Mike Lallier lawsuit unsealed
Fayetteville car dealer Mike Lallier, his father-in-law Gene Reed and their business, Reed-Lallier Chevrolet, agreed to pay three teen boys and several other people a total of $1.925 million in December 2016 to settle a lawsuit that accused Lallier of sexual misconduct with the boys.
This and other details from the lawsuit were made public Friday when the N.C. Court of Appeals denied a request by Lallier and his lawyers to keep the records sealed. The Fayetteville Observer and its parent company, GateHouse Media, have been fighting in court to get the records unsealed since summer 2017.
The records are now available at the Cumberland County Courthouse with redactions to protect the identities of the boys and their family members. Portions get into graphic detail in describing what Lallier allegedly did with one of the boys.
The documents unsealed Friday were:
• The original lawsuit that a 15-year-old boy filed against Lallier on Nov. 22, 2016. It alleged Lallier sexually molested him on Sept. 3, 2016, at a NASCAR race in South Carolina. Lallier was arrested, and the criminal charges in that matter are still pending more than three years later.
• An amended version of the lawsuit, filed on Dec. 14, 2016. This added the two other teen boys to the case and their allegations that Lallier committed sexual battery.
• A document filed on Dec. 14, 2016, that asks the judge in the case to approve the settlement, plus a copy of the terms of the settlement. Because the plaintiffs were minors, the terms of the settlement were subject to the judge’s approval.
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Lallier has been prominent in Fayetteville for years, not only as a businessman and for operating the Reed-Lallier dealership on Raeford Road, but for his civic engagement. He was active in local politics, a substantial donor to local, state and federal political campaigns, and he served on the Fayetteville Public Works Commission.
Lawyer Gerald Beaver of Fayetteville made this statement Saturday on behalf of Lallier:
“Every party in the lawsuit, including the parents and guardians of the minors, asked the presiding court to seal the allegations in this lawsuit as well as the terms of the settlement. The reason for this is to protect the minors and their family members from further damage as well as to protect Mr. Lallier’s right to a fair trial.
“The allegations in the lawsuit have never been litigated and remain unresolved.
“In the settlement agreement, there has been no admission of fault on the part of any party. As in any criminal case, under our constitution the primary defendant is to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.”
The three boys’ lawyer, Michael Porter of Fayetteville, said Saturday that he and his clients are satisfied with the decision to release the documents.
“The plaintiffs agreed for the matter to be sealed to protect the identities of the alleged victims of Mike Lallier, not to protect Mike Lallier’s identity or to shield his alleged conduct from public view,” Porter said.
The allegations
The litigation portrays Lallier, who is in his mid-60s, as having a history and pattern of sexual activity or attempted sexual activity with at least seven Reed-Lallier employees, men under the age of 25, over the years. The three teens who sued Lallier were never employees.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit allege “upon information and belief” that an unspecified number of the young employees were paid at least $25,000 “to resolve threatened or filed legal claims” alleging sexual misconduct by Lallier. It says one was paid at least $100,000 and another was paid at least $450,000.
The suit alleges the prior settlements required confidentiality to protect Lallier’s reputation. It says the dealership management and co-owner Gene Reed — Lallier’s father-in-law — were aware of incidents but took no action to prevent further misconduct.
The three boys who sued in November 2016 are listed as “John Doe 15,” “John Doe 16” and “John Doe 17.” The suit alleges sexual incidents between them and Lallier dating back at least as far as 2014.
John Doe 16’s claim says Lallier gave him alcohol and engaged in sexual misconduct with him in a Reed-Lallier owned recreational vehicle at a NASCAR race in Darlington, South Carolina, in 2014.
“Further, Mike Lallier plied Minor Plaintiff 16 with alcohol and engaged in inappropriate sexual conversations on corporate-sponsored trips and other grooming behaviors occurred on corporate-controlled premises and within Mike Lallier’s home,” the lawsuit alleges.
With John Doe 17, the suit says, Lallier gave the boy alcohol and engaged in inappropriate sexual conversations and grooming behaviors on corporate-sponsored trips and company-controlled property. The suit alleges Lallier committed sexual battery on John Doe 17, but doesn’t say where or when.
The most details are in John Doe 15’s allegations.
The incident was over Labor Day weekend 2016 in Darlington County, where the NASCAR Bojangles’ Southern 500 was held. Lallier attended in his role as an owner and manager of his car dealership, the suit says. An RV, owned by Reed-Lallier Chevrolet, was on the raceway infield.
The suit alleges Lallier had been at the raceway since Sept. 1 and it alleges “upon information and belief, had been having illicit sexual relations within the Dealership R.V. after abusing alcohol and consuming illegal drugs with at least two male Dealership employees and another male person, all of whom were under the age of 25.”
On the weekend of Sept. 3, John Doe 15 and his family were camping on the infield with plans to watch the race on Sept. 5. The boy knew Lallier from prior occasions and corporate Reed-Lallier events, the lawsuit alleges.
On Sept. 3, Laller met the boy and another person (whose name is redacted) in the infield and invited him to the RV for ice cream, the suit says. The boy declined the ice cream invitation.
That evening, according to the lawsuit, Lallier approached the boy again. “This time Mike Lallier quietly offered Minor Plaintiff alcohol if Minor Plaintiff would come spend time with him in the Dealership R.V,” the lawsuit says.
The suit alleges they went into the R.V., and Lallier gave John Doe 15 a 16-ounce cup of Crown Royal whiskey mixed with Coke. Lallier had gin and tonic, the suit says.
Five minutes later, the two drank shots of Fireball whiskey, the suit says.
The boy was not wearing a shirt because he had been outside, the lawsuit says, and Lallier wanted to put lotion on him. The boy said no at first, but then relented as the alcohol impaired his ability to defend himself, the suit says.
The suit describes Lallier as rubbing the lotion on the boy’s body “in a sensual manner.”
The boy was “frightened by Mike Lallier’s acts and because he realized he was alone in the Dealership R.V. with Mike Lallier, who was physically and mentally imposing and intimidating,” the suit says.
The suit describes Lallier as weighing more than 200 pounds and as over 6 feet tall.
The suit says Lallier began discussing sexual activities with the boy, gave him more to drink, showed the boy pornographic videos on a cellphone, removed the boy’s clothing and fondled the boy’s genitals.
The suit describes further activities, and that Lallier, saying he had lost bets with the boy during the activities, gave him $140.
The suit says that after the boy got dressed, Lallier told him, “Damn, I guess I lost $140. But if you come back and stay tonight, I’ll put $100 on the bed for you.”
It says as Lallier and the boy were leaving the RV, Lallier put a $100 bill on a bunk bed and told him the money was his if he could come back and spend the night.
It says Lallier told the boy to remember that “what happens at a race, stays at the race, don’t tell anyone what we did.”
The next day, the suit says, the boy woke up with a hangover and was “hoping the encounter with Mike Lallier had been a horrible nightmare, but he knew it had happened.”
The boy found $140 in his wallet, it says, and he smelled the lotion that Lallier had rubbed on him.
The boy told an adult what happened, the suit says, and then his mother. Law enforcement was summoned and Lallier was arrested and charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony. His bail was set at $10,000 and he has been free while he awaits trial.
Settlements
The boy sued Lallier, his father-in-law Reed, and the dealership two months later. By year’s end the case was settled.
According to the settlement documents, the payments were due by 5 p.m. on Dec. 28, 2016. In particular:
• John Doe 15’s payout was $900,000.
• John Doe 16 and John Doe 17 got $250,000 each.
• An adult was paid $250,000 and another adult was paid $150,000.
• The payout for a third adult was $125,000. But a provision allowed him to reduce that to $100,000 in exchange for new truck.
An adult listed in the paperwork was an employee of Reed-Lallier Chevrolet. The settlement required this employee to resign no later than the Dec. 28 deadline.
The settlement required everyone to keep everything secret. However, a provision allows the terms of the deal to be shared with the prosecutor handling Lallier’s criminal case in South Carolina. It says John Doe 15 will not object to whatever means by which the prosecutor chooses to resolve Lallier’s criminal case.
Secrecy
Lallier and his legal team have tried to keep the lawsuit secret. It was initially hidden from the public in November 2016 by Superior Court Judge William Pittman at the request of both sides. Even Lallier’s name and the names of the other defendants were concealed from the public, as well as Pittman’s. Pittman’s orders sealing the case were sealed, too.
The Observer learned of the lawsuit and in 2017 began petitioning the court to unseal the records. The N.C. Court of Appeals decided in December of last year the case should be made public. But it allowed for redactions of the names of the minors and their families. Further, the appeals court directed the trial court to decide whether some documents would remain sealed until the criminal case in South Carolina is resolved.
Much of the case was unsealed in August. Pittman said the whole case should be made public except for redactions to protect the boys’ identities. Lallier tried to get Pittman and later the Court of Appeals to hold back the complaint documents that outline the allegations against him and to hold back the terms of the settlement.
The Observer opposed those efforts. “Our court system must be open and transparent,” said Observer Executive Editor Lorry Williams.
The Court of Appeals rejected Lallier’s final effort on Friday.
“The Fayetteville Observer has fought hard to protect the public’s constitutional right to have court proceedings conducted in the open, ensuring that the public has confidence in our system of justice,” said lawyer Jon Buchan, who represented the Observer in its efforts to unseal the records. “This case demonstrates that this principle applies no matter who the parties are.”
Staff writer Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3512.
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