PANAMA CITY, FL — Despite a judge’s order that he present himself by noon local time yesterday to begin serving his jail sentence for contempt of court, Girls Gone Wild owner Joe Francis did not appear to comply with the order – and both Francis and a spokesperson for his company indicated he has no intention of honoring it.U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak last week found Francis in contempt of court, after the attorneys for seven women engaged in a lawsuit against Francis complained that he had screamed obscenities and threatened them during settlement negotiations. The women were filmed by a Girls Gone Wild crew on Panama City Beach during spring break in 2003, according to the Panama City News Herald.
Judge Smoak, who had ordered the mediation, ruled that Francis’ tirade at the negotiation session demonstrated that he never intended to comply with the judge’s order that he mediate in good faith. Judge Smoak ordered Francis to pay the plaintiffs’ attorneys for their time and ordered that Francis be jailed until he took part in meaningful negotiations.
Francis avoided jail time last week when Judge Smoak suspended his order after learning that the two sides had reach an agreement; Francis had engaged in mediation on Friday, and on Saturday the plaintiffs agreed to his offer.
After hammering out the agreement, however, Francis allegedly amended it, leading the plaintiffs’ attorneys to go back to Judge Smoak to complain.
Judge Smoak then reinstated his contempt of court order and ordered that Francis present himself by noon Thursday to be taken into custody.
“He may have snookered us and gotten out Saturday,” said Judge Smoak Wednesday, according to the Associated Press (AP), “but he’s coming back.”
Judge Smoak said yesterday that he would issue a warrant for Francis’ arrest if he failed to surrender, but as of the close of the court’s business yesterday, there was no warrant in the file, according to the News Herald.
Late yesterday, a defiant Francis told AP reporters that Judge Smoak had “lost his mind.”
“This judge has gone as far as to call me the devil and an evildoer,” said Francis. “It is a case of a judge gone wild.”
A spokesman for Mantra Films, the company behind the Girls Gone Wild video line, told the News Herald said that Francis was a victim of “extortion” in the case and had no intention of turning himself in, as he was busy “running a business.”
“We’ve all seen crazy Florida judges, but this development takes the cake,” said Mantra spokesman Ronn Torossian.
“For a judge to tell someone to settle a case or go to jail is a foreign concept to us,” Torossian added. “To threaten someone with jail over a civil case is unheard of.”
Francis said the seven women wanted $70 million to settle the case and he had countered with an offer of “an extraordinary amount of money.”
“It was to the point where the girls would never have to work again as long as they live,” said Francis. “It was to be paid out over 25 years.”
Francis now says he will drop the settlement talks and face the plaintiffs in court.
“This is crazy, this is about girls who lied about their ages, who we have on videotape presenting fake identification,” Francis said, according to the AP. “I just cannot believe this is happening. Would a judge do this to Bill Gates or Warren Buffett? This is a corporate civil matter.”
Francis added that Judge Smoak is a former law partner of one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, D. Ross McCloy Jr., and argues that the judge should have stepped away from the case, accordingly.
“We asked the judge to recuse himself a year ago,” said Francis. “This is nothing but a friend helping out another friend.”
Judge Smoak refused to comment on the case, and McCloy has not commented in response to Francis’ remarks to the AP.
Francis also claimed that any financial settlement he agrees to now would later be set aside by a higher court, given the circumstances of the case and his current state of mind.
“I’ll give up a billion dollars, but it will be under duress,” Francis said.
In court documents, Francis’ attorneys called into question Judge Smoak’s order to require Francis to settle the case or “negotiate from a jail cell.”
In his phone interview with the AP, Francis stated that he was not in the state of Florida, currently. The U.S. Marshal’s Office this week said that Francis will be treated as a fugitive if a warrant is issued. If arrested, Francis will be held in the area where his arrest takes place until he can be relocated to the Bay County Jail.
