Sept. 24, 2007 — The attorney general of the Virgin Islands, Vincent A. Frazer, has named a replacement for controversial lawyer Jeffrey B.C. Moorhead as the attorney of record for the territory's Public Services Commission.
On Friday, Stan Springel, the trustee in the Jeffrey Prosser bankruptcy case, asked the U.S. bankruptcy judge, Judith Fitzgerald, to find Moorhead in contempt of court. Springel charged that Moorhead blocked progress in the proceedings. The case involves Prosser, owner of Innovative Telephone, and two of his holding companies. (See "Brief Calls for PSC's Moorhead to be Cited for Contempt of Court.")
Fitzgerald appointed Springel, a West Coast business executive, to manage the Prosser properties until they are refinanced or the properties are sold to pay off the creditors. Moorhead, acting as the trial examiner for the PSC, had issued orders barring the Prosser companies from cooperating with the trustee pending PSC approval.
It is not immediately clear what will happen to those orders, and it is not known whether the trustee's contempt of court recommendation relates to the attorney general's decision.
The attorney general has filed a one-page document with the bankruptcy court naming Moorhead's replacement. It reads, "… the Virgin Islands Department of Justice … enters an appearance as attorney of record on behalf of the Virgin Islands Public Services Commission … Assistant Attorney General George W.H. Phillips hereby replaces Attorney Jeffrey B.C. Moorhead as counsel of record for the V.I. Public Services Commission in accordance with Virgin Islands Daily News v. Government of the Virgin Islands (T.C. 593/2002)."
The significance of the reference to the Daily News, a Prosser property, is not immediately clear.
Six months ago Frazer wrote a letter to the PSC chairwoman arguing that Moorhead should stop appearing in federal bankruptcy court as the commission's representative. In a March 27 letter to Alecia M. Wells, Frazer wrote, "Attorney Jeffrey Moorhead has been making appearances before the bankruptcy court on behalf of the Public Services Commission. Since we have no record of Mr. Moorhead being designated as special assistant attorney general, this practice and Mr. Moorhead's appearances should cease."
The next day, Moorhead wrote Frazer asking to be deputized "so that I may continue to represent the PSC." It is not known what response, if any, was made to that request until today's notice to the bankruptcy court. At the time, Frazer was the designated attorney general, but had not yet been confirmed by the Legislature.
On Monday, Fitzgerald — acting with unusual speed — set a hearing date of Oct. 4 in Pittsburgh to hear Springel's motion on a contempt of court citation for Moorhead.
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