeding he swears falsely and his false statement is material to the proceeding in which it is made.

(b) Perjury in the first degree is a Class C felony.

Our research on the Rollins v. Rollins divorce case indicates that Ted Rollins is a stunningly arrogant fellow. Perhaps that comes with belonging to one of the nation's wealthiest families, the folks behind Orkin Pest Control and its parent company, Rollins Inc. of Atlanta. Two of Ted's cousins, R. Randall Rollins and Gary Rollins, run Rollins Inc. and are billionaires (with a "b"). St. James Capital was a joint venture between Ted and Randall Rollins, so there is a pretty good chance it was a profitable enterprise. And yet, Ted Rollins stated under oath that he had made no money from it.

How arrogant is Ted Rollins? For one, he apparently doesn't think laws that require court testimony to be truthful apply to him--as they do to commoners. For another example, consider how he treated a woman who was married to him for 14 years and produced two children:

Settlement negotiations in a lawsuit tend to be filled with twists and turns, and details on the Rollins settlement discussions are sketchy. Sherry Rollins has discussed the process with me on several occasions, and I know that she was represented during the negotiations by a Birmingham lawyer named Sam Holmes. Ms. Rollins hired Holmes after her trial attorney, MaryLee Abele, refused to become engaged in the appellate process.

Theresea Kilgore

My understanding is that Ted Rollins started out by offering his ex wife (and mother of his two daughters) in the range of $40,000 to $50,000 to settle the divorce case. It's not clear if that was to be in lieu of, or in addition to, the alimony/child support that Crowson had granted.

Either way, this tell us that Ted Rollins, in addition to being ethically challenged, is preposterously cheap. Here is another oddity about the settlement negotiations: A woman named Theresea Kilgore accompanied Sherry Rollins to the negotiations, which were conducted at the Harbert Center downtown. Ms. Kilgore repeatedly encouraged Ms. Rollins to accept various low-ball offers from Ted Rollins.

Ms. Rollins refused, and I understand that she worked the settlement figure up to about $300,000 and was prepared to accept that on one condition--that Ted Rollins stay out of her life, and the lives of her children, forever. Ted Rollins, I'm told, rejected that proviso, and the negotiations broke down.

Many questions remain about the Rollins divorce negotiations. For one, who on earth is Theresea Kilgore, and why was she involved, supposedly as Sherry Rollins' helper/supporter? You can check out Ms. Kilgore's Facebook page here.

For another, why was Sherry Rollins willing to accept a relatively paltry sum, $300,000, in order to get Ted Rollins out of her life? For an idea of how bad a deal this would have been for Ms. Rollins, let's revisit our post about the divorce of wrestling icon Hulk Hogan. In that one, Hulk coughed up a $3-million property settlement, along with 70 percent of the couple's liquid assets and 40 percent of his various companies, plus a chunk of investment assets and various vehicles.

And yet, Sherry Rollins was willing to walk away for about $300,000--from a man whose net worth might exceed that of Hulk Hogan? She was willing to give up pretty much any claims to substantial marital assets in order to be free from Ted Rollins?

One of the outcomes of many divorces, of course, is that the ex spouses leave hating each other. That often is driven by misconduct within the marriage, and Sherry Rollins alleged adultery in her original divorce complaint that was filed in South Carolina.

But it appears that Ms. Rollins feelings for her ex go beyond standard loathing, even the kind that can result from adultery. She was willing to accept probably way less than one-tenth the amount she was entitled to under the law in order to be rid of Ted Rollins--to have him out of her life and the lives of her children.

That indicates that Sherry Rollins had concerns about Ted Rollins that go beyond the standard "I hate your guts" variety in a divorce case. It indicates she had concerns that go beyond infidelity. What were those concerns?

We will be examining that question in upcoming posts.

UPDATE (at 1:15 p.m., 3/14/12)

We have new details about settlement negotiations in the Rollins v. Rollins divorce case:

Negotiations did not break down during the session at the Harbert Center. Ted Rollins offered Sherry Rollins $300,000 and gave her five days to accept it. He then faxed her three documents to sign in order to receive the money. The documents included:

1. A form stating that Ms. Rollins would never take him back to court for any raise in alimony or child support;

2. A document stating that Ted Rollins was a fit and good parent and was equally fit as Sherry Rollins;

3. A document stating that Sherry Rollins fled to Alabama and hid the children from him for two years and would not let him see them.

Ms. Rollins was to sign the three documents and withdraw her appeal. She refused to sign the documents and withdraw the appeal--and that's when Mr. Rollins withdrew the $300,000 offer.

My take on these new details? It appears that Mr. Rollins was trying to force his ex wife to sign at least two documents (Nos. 2 and 3 above) that were based on false information. We've already shown, through the Alabama CS-41 form, that Mr. Rollins has a tendency to sign false documents under oath. Now it appears he tries to coerce other individuals into doing the same thing.

CEO Repeatedly Violates Court Orders--And Gets Away With It

Ted Rollins, the CEO of Campus Crest Communities, violated at least three court orders in a divorce case that started in South Carolina and ended in Alabama. Court records indicate Rollins never was held accountable for any of the violations.

Is that because Rollins belongs to one of America's wealthiest families, the folks behind Atlanta-based Rollins Inc.? It certainly looks that way. Rollins Inc. is the parent company for Orkin Pest Control and other profitable enterprises. The company is led by brothers R. Randall Rollins and Gary W. Rollins, who according to an article in an Atlanta business publication, had stock worth of more than $700 million each in 2005.

And how is this for irony? Rollins Inc. has a history of working in home and business security, under the Rollins Protective Services brand. That unit was sold to Chicago-based Ameritech in 1997 and became part of SecurityLink.

A family with a history in the security business surely believes in law and order, right? Well, apparently not--when the law breaker is Ted Rollins, a cousin to the two brothers at the top of Rollins Inc. Ted Rollins has violated one court order after another, and no one in the justice system--or the Rollins family  hierarchy--seems the least bit concerned about it.

Let's consider some of Ted Rollins' actions in a divorce case that Sherry Carroll Rollins filed against him in Greenville, South Carolina, where the couple lived. After being litigated for roughly three years in Greenville, Rollins v. Rollins was unlawfully moved to Shelby County, Alabama, where Ted Rollins received an extraordinarily favorable divorce judgment. He was ordered to pay such a paltry sum in family support that Sherry Rollins and the couple's two teen-aged daughters now are on food stamps in Alabama.

How could that happen? For one reason, Ted Rollins never faced the consequences for violating court orders. These orders involved critical issues in any divorce case--discovery, shelter, and legal expenses. Ted Rollins was allowed to "skate" on all three issues:

* Discovery on financial assets--Division of marital assets, after child custody and support, probably is the critical issue in most divorce cases. In an order dated September 10, 2001, South Carolina Judge R. Kinard Johnson addressed the issue: "I find that Plaintiff (Ms. Rollins) is entitled to production of the complete file of Defendant's certified public accountant, Dennis L. Dabney, CPA, which was produced at the hearing in this matter."

Was this information from Ted Rollins' CPA ever turned over, as ordered by a judge? Sherry Rollins states that it was not. That helped ensure that Ted Rollins' interests in a number of businesses, including St. James Capital LLC, would not be uncovered.

* Shelter--When a couple separates, one household becomes two, and courts must address issues related to "the former marital residence." In an order dated February 8, 2002, Judge Johnson stated that Sherry Rollins was entitled "to the undisturbed use, possession and occupancy of the former marital residence, and contents "were to remain undisturbed during the pendency of this action." In short, Ted Rollins was ordered to maintain payments on the mortgage and insurance for the family home.

Did he do that? Sherry Rollins said the mortgage went unpaid, and bank officials forced her and her daughters out of their home. That's when they fled to Alabama, where Sherry Rollins had family--and where Ted Rollins filed a divorce case against her that could not be heard under simple jurisdictional law, as expressed in Wesson v. Wesson, 628 So. 2d 953 (Ala. Civ. App., 1993).

* Legal expenses--In Alabama, Circuit Judge D. Al Crowson administered a monstrous cheat job to Sherry Rollins and her daughters. But in an order dated July 18, 2005, Crowson wrote: "Plaintiff [Ted Rollins] shall pay to Defendant the sum of Fifteen Thousand dollars ($15,000) with which to pay her attorneys, MaryLee Abele and Conrad Fowler, as and for a portion of the reasonable value of their services rendered in this cause."

Sherry Rollins states that she never received any funds to pay her attorneys. She also states that she has asked MaryLee Abele on multiple occasions, verbally and in writing, for a copy of her file from South Carolina. Sherry Rollins states that she paid for a copy of the original file and gave it to Abele to assist her in handling the Alabama action. The file apparently is Sherry Rollins' property, but Ms. Rollins states that Abele repeatedly has refused to produce a copy because she hasn't been paid for her services. Abele has not been paid, Ms. Rollins states, because Ted Rollins never produced the funds that were ordered by Judge Crowson.

Earlier this year, I sought to conduct a telephone interview with Ted Rollins regarding Rollins v. Rollins and his company, Campus Crest Communities. He stated that he would reply only to questions in writing. In a response to me dated March 8, 2011, Rollins stated that there was "more than a fair process" in his divorce case.

That raises this obvious question: How could the process have been fair when Ted Rollins repeatedly failed to turn over information, take actions, or pay funds, as ordered by the court?

I put that question, and others, to Ted Rollins in an e-mail last week. He has told me several times that he would be "more than happy" to respond to written questions. I've sent him five sets of written questions, including the ones from last week, and his only response has been to threaten me with a lawsuit.

Below is an e-mail I sent regarding violations of court orders in Rollins v. Rollins. I have received no answers to these questions:


Ted Rollins E Mail Court Orders

A Bad-News Developer Is Coming to Auburn University

Ted Rollins

A development company, with a CEO who has extensive personal and professional baggage, is planning a new project at Auburn University. The company already has close to 30 student-housing developments across the country.

Campus Crest Communities, of Charlotte, North Carolina, has announced that it plans to build a 216-unit student-housing complex adjacent to Greek housing at Auburn. The $26.3 million project is expected to be ready for the 2012-13 academic year.

Campus Crest is led by Ted Rollins, who has been the subject of several posts here at Legal Schnauzer--and he will be the subject of quite a few more. Ted Rollins has significant financial clout; he belongs to the Atlanta-based Rollins clan, the folks behind Orkin Pest Control and one of the nation's wealthiest families. Campus Crest Communities is Rollins' latest venture, and it completed a $380-million IPO on Wall Street last year.

Public documents, however, indicate that Ted Rollins has a troubling history of using abusive legal tactics and questionable business practices.

At least three former or current Campus Crest employees have filed lawsuits alleging the company engages in sex and race discrimination. The cases are pending, and here is how we reported on them in a previous post:

Campus Crest Communities, which develops student housing near college campuses, is charged in Charlotte federal court with creating a work environment that is hostile to women and African-Americans. Two plaintiffs in the lawsuits, Nicole McAuliffe and Heather McCormack, say they were terminated after complaining of a sexually hostile work environment at Campus Crest. A third plaintiff, Tammy Hughes-Brown, says she has faced discrimination because she is an African-American. . . .

McAuliffe says the company practiced blatant discrimination against people of color--and for that matter, older people. She and other staff members were directed to hire predominantly young, white women to available positions at the company's various residential rental properties.

One complaint alleges that women in the Campus Crest office environment were referred to as "cunts," "bitches," and "whores." The company's marketing department was called "the whore's den."

How does Ted Rollins treat women? You might want to ask his former wife, Sherry Carroll Rollins. We have written extensively about the Rollins v. Rollins divorce case, and I have called it perhaps "No. 1 on my 'hit parade' of courtroom abuse." As regular readers know, that is saying a mouthful.

Sherry Carroll Rollins now lives in Birmingham, and her court case speaks volumes about how Ted Rollins views the justice system. Does he believe that all parties in a court case should receive fair and lawful treatment? The public file in Rollins v. Rollins indicates the answer is no. Here is how we recently summarized the case:

Sherry Rollins filed for divorce in Greenville, South Carolina, where she and her husband lived. The case got rolling, jurisdiction was established, and it could not be changed, under the law. But Sherry Rollins was not married to a regular working schmuck. Ted W. Rollins is a member of one of America's wealthiest right-leaning families, the folks behind Orkin Pest Control and other enterprises. Ted Rollins apparently decided that the law didn't apply to him. He ignored a court order to maintain the mortgage payment, insurance, and taxes on the family house, causing Sherry Rollins and the couple's two daughters to be booted from their own home. Sherry Rollins and the girls fled to Alabama, where she had relatives. When it looked like a South Carolina judge was going to zap him with hefty alimony and child-support payments, Ted Rollins sued Sherry Rollins for divorce in Alabama--and an Alabama judge named D. Al Crowson took the case. All kinds of law says this can't be done; jurisdiction already was set in South Carolina--and Ted Rollins had been found in contempt of court and had a warrant for his arrest. Crowson took the case, contrary to clear Alabama law such as Wesson v. Wesson, 628 So. 2d 953 (1993) and proceeded to administer a colossal cheat job to Sherry Rollins and her two daughters. How did this happen? Well, Ted Rollins is the CEO of Campus Crest Communities, which corralled a $380 million IPO on Wall Street, and his primary corporate lawyers are with the influential Birmingham firm of Bradley Arant. Knowing the right lawyers, who apparently know the right judge, seems to have helped Ted Rollins pull a major fast one on his ex wife and their two daughters.

Notice that we have highlighted the fact that Ted and Sherry Rollins had two daughters. They also had two stepsons, from Sherry Rollins' previous marriage.

Why have we highlighted this? At its 27 student-housing properties around the country, Campus Crest Communities essentially is selling an image to college students and their parents. Ted Rollins presents himself as a CEO who is concerned about providing wholesome, healthful living environments for young people--to promote their academic and personal growth.

All of that raises this legitimate question: How does Ted Rollins treat his own children? How do his own children fare when they are on his watch?

Public documents provide considerable insight into those questions--and they do not paint a pretty picture of Campus Crest's CEO.

A recent profile in The Charlotte Observer provides insight about Campus Crest Communities and its competitors in the student-housing market. The article, "Developer Finds Success Just Off Campus," is written by reporter Kerry Hall Singe and focuses heavily on the company's financial growth. But it does not present the whole picture about Campus Crest Communities.

Ted Rollins' company is coming soon to Alabama. Students and parents with ties to Auburn University have a right to know what kind of person is leading this new presence in the "Loveliest Village." We will be providing some troubling answers.

Could Political Affiliation Be A Deciding Factor in Divorce Cases?

A litigant in an Alabama divorce case--we will call him Party A--recently was held in contempt of court and threatened with jail time if he did not catch up on his alimony.

A litigant in another Alabama divorce case--we will call him Party B--essentially was encouraged to skip his alimony and child-support payments. In fact, the same judge who dealt harshly with Party A, ignored the fact that Party B had an outstanding warrant for failure to pay alimony/child support in South Carolina.

What's the difference between the two cases? Party A has ties to Democratic politics; Party B has ties to Republican politics. Could party affiliation actually determine the outcome of divorce cases? Sure looks like it--at least in Shelby County, Alabama.

Party A is Steve Sayler, who served as finance director under former Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford, who is serving a federal prison sentence for his conviction on Bush-era corruption charges. Party B is Ted Rollins, a member of the family behind Orkin Pest Control, Rollins Inc., and other enterprises. The Rollinses are one of the wealthiest families in the country, and they have a long history of support for the Republican Party.

The judge in both cases is D. Al Crowson, who has served on the bench in deeply conservative Shelby County since 1988.

According to an article in The Birmingham News, Sayler was $7,204.10 behind on his alimony payments when Crowson issued a warrant for his arrest.

According to court documents, Ted Rollins was $20,410 behind on his alimony/child support after being sued for divorce by Sherry Carroll Rollins in Greenville, South Carolina, where the couple had lived. On top of that, Ted Rollins had failed to pay $50,000 in attorney fees that had been ordered against him in South Carolina.

In short, Ted Rollins was in arrears to the tune of $70,410--almost 10 times the amount that Steve Sayler was behind. But did Judge Crowson see to it that Ted Rollins was arrested and turned over to South Carolina authorities? Not exactly.

With the help of a Birmingham attorney named G. John Durward, Ted Rollins filed a lawsuit against Sherry Carroll Rollins in Alabama, where she and the couple's two daughters had fled after being kicked out of their home when Ted Rollins failed to pay the mortgage--even though a court had ordered him to pay it.

There was a slight problem, however, with Ted Rollins' lawsuit in Alabama. It could not be done--at least not if actual law means anything. You see, Ted Rollins had a fundamental jurisdictional problem, one that is governed by all kinds of procedural, statutory and case law. Perhaps the easiest way to understand it comes from a clearly worded Alabama case styled Wesson v. Wesson, 628 So. 2d 953 (Ala. Civ. App., 1993):

Once jurisdiction has attached in one court, that court has the exclusive right to continue its exercise of power until the completion of the case, and is only subject to appellate authority.

Multiple lawyers for Sherry Carroll Rollins pointed out to Crowson that he had no jurisdiction over the case and it could not proceed in Alabama. But Crowson ignored clear law and let Ted Rollins have his way.

Did that pay off for Ted Rollins? Oh, yes. A South Carolina judge had issued a temporary finding, ordering him to pay $8,355 a month in combined alimony/child support. But when D. Al Crowson took over the case in Alabama, Ted Rollins wound up having to pay $1,315 a month--$815 in child support (that's total, for two children) and $500 a month in alimony.

That's a monthly savings of $7,040 for Mr. Rollins. And he surely needs that cash. One of his companies, Campus Crest Communities, recently issued an IPO on Wall Street that is estimated at $380 million. Court documents in South Carolina indicate his family is worth billions, with a "b."

How did Ted Rollins and his attorney, Mr. Durward, get away with this scam? That question will be the subject of many more posts here at Legal Schnauzer. But it's interesting to note that Bradley Arant Boult and Cummings (BABC), one of our city's largest and most influential law firms, long has been handling real-estate and construction matters for Ted Rollins. In fact, BABC attorneys Dawn Helms Sharff and Walter Sears have been particularly active on the Rollins account.

If Steve Sayler is behind on his alimony, he certainly needs to pay it. But one wonders why Judge D. Al Crowson did not hold Ted Rollins to the same standard.

A Wealthy Republican Family Hangs Out Its Dirty Laundry Down South

Ted W. Rollins

Perhaps the biggest legal story in the South right now involves what the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has called the "public disintegration" of the Rollins family.

What is the Rollins family? It is one of America's wealthiest clans, best known as the folks behind Orkin Pest Control. They have cultivated an image as low-key philanthropists, but two lawsuits recently filed in Atlanta pull the mask off Rollins Inc.

It's a story about massive wealth, family dysfunction, and Republican Party politics--with a roundabout connection to the wacky Christine O'Donnell. It's also a story with ties to Alabama, where a member of the Rollins family has played center stage in one of the most grotesque examples of courtroom injustice I've ever encountered.

Regular readers know I would not make that last statement lightly. But I have closely examined the file in a case styled Rollins vs. Rollins. It's a domestic-relations case that Ted W. Rollins filed against his wife,  Sherry Carroll Rollins, who had moved to Shelby County, Alabama, from the couple's home in Greenville, South Carolina.

Sherry Rollins had already filed for divorce in South Carolina, and a judge had issued a warrant for Ted Rollins' arrest for failure to pay child support. But Ted Rollins somehow managed to get the case transferred to Alabama. Anyone who has taken a few days of Law School 101 knows that cannot be done.  But it apparently can be done when you are a member of one of America's wealthiest families, and you have ties to Bradley Arant Boult and Cummings, one of Alabama's largest law firms.

With the help of some dumbfounding decisions by Shelby County Judge Al Crowson, who just happened to retire early as the case was winding down, Ted Rollins received a judgment that was both stunningly favorable and blatantly unlawful.

Public records indicate that, at the time the Rollins case was moved to Alabama, Ted Rollins was such a deadbeat dad that he was a fugitive from justice. But with his ties to massive wealth and the Bradley Arant firm, he was welcomed with open arms in the Heart of Dixie.

The corrupt machinations of Judge Crowson in Shelby County have left Sherry Rollins struggling to survive while she raises the couple's two daughters, Sarah and Emily, who are now teen-agers. Ted Rollins, now remarried, recently put together an initial public offering (IPO) for his latest venture, Campus Crest Communities, which entered the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month. The anticipated value of the IPO is $380 million.

We have written extensively about corruption in Alabama's domestic-relations courts. But Rollins vs. Rollins might be the ugliest civil case, of any kind, that I have ever seen. That is saying something, and we will be writing much more about it.

But what about the larger Rollins family feud, the one that has tongues wagging in Atlanta? First, some background about the Rollinses. Their roots are in Georgia, and the business family tree essentially has two prongs that were established by a couple of industrious brothers--O. Wayne Rollins and John W. Rollins.

After World War II, John W. Rollins moved to Delaware and opened an automobile dealership. His brother soon joined him in the business, and they expanded into broadcasting, outdoor advertising, pest control, truck leasing, and more. They became heavily involved in harness racing and motorsports, and the family has close ties to Dover Downs and Dover International Speedway.

John W. Rollins became a major figure in the Republican Party. He was elected lieutenant governor of Delaware in 1956 and lost in a bid for governor in 1960. John W. Rollins died in 2000, but his third wife, Michele Rollins, is carrying on the political tradition. She ran this year for the Delaware U.S. House seat that was vacated by Mike Castle. Michele Rollins lost in the GOP primary, a result that was overshadowed on the national stage when Christine O'Donnell shocked Castle in the primary for a U.S. Senate seat.

The Atlanta feud involves the O. Wayne Rollins side of the family. Here is how the Atlanta Journal-Constitution describes it:

The battle royale in the family erupted just a year after the death of the family's 98-year-old matriarch, Grace Crum Rollins.

On Aug. 23, Rollins siblings Glen W., Ruth Ellen, Nancy Louise, and O. Wayne II filed suit in Fulton County Superior Court against their father, Gary Rollins, and their uncle, R. Randall Rollins, over two trusts established for them. The suit seeks information on the trusts, the siblings' attorney said.

The lawsuit also names another board member, Henry B. Tippie, who, with Gary and R. Randall oversees those trusts.

On Aug. 25, the children's mother, Ruth M. Rollins, petitioned for divorce from Gary, seeking to dissolve their nearly 45-year marriage.

The "marriage of the parties is irretrievably broken" and "there is no hope for reconciliation," according to the petition, which also was filed in Fulton County Superior Court.

On Tuesday, the Rollins board, led by CEO Gary W. Rollins, 66, and chairman R. Randall Rollins, 78, fired Gary's son Glen, 44, an executive vice president and leader of Rollins' most recognizable brand, Orkin pest control.

That's a lot of unpleasantness. But it's relatively minor league compared to the nastiness, and blatant unlawfulness, that is present in the Rollins v. Rollins case in Alabama.

That case has gone unreported in the mainstream press. But we are preparing to take a serious look at it.

CEO Continues to Tussle With Progressive Blogger

Ted Rollins

Ted Rollins and his lawyer seem to take a perverse delight in poking sticks at the Legal Schnauzer.

Rollins, the CEO of Charlotte-based Campus Crest Communities, is represented by Chad Essick, of the North Carolina firm Poyner Spruill. They started by sending a letter that pretty clearly threatened a lawsuit if I continued to report fully and accurately on Rollins' actions that are connected to Alabama, where I live.

They have followed with a second letter, one that seems designed mostly to insult me and attack the credibility of Sherry Carroll Rollins, the victim of hideous legal shenanigans in a divorce case Ted Rollins (her ex husband) instituted in Alabama.

Mr. Rollins and Mr. Essick apparently have not learned two of life's important lessons: (1) Schnauzers do not suffer fools gladly; (2) Schnauzers bite, and when they do, it can involve significant pain for the bitee.

I have written that Rollins v. Rollins is "No. 1 on my 'hit parade' of courtroom abuse." Put another way, it's the most blatant example of courtroom corruption in a civil matter that I've uncovered--and that's saying something. I stand by that statement, by the way.

The case was heard in Shelby County, Alabama, and Mr. Rollins received an extraordinarily favorable judgment, even though Mrs. Rollins had sued him for divorce some three years earlier in Greenville, South Carolina--where the couple had lived and where numerous court orders already had been entered. Simple jurisdictional law--call it Law School 101--shows that such a judicial heist cannot be done. But Alabama Circuit Judge D. Al Crowson did it anyway, violating all sorts of law that perhaps is best explained in a case styled Wesson v. Wesson, 628 So. 2d 953 (Ala., 1993) Here is the key finding:

Once jurisdiction has attached in one court, that court has the exclusive right to continue its exercise of power until the completion of the case, and is only subject to appellate authority.

Legal doctrine doesn't come much shorter or simpler than that. Based on the clear language in Wesson, Sherry Carroll Rollins and the two daughters she had with Ted Rollins (now teens and living with their mother in Alabama) received a "shaft job" that would make Isaac Hayes blush.

The corruption in Rollins v. Rollins is so transparent and blatant that it cannot be seriously argued. But Ted Rollins and his lawyer apparently feel a need to massage the case anyway. Their second letter, which might charitably be called a massive load of feces, can be read in its entirety below.

Chad Essick starts by informing me that the first letter was not meant to be seen as "threatening." Rather, it was to inform me that Mr. Rollins and his company have retained legal counsel "based on concerns about inaccurate and misleading information you have published." How is that different from a threat of litigation? Beats me.

Mr. Essick then refers to my work as "reporting" (with quotation marks) and then states that he wants to ensure that my work is "accurate, unbiased, and free of the conspiracy theories that you seem so determined to create."

Memo to Mr. Essick: Insults are way less effective than you might imagine when dealing with journalists.

Here is another rhetorical tactic that has proven over the years to be ineffective: Stating you aren't going to do something and then doing it. Mr. Essick writes: "Frankly, we see no need to engage in a legal debate with a non-lawyer over a case that has long been settled by the courts." Then, he proceeds to initiate such a debate.

There is only one problem for Mr. Essick and his client: Rollins v. Rollins can't be debated; it was handled in a manner that is contrary to clear law, as outlined in Wesson v. Wesson above. The primary questions about Rollins v. Rollins now are as follows:

* Why was it handled in an unlawful fashion?

* Who caused it to be handled in an unlawful fashion?

* How did certain individuals benefit from it being handled in an unlawful fashion?

* How many federal and state laws were violated in the process?

* How many individuals would wind up in orange jump suits if actions related to Rollins v. Rollins were investigated fully?

I am seeking answers to those questions, and that process seems to make Mr. Rollins uncomfortable. The observant reader might ask this questions: If the Rollins divorce case was handled lawfully, why are Mr. Rollins and his lawyer concerned about my reporting--which is based on documents that come straight from the court file?

We soon will address some of the issues Team Rollins raises in an effort to muddy the waters--on a case where the waters are crystal clear. But first, let's present my response to Chad Essick's second letter. Suffice to say, Mr. Essick fails to show that there is anything inaccurate or misleading about my reporting:

Mr. Essick:

I am in receipt of your letter, via e-mail, dated October 17, 2011. I agree that there is no point in debating actions taken by judges and lawyers in Rollins v. Rollins. But you raise a few issues that require a response from me:

* You reference "personal attacks" that I've made against Ted Rollins. This is inaccurate. I am a journalist, with 30 years of professional experience in the field. I am reporting on matters of public interest, in Shelby County, Alabama, where I live--and in North Carolina, South Carolina and states around the country where Ted Rollins does business as head of a publicly traded company. My reporting has been based on public documents and published reports in multiple news outlets. This is what journalists do; it's not a matter of "personal attacks."

* You're assertion that it's false and inaccurate to "suggest" that Rollins v. Rollins was unlawfully moved from South Carolina to Alabama is not supported by the record. By the way, I haven't "suggested" that the case was unlawfully moved, I have flat out stated such and cited relevant case law to prove it. That point can't seriously be debated by people who know the law, as I'm sure you do.

* You're statement that I've "suggested" Mr. Rollins has missed child-support payments is false. I did ask him in an e-mail about payments that Sherry Rollins said were late (and public documents indicated were late). And I made a brief reference to that in a post, noting that payment had soon been made. But I have not reported on Mr. Rollins missing child-support payments--not yet, anyway.

* You state that I have "attacked" Ted Rollins about the support of his children. Again, I am a journalist reporting factually about matters of public record in a court of law, on issues that involve use of public resources. It is a fact that Ted Rollins' two children qualify for food stamps, and they currently receive food stamps. That's not an "attack," it's journalism.

* If Mr. Rollins would like to clear up questions about his financial status at the time he signed a CS-41 document under oath in Alabama, perhaps he should make certain documents available for review. These might include (but not be limited to) his tax returns for the past 10 years; documents related to his interest in Campus Crest Communities, St. James Capital, the Crescent Center, and other ventures over the past 10 years; documents related to any trust or investment accounts from which he derives income; documents related to any real-estate or development properties in which he has an interest; documents about any financial connections he has to Rollins, Inc. in Atlanta. My understanding is that such documents were sought during the discovery phase of Rollins v. Rollins, but for the most part, were not produced.

* I understand your concerns about the CS-41 document that I have published, but you are addressing them to the wrong person. I obtained that document from the public court file, as maintained at alacourt.com. Anyone on planet earth with an Internet connection can gain access to alacourt.com and see that document. It is public in every way, and my use of it violates no privacy laws. The Alabama Administrative Office of Courts (AOC) is responsible for documents that appear on alacourt.com. If you are concerned about Mr. Rollins' Social Security Number appearing at alacourt.com, I would suggest you address that issue with AOC. If Mr. Rollins is the victim of identify theft, I would suggest that you prepare a lawsuit against AOC because it is the entity that put his identifying information in the public domain.

* In your next-to-last sentence, you reference "matters that are personal" to Mr. Rollins and his family. I'm sure you are aware that Rollins v. Rollins is a court case, that it was litigated with court personnel and facilities that are funded with taxpayer dollars (including mine), and that the case file is a matter of public record. When Mr. Rollins sued Sherry Rollins for divorce, it was not a "personal matter"--it was a public matter. When he sued her in Shelby County, where I live and where I have seen judges unlawfully treat non-favored parties, it became a matter of great interest to me.

In closing, the public record shows that Alabama courts, which I help fund, were used in an abusive and unlawful fashion in Rollins v. Rollins. I doubt that you ever have set foot in a Shelby County courtroom. Well, I have--and I've seen how the actual law is treated like a play toy, how constitutional rights to due process and equal protection are butchered, how innocent parties can be brought to the edge of ruin by corrupt judges and lawyers.

You can be assured that I will continue to report on the Rollins case, and other matters of injustice, in an aggressive and factual manner.


Sincerely,


Roger Shuler

Ted Rollins--Letter No. 2