Casey Anthony Sued for $100,000 By EquuSearch for Her 'Lies'
Casey Anthony lawsuits are starting to pile up.
July 13, 2011 -- A volunteer search group is suing Casey Anthony for more than $100,000 claiming she insisted her daughter Caylee was alive and pleaded with them to find her, although Casey Anthony now claims that she knew her daughter was already dead.
The civil lawsuit filed by Texas EquuSearch states that the company invested over two years, 4,200 personnel, hundreds of thousands of hours and $112,000 of their donor-funded resources in massive search and rescue efforts for 2-year old Caylee.
Even worse, the group's lawsuit states, the search for Caylee used up so much of its resources they were unable to help others who came to them seeking help in finding missing family members.
"During the time TES was searching for Caylee, TES received more than 15 requests for other families for missing loved ones, and was unable to offer assistance to any of these families as TES was fully devoted to the search for Caylee," the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit states that Casey Anthony's mother, Cindy Anthony, called EquuSearch founder Tim Miller in late August 2008 and "implored" him to assist in the search for her granddaughter. Miller traveled to Orlando, Fla., where Cindy and George Anthony told him, in Casey's presence, that Caylee was still alive.
"Casey Anthony likewise told Mr. Miller that Caylee was alive, and asked him to please bring her back," the lawsuit says.
Casey Anthony Lawsuits Are Piling Up
EquuSearch said it launched the second most costly search in the organization's 11-year history, eating away 40 percent of its annual budget to finance motel rooms, rent vehicles and related expenses for the volunteers from 13 states who aided in the search.
The company points to the opening statements of the trail, in which Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez, who had been present at meetings with the Anthony family, stated, "[s]he was never missing. Caylee Anthony died June 16, 2008, when she drowned in her family's swimming pool."
The company claims it was "damaged" by "Casey Anthony's lies, omissions and deception," and wants to be reimbursed.
Casey Anthony, who was acquitted of murder charges last week and is scheduled to walk free on Sunday, can also expect a bill from the state of Florida for its expenses in the search for Caylee, officials have said.
In addition, she is being sued by a woman named Zenaida Gonzalez. Anthony claimed for three years that her daughter was stolen by a fictional nanny named Zenaida Gonzalez-Fernandez, and that caused the real Zenaida Gonzalez distress.
Lawyers for Gonzalez filed paperwork today asking a judge to compel Anthony to submit to questioning before leaving jail because they fear that once Anthony leaves jail she will "disguise herself, change her name, etc., making it impossible to depose her."
Casey Anthony will face hostility when she does leave jail. The foreman of her jury said he and other jurors were "disgusted" by her partying while Caylee was missing.
Neverthless, the jury could not use her behavior as evidence to convict her murder, he said in a televised interview.
"Much of the time we were in that trial, much of it dealt with her actions afterwards," the foreman, juror No. 11, said on Fox News' "On the Record with Greta van Susteren" in interview excerpts aired Tuesday. "That's something that, although it is disgusting, it is heinous, we weren't really able to take into consideration with the coming down with the verdict with the indictments."
The jury foreman, who was photographed from behind and asked that his name not be used, called Casey Anthony's behavior "heinous."
"That's what made it very hard for us" to not find Casey Anthony guilty of murder, he said. "We wish there was something else we could look at that would be a felony."
During the 31 days Caylee's disappearance went unreported, her mother virtually moved in with her boyfriend, Tony Lazzaro. She partied with him in clubs around Orlando, Fla., competed in a "hot body" contest, and got a tattoo on her shoulder that said "Bella Vita," or the beautiful life.
Casey Anthony Thought Her Behavior Was 'Disgusting'
Witnesses who partied with Anthony during that time said she was cheerful and showed no sign of concern except when her mother would telephone.
They eventually found Casey Anthony not guilty of murdering Caylee, but guilty of lying to police four times during their investigation.
SEE PHOTOS: Casey Anthony: From Arrest to Acquittal
An early vote on the murder charge inside the jury room was 10-2 to find Casey Anthony not guilty, he said.
Eventually, the two dissenters came around, he added, as jurors considered what they felt were holes in the prosecution's evidence and the wording of the murder indictment.
"When the prosecution rested ... I was stunned," he said. "I thought there would be more. I really did. And I was waiting for more. ... A lot of us felt that way, that there was not enough evidence to fill in the gray area that we needed to be filled in."
"We don't know the cause of death," he said in a portion of the interview aired Monday. "Everything was speculation."