More allegations surface in lawsuit against prominent local attorney

The number of people claiming that a Corbin attorney failed to do his job when they hired him to represent them on a variety of claims continues to grow.

Last month, a Whitley County mother filed a lawsuit against attorney Timothy Crawford claiming he failed to do his job when she hired him in 2003 to recover money from an insurance company to cover injuries suffered by her daughter in a car crash.
In the last week, three more plaintiffs were added to the lawsuit: a former Corbin and current Williamsburg Police Officer and a Corbin husband and wife.

April Davenport filed the initial lawsuit in Whitley Circuit Court in April on behalf of her minor daughter, Bethany Davenport.
According to the complaint, Davenport hired Corbin attorney Tim Crawford to claim damages from a crash that happened on Feb. 14, 2003.

In response, Crawford filed a lawsuit against Kentucky National Insurance Company – the company through which coverage had been purchased on the vehicle she and her daughter were sitting in.

An order dismissing the case was entered for "failure to prosecute," according to the lawsuit, but Davenport was never notified. Instead, she claims Crawford continued to tell her there would be a trial in U.S. District Court in London on July 28, 2010. No action was ever actually filed in U.S. District Court.

Additionally, Davenport claims she was never informed the case in Whitley Circuit Court was dismissed.

Now, former Corbin Police Officer Brandon White has joined the lawsuit, claiming that Crawford agreed to represent him on a Worker’s Compensation matter resulting from an injury he sustained on the job Dec. 31, 2003. The lawsuit says Crawford never actually filed an "application for claim resolution" through the Kentucky Department of Worker’s Claims on White’s behalf, and that he also deliberately tried to conceal that fact from his client.

White apparently purchased a home and made other expenditures in expectation of a financial settlement.

White became suspicious of Crawford’s claims when he read an article in the April 27 edition of The News Journal about the Davenport lawsuit.

Also added to the lawsuit are a local couple, Ken and Sheila Phillips.

Ken Phillips allegedly hired Crawford on May 23, 2006 to represent him in a claim for Social Security Disability benefits.
Ultimately, Phillips claims he was informed he would begin receiving his first payments in June of 2010. After several delays, Phillips claims Crawford told him "state Senator David Williams had a contact in Baltimore, Maryland and that he was going to assist with his disability application."

Phillips claims several meeting attempts with Crawford were aborted. He finally obtained a copy of his file from Crawford’s law office and in it was a letter dated May 5, 2009 indicating Crawford had withdrawn from representing Phillips.

The lawsuit claims Crawford never formally informed Phillips or the Social Security Administration that he had withdrawn from the case.

In the case of Sheila Phillips, Crawford supposedly agreed to represent her on a continuing case regarding Kentucky employee retirement disability benefits on March 12, 2008. The lawsuit alleges that Crawford never actually took any action to prosecute her appeal with the Kentucky Retirement Systems despite requesting medical information from her doctor regarding the appeal.
The lawsuit says that Crawford offered to loan Phillips a total of $3,500 until payments started to arrive. After she obtained her case file from Crawford in September of last year, she found a letter indicating Crawford intended to withdraw from the case.

The complaint was filed by Brian T. Canupp, an attorney from Paris, and Tad Thomas, of Louisville.

The lawsuit makes public a third claim by clients of Crawford that he failed to adequately represent them. In March, the Kentucky Supreme Court suspended Crawford from practicing law for 30 days, upholding a ruling by the Kentucky Inquiry Commission that he mishandled a disability benefits claim in 2008. Prior to the ruling, he had never been disciplined for any professional misconduct.

In June of 2010, Goshen, IN resident Joette Ziarki filed a civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court in London against Crawford, his law office and Mary Catherine Vicini, an employee at Crawford’s law office. She claims Crawford failed to prosecute a lawsuit he filed on her behalf relating to a car wreck in which she was injured in 2002. The case was dismissed on Dec. 5, 2008 in Whitley Circuit Court for lack of prosecution.

Crawford has an office at he corner of Main Street and Roy Kidd Avenue in Corbin. He is well regarded statewide as an attorney particular familiar with education law. He serves as Board Attorney for the Whitley County Board of Education, Knox County Board of Education; as well as for school districts in McCreary, Jackson, Estill and Perry Counties. He is also board attorney for city school districts in Barbourville and Middlesboro.