Lawyers representing “Kids for Cash” suit plaintiffs have asked the court to order disgraced former attorney Robert Powell to produce requested financial documents within 10 days, according to a filing this week.

The request is part of a back-and-forth initiated last month, when the plaintiffs alleged Powell has “stonewalled” the release of information requested to calculate his net worth.

A Hazleton area native, Powell estimated he has a negative net worth that would exempt him from paying a second settlement installment of up to $2.75 million to 1,800 parents and juveniles who sued him and others in 2009 in connection with a judicial corruption scandal that made international headlines, court records show. Powell already paid a first installment totaling $4.75 million last year.

Because the plaintiffs rejected Powell’s calculation, a determination will be made by independent expert Thomas Pratt, of Schneider Downs & Co. Inc. in Pittsburgh.

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Pittsburgh attorney Stephen S. Stallings, who represents Powell, has criticized the plaintiffs’ decision to seek court intervention, saying in a May 12 filing that Powell planned to submit documentation within two weeks.

In this week’s response, the plaintiffs said action is warranted because the Powell defendants — Powell, Powell Law Group PC and his company, Vision Holdings LLC — have repeatedly ignored court-imposed deadlines, orders and settlement agreement terms.

They pointed out the Powell defendants were forced by the court to pay a $4,000 penalty in 2013 for failing to turn over seven years of tax returns for Powell and Vision Holdings. Powell’s attorney at that time had argued Powell was not in possession of the requested documents because he had relocated two times personally and professionally since 2002.

“Nonetheless, the Powell defendants urge this court and plaintiffs’ counsel to accept the ‘word’ of a convicted felon that the requested documents will be produced at some point in the future,” this week’s plaintiff filing said.

Powell served an 18-month prison sentence for failing to report a $2.8 million kickback scheme involving former county judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella and two juvenile detention centers Powell had co-owned, court records show. The two former judges are still serving federal prison sentences.

Stallings has argued Powell is acting in good faith to comply. The settlement agreement did not establish a deadline for Powell to submit requested financial data to Pratt, and additional time was necessary because the plaintiffs suggested Pratt seek voluminous supplemental information from Powell, his filing said.

According to the plaintiffs’ response this week:

Several months have passed without a single document supplied by Powell because Pratt gave Stallings the two batches of information he was seeking on Feb. 17 and Feb. 24. Stallings had requested a consolidated list on March 15.

It is well established that courts can impose a deadline to produce information when there is no time limit in a settlement agreement, the plaintiffs’ attorneys said, citing examples of 12- and 14-day rulings to comply with subpoenas in other cases.

The plaintiffs also challenged Powell’s accusation that his net worth calculation was intentionally and wrongly released in their court filings.

The Powell defendants did not identify any agreement or court order requiring the information to remain confidential, label the calculation as confidential when it was furnished or raise objections when the proposed unredacted court filings were presented to Powell’s legal counsel, the plaintiffs said.

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By Jennifer Learn-Andes

jandes@timesleader.com

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.