The former client of a suspended Georgia Court of Appeals judge facing three dozen ethics charges took the stand Friday, telling a three-member panel he willingly loaned Christian Coomer hundreds of thousands of dollars because he trusted him and viewed him as a friend.
Jim Filhart, a retired truck driver and U.S. Army veteran living in Cartersville, also said he likely never would have filed a 2020 lawsuit against the judge had he known it would result in years of depositions, hearings and disciplinary proceedings against the former state lawmaker. Filhart testified for hours on Friday, pausing often to cough. The 80-year-old has been diagnosed with lung cancer.
“I signed a whole lot of paperwork and I don’t even know what I signed,” Filhart said.
He did so, he explained, after Coomer did such a good job winning a 2016 guardianship case giving Filhart power of attorney over his girlfriend who’d suffered a stroke that he earned Filhart’s trust. He then agreed to loan Coomer money on three occasions without closely reading the terms of those loan agreements, which were penned by Coomer.
One promissory note listed Filhart’s own home as security for the loan, something Filhart said he was unaware of. Another loan to Coomer worth $159,000 was to be paid off in 30 years when Filhart would have been 106.
“I signed it and I didn’t read it because I trusted him,” Filhart said, adding he was never pressured into doing anything.
Coomer is charged with 36 ethics violations, most of them allegedly committed when he was a practicing attorney in Bartow County and a state House representative. He has denied bilking his former client, telling the panel overseeing his quasi-trial that he paid off the nearly $370,000 in loans given to him by Filhart. He acknowledged under oath Monday that he would have waited much longer to pay it back had Filhart not gotten upset and sued him.
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
Chuck Boring, the director of the Judicial Qualifications Commission, said Coomer took advantage of his client, using the borrowed money to pay off the mortgage on his home. The judge also used campaign money to supplement his family’s vacations to Israel and Hawaii, and to prop up his private law practice, the judicial watchdog agency alleges.
In addition to taking out large loans with terms unfavorable to his client, Coomer named himself the executor, trustee and beneficiary of Filhart’s estate, the JQC argued. After being appointed to the Court of Appeals in late 2018, Coomer made his wife, Heidi, the trustee and executor of Filhart’s estate and gave her power of attorney.
Coomer has said he followed his client’s wishes every step of the way, but did admit violating the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct by drafting a will for Filhart in which he was a beneficiary.
“I drafted the will the way Jim Filhart wanted it drafted,” Coomer said Monday. “I didn’t have any objection to him changing whatever he wanted to change.”
On the stand Friday morning, Filhart described growing up poor in Michigan and working hard, living frugally and investing well to amass a nest egg. He agreed to give Coomer the loans because he figured that would generate more interest than a bank account, he said.
Filhart said he got upset in 2019 after receiving an $11,000 tax bill, the result of him liquidating a number of stocks the previous year to loan Coomer his money. After demanding that Coomer quickly repay him, Filhart got another attorney to file a lawsuit against the judge on his behalf.
He said Friday that he was angry over his high tax bill, but that he probably wouldn’t have taken any legal action had he known what would come of it. He also said he believes Coomer is a good person.
“If I’d have thought all this would happen I don’t think I would have said a word,” Filhart said on the stand. “He’s a good man, but he screwed up this time. I bet he never makes this mistake again for as long as he lives.”
After its conclusion, the three-judge panel will decide whether Coomer violated the code of judicial conduct and, if so, what punishment he should receive. The judges’ recommendation will then be submitted to the state Supreme Court, which has the final word.
Coomer was elected to the Legislature in 2010. He was House majority whip in 2018 when then-Gov. Nathan Deal appointed him to the Appeals Court.
After being formally charged in December 2020, Coomer voluntarily suspended himself, with pay, from the 15-judge appeals court until the JQC case against him is resolved. Appeals court judges are paid about $190,000 a year.
Last December, Coomer agreed to pay a $25,000 fine to settle accusations that he violated the state’s campaign laws. The state ethics commission had accused the judge of, among other things, illegally using contributions to prop up his private law practice and to pay for his family’s trips overseas.
“If I had to do it over again I’d have done it differently. That’s for sure,” Coomer said of the campaign finance violations. “I made some errors and I was willing to admit that.”
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
The judge’s ethics trial, being held in the ceremonial courtroom at the Cobb County courthouse, is expected to last at least two more days.
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