As we reported back on Friday, the trio of Miami socialites who are accusing Maurkice Pouncey and his twin brother of assaulting them at the twins’ annual birthday party filed a lawsuit against them and the nightclub hosting the party for a sum that will come significantly in excess of $15,000.
Attorney Jeffrey Ostrow also went on to say that the Pounceys would defend against the accusation in court if necessary and that they intended to file a counterclaim “for malicious prosecution and defamation”.
Asked if he believes that criminal charges will ultimately be filed, he said, “I think so”:
We’ve been in contact with the Miami Beach Police Department and the investigators on this particular case. My clients have been very cooperative with them. And more importantly, they have independent witnesses who are corroborating the allegations made by my clients. So when you have independent witnesses who are swearing under oath to certain allegations, I think it’s going to be tough for them not to make a charge in this particular case.
He was also asked whether or not it’s the norm for a suit such as this to be filed prior to the conclusion of a criminal investigation, which is a question that many have most likely been wondering, to which his response was, “absolutely”:
The criminal process and the civil process are two distinct processes. The burden in a criminal case is beyond a reasonable doubt, as you know. In a civil case, the burden is the preponderance of the evidence. So yes, it’s not inconsistent, it’s not out of the realm of standards for a lawsuit to be filed before criminal charges are brought.
He also said that there is “absolutely” video evidence of the incident, yet added that they do not have said evidence.
“There is surveillance. We don’t have it yet, but we will be requesting that information in ‘discovery’ [the information gathering process following the filing of a lawsuit]. That’s one of the first things that we’ll get our hands on”.
Porter lasted responded directly to the Pounceys’ attorney’s comments, describing them as “out of place”:
I think that it really shows a lack of professionalism. To even target two individuals like this—obviously, we’ve all seen the pictures. These people were beat up, bad. So I really think that shows a lack of taste. It’s not like there’s two individuals and something would’ve, could’ve, may have happened. These people had physical injuries. Their injuries were visible. And obviously something happened to these people. And you have witnesses saying that it was the Pouncey brothers who were responsible for inflicting these injuries.
Certainly, nobody is denying that “something happened to these people”. As their attorney states, they have physical injuries that are quite visible. But merely having injuries is not enough to sue somebody, so it will have to come down to the witness statements, and, most importantly, what’s on that nightclub tape.
