IBJNews

Marsh Supermarkets asking former CEO to pay $5.6M

Back to TopCommentsE-mailPrint

Marsh Supermarkets Inc. is asking Don Marsh to pay his former company a total of about $5.6 million, a figure which includes personal expenses it says he improperly charged to the company.

The company’s lawyer, David Herzog, itemized the expenses Marsh Supermarkets believes it is owed during closing arguments Friday in its federal civil trial against the former CEO. A lawyer for Don Marsh concluded his closing arguments after 3 p.m.

The jury is expected to begin deliberating following lengthy instructions from Judge Sarah Evans Barker. That timetable wasn't immediately clear Friday afternoon.

The company filed a civil lawsuit against Don Marsh in April 2009, claiming he used the company as a personal checkbook to finance global travels and trysts with mistresses. Flights on the company jet included several trips to New York City and Smyrna, Tenn., to visit two of the five mistresses that Don Marsh, 75, admitted to during the two-week trial.

Herzog told the jury it was up to them to determine how much Marsh owed the company but encouraged them to focus on “black-and-white” expenses. He acknowledged “gray” areas in the $927,000 the company said the Marsh family spent on Alaska trips, $77,000 for commercial flights and $161,000 for professional services.

That would leave about $1.8 million in expenses racked up without a legitimate business purpose, Herzog argued.

He also asked the jury to award the company $986,000 for its legal and accounting fees related to an IRS audit that focused on Don Marsh's expenses, and $616,000 for the IRS penalty the company had to pay.

Herzog noted that whether Marsh Supermarkets can claw back the $2.2 million it paid to Don Marsh on a separation agreement is up to Barker.

The jury also could levy punitive damages, which could be as high as three times the amount of any compensatory damages the company might be awarded.

Herzog shied away from the more salacious elements of the trial that included details of Marsh's extramarital affairs, focusing instead on the promises the former CEO made to the company and the ways he broke them.

Marsh Supermarkets and its new private-equity owners at Sun Capital Partners, he said, gave Don Marsh the benefit of the doubt until “there wasn’t any doubt what he had done.”

“Mr. Marsh can’t be honest with himself, because the truth is too hard for him to swallow,” Herzog said.

He ended his closing argument by recalling visits to a Marsh store as a child, his admiration for the company over the years for its involvement in the community and his feeling of sadness as he worked on the case.

The Marsh brand, he noted, has “lost some of its shine.”

“That’s all because of the choices Mr. Marsh made,” he finished.

Don Marsh’s lawyer, Andrew McNeil, countered in his closing arguments that Marsh reported his use of the company plane to Marsh Supermarkets’ tax director and to the IRS. The information also appeared in company financial statements it had to file as a public entity, McNeil said.

“The policy was followed, and the expenses were approved,” he said.

McNeil further argued that his client neither committed fraud nor breached his contract, as Marsh Supermarkets contends.

“It’s not even close,” McNeil said.

McNeil admitted that his client is neither perfect nor a saint, but “he gave everything he had to Marsh Supermarkets.”

The trial began Feb. 4 in federal court in Indianapolis.
 

ADVERTISEMENT

Post a comment to this story

COMMENTS POLICY
We reserve the right to remove any post that we feel is obscene, profane, vulgar, racist, sexually explicit, abusive, or hateful.
 
You are legally responsible for what you post and your anonymity is not guaranteed.
 
Posts that insult, defame, threaten, harass or abuse other readers or people mentioned in IBJ editorial content are also subject to removal. Please respect the privacy of individuals and refrain from posting personal information.
 
No solicitations, spamming or advertisements are allowed. Readers may post links to other informational websites that are relevant to the topic at hand, but please do not link to objectionable material.
 
We may remove messages that are unrelated to the topic, encourage illegal activity, use all capital letters or are unreadable.
 

Messages that are flagged by readers as objectionable will be reviewed and may or may not be removed. Please do not flag a post simply because you disagree with it.

Sponsored by
ADVERTISEMENT

facebook - twitter on Facebook & Twitter

Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ on Facebook:
Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ's Tweets on these topics:
 
Subscribe to IBJ
  1. The Fringe! Plus, the simple fact that there are so many local faves in such close proximity to each other.

  2. I remenber, watching the toll road, being built, through South Bend, when I was 10 years old. I believe, back then that it was estimated, that the toll road, would be paid for in 20 years and then it would be free. I am now 71, what happened? Since the power is in the people, by that, I mean that, we the people are in total control of everything. I, suggest that no one ever use the toll road again, let it go broke. We the people can control the price of everything, from groceries to gas, if we would just do it. If we don't pay the asking price, the sellers will lower the price and if we wait awhile, they will lower the price to what we accept as reasonable. I would like to know why a highway like interstate 94, is so well maintained, a much better highway, than the toll road, but has no tolls. I would also like to know why, a sitting governor, with a term limit, maximum of eight years, can lease, public property, for 75 years. Even though I have transponders in both of my trucks and will not be affected by the increase, I have been and will contine to avoid using the toll road. I make many trips from northern Indiana to Chicago, every year, and I prefer the better highway, I94!

  3. Coming from her background,she should be used to those kinds of advances! Menard probably figured it was ok to tuck a buck!

  4. I'm still waiting for the list of available, high quality apartments in the Village.

  5. This criminal masquerading as a lawyer obviously has serious issues. He’s been proven by his own testimony to be a pathological liar and probably has a personality disorder as he seems to be constructing a reality around himself. He places no value on truth, honesty or loyalty as evidenced by what he has done to his clients and his own family. And by the demands and lies he has made in court, it is evident he feels entitled to do and say whatever suits his purpose and everyone else is expected to nod obediently and believe him because he is, after all, Bill Super Lawyer; or BS lawyer for short. This millionaire wanna-be no longer owns anything of value; he squandered it and put everything he had into foreclosure. He has no money, house, car, boat or vacation home left to show for what he earned or what he stole. He’s just another loser without morals who will be doing time. I’m certain all of his courtroom shenanigans are antagonizing his poor victims. As Lamar said, his behavior and claims in court have been outrageous. The judge needs to be more than concerned; he needs to be judicial and end this nonsense.

ADVERTISEMENT