Bermuda: Attorney-General's husband sued over half-million-dollar debt

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(CMC) – The husband of Bermuda’s Attorney-General Kathy Lynn Simmons is being sued for an alleged failure to pay back more than half a million dollars (US) to a “self-help” club set up by a group of friends.

Club 10 Foundation Ltd claimed that Myron Simmons, a senior lawyer in the Attorney-General’s Chambers, still owed the organisation US$547,000 after he took out a series of loans a decade ago and failed to repay them.

The lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal actions against Simmons, 56, in the past 10 years.

Supreme Court records revealed 13 other cases filed against Simmons since 2008.

Five of them named his wife, the ruling Progressive Labour Party’s (PLP) leader in the Senate, as a co-defendant.

The outcomes of the cases have not been made public, but documents first published on an overseas website show that the most recent matters are of a financial nature.

As a lawyer in the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Simmons is a legal adviser to the government and appears in court on its behalf in civil cases. He declined to talk about the Club 10 case and the other lawsuits.

“These are personal matters. These are business dealings that I had over ten years ago,” Simmons said.

Dr Joseph Christopher, former vice-president of Club 10 says the group was set up in 1971.

“It’s a group of people who got together to set aside funds on a regular basis and to loan those funds out to each other as needed” said Christopher, who is no longer involved with the club.

“Each person decided how much to pay on a monthly basis. It’s a revolving fund. Mr Simmons became a member very early in the process in order to get a loan.”

He added the organisation tried to sort out the problem of the unpaid loans several years ago without going to court.

“I think the new executive decided to move on it. From their point of view, they have a responsibility to their remaining members to get all of the funds which are eventually due to them.” Christopher added

The Bermuda Bar Association said privacy regulations meant it could not comment on whether any complaints had been made to its professional conduct committee about Simmons.

The association only publishes information on suspended or disbarred lawyers and Simmons’ name does not appear on that published list.