http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/knau/local-knau-898518.mp3
Phoenix, AZ – Judge Paul Logan concluded the evidence showed that Mills
purposely kept partner John Mortellite in the dark about a bid to
buy the company they had formed in 1995. Mills had put up
$900,000 against $100,000 from Mortellite. The judge said Mills
sent Mortellite on repeated vacations and, without telling him of
a proposed sale, got him to accept $1.5 million for his share of
the stock -- enabling Mills to sell the company. Logan eventually
ruled the value of that sale was in excess of $45 million -- and
Mortellite was owed 10 percent of that. Mills said the pair
eventually settled the matter out of court and the judgment was
vacated. But that occurred only after Mortellite won the case.
Anyway, he said the whole thing is irrelevant to his current bid
for governor.
(It's not news that a successful businessman gets sued. He
thought he was right. I thought I was right. After five years of
haggling we both thought it was in our best interest to reach the
accommodation we did. Everybody walked away from thet table
satsified.)
Mills, who now lives in Paulden, said a confidentiality agreement
precludes him from detailing the final financial arrangement. For
Arizona Public Radio this is Howard Fischer.