Was the Musgrove tale just the beginning?

As trial nears in Maddox Foundation case, other evidence emerges of leader's sexual escapades with men affiliated with the foundation

Email | Print By Richard Lawson

Next month's trial over who should control the Maddox Foundation was shaping up to be merely the culmination of years of dreary legal haggling in a dispute over one wealthy couple's estate. It suddenly became more interesting with the revelation last week of explosive claims that foundation chief Robin Costa had an affair with former Mississippi Governor Ronnie Musgrove -- who is now part of the legal team that has billed $1 million worth of work to the foundation in the ongoing litigation.

But there's more.

Legal observers suspect that the team trying to bring the organization's assets back to Nashville -- Davidson County District Attorney Torry Johnson along with Woody Woodruff and the rest of his Waller Landsen Dortch & Davis legal crew who represent Tommye Maddox Working, the step-granddaughter of the late Dan Maddox -- would not have petitioned for the deposition containing the Musgrove claims to be unsealed if they did not intend to make Costa's personal conduct a central issue in the upcoming trial, which gets underway on October 23.

And NashvillePost.com has learned that there is evidence in the public record of conduct by Costa, involving employees of the foundation, that makes the image of Governor Musgrove sucking her toes look positively quaint by comparison.

The evidence comes from a sexual harassment case against Costa that was settled out of court last year. Testimony in that case portrays Costa as having a prodigious appetite for amorous involvement with employees, painting a curious portrait of how she conducts business and handles employee relations. It's a portrait that would seem to fit with Working's claims that Costa has been cavalier in managing the foundation.

The Musgrove bombshell emerged after attorneys for Working got the testimony of Tara Hermansen unsealed in order to make the point that Costa was using foundation assets to pay an attorney with whom she'd allegedly had a personal relationship.

For the foundation and Costa, respectively, local attorneys Aubrey Harwell with his Neal & Harwell team and Michael Dolan of Paulus & Dolan will attempt in court to refute such claims and prove that the foundation has been managed well.

It turns out, however, that Hermansen was not the only teller of tales from within the workforce of the Maddox Foundation. Other testimony, portraying a highly unusual working environment, emerged in the sexual harassment case. Portions of Costa's and of her accuser's lengthy depositions are appended to filings in that lawsuit.

In one deposition (excerpts available at this link), Costa herself names three foundation employees -- working for the minor-league hockey team it owned, the Memphis RiverKings -- with whom she had sex. In another (excerpts available at this link), a manager of the hockey club elaborates on Costa's florid reputation.

Usually, stories of sexual harassment in an organization involve a male boss and a female subordinate or subordinates. In this situation, the plaintiff claimed, quite the opposite was the case.

Kevin Brooks claimed sexual harassment in 2003 after he was fired. Brooks, assistant general manager of the RiverKings, worked for Costa and had something of a romantic relationship with her in late in the summer of 2002. Costa's supposed romance with Musgrove occurred in 2001 and early 2002, according to Hermansen's deposition. Brooks' relationship ended in October that year when Costa started seeing one of the hockey players. And when his physical relationship with Costa ended, Brooks said in his deposition that his responsibilities with the team ended. "They ended the very minute that happened," he said.

Brooks mentioned another management employee who was fired or resigned after he and Costa had been involved in a relationship that seems to have followed in quick succession after the hockey player. In Costa's deposition, she admits to a relationship with Brooks, the hockey player and the manager.

According to Brooks, Costa was involved with other hockey players as well. Brooks said in his testimony a coach had told him about other players Costa had been involved with at times.

"He wouldn't give me names of the players, but would tell me that – good example is that Robin was involved with X number of players or that Robin chartered a plane and flew to a an away game and had sex with three players on the – on the plane," Brooks said in his testimony. "I said… at some point some of these players are going to talk; somebody is going to file a sexual harassment suit, because the simple answer is they come and go in this league and they cut players based on arbitrary reasons, so somebody is going to challenge that in court."

In the testimony of Brooks, some of Costa's other paramours were said to be married. But she only admitted to relationships with the hockey player and the two managers. When an attorney for Brooks asked whether she had ever had sex with several other individuals, including the late Dan Maddox himself, Costa said no in each case.

It seems certain that Costa's conduct will emerge in the courtroom. What will be interesting to see is whether Musgrove appears at Davidson County Probate Court for the trial -- and whether he is called to the witness stand or another witness corroborates Hermansen's testimony.