Duke lacrosse cabbie files suit

Durham Herald-Sun ^ | July 16, 2008 | John Stevenson

[abb]

DURHAM -- After figuring in the Duke lacrosse case and becoming Reader's Digest magazine's Hero of the Year, former Durham cabbie Moezeldin Elmostafa has launched what his lawyer described Tuesday as a priceless and perhaps unprecedented court claim.

It involves his U.S. citizenship, which Elmostafa contends was delayed for two years by an old and bogus criminal charge that resurfaced in 2006 while the lacrosse debacle was in full swing.

"Citizenship is absolutely priceless," said Elmostafa's lawyer, Tom Loflin of Durham.

Still, Loflin wants several defendants to come up with a figure.

"If they don't agree to my number, we'll let a jury decide what it's worth," Loflin vowed. "We'll ask jurors what their citizenship is worth to them. The jury can put a number on it."

Elmostafa received judicial permission this week to add the unusual citizenship clause to an already existing lawsuit.

Loflin and Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Orlando F. Hudson said Tuesday they were unaware of any previous court claims of the kind.

A Sudanese immigrant, Elmostafa finally gained his U.S. citizenship in April of this year.

Now, he wants reimbursement from those who allegedly delayed the process by once bringing a misdemeanor criminal charge against him. They include a former Hecht's security guard named Jonathan Massey, Hecht's Company Inc. and Macy's Retail Holdings Inc., which has taken over the Hecht's operation.

Raleigh lawyer Dan Hartzog, representing the defendants, said Tuesday he could not comment on the allegation of delayed citizenship.

A warrant had accused Elmostafa of helping a woman steal $250 worth of handbags from the former Hecht's store at Northgate Mall in 2003.

The then-cabbie was acquitted in August 2006 after testifying that he merely gave the woman a ride and didn't know what she was up to.

By then, the handbag incident had been linked to the Duke lacrosse case, in which three student athletes were charged with sexually assaulting an exotic dancer during an off-campus party in March 2006.

Elmostafa became an alibi witness for one of the athletes, Reade Seligmann, since he drove Seligmann to a bank machine, fast-food restaurant and campus dorm while the alleged sexual attack supposedly was in progress.

The way Elmostafa saw it, the 2003 criminal warrant against him was resurrected three years later in retaliation for his anti-prosecution stance in the lacrosse proceedings.

In the end, Seligmann and two Duke codefendants were declared innocent by the state attorney general, and former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong lost his job and his law license over the affair.

Meanwhile, Elmostafa recently gave up his cab business and now operates limousines to and from Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

Reader's Digest named him its 2008 Hero of the Year in March.

[gubamyster]

ping

[JLS]

Yep, all I can say is good for him. When the store saw a DA clearly breaking the law, they should have told their employee to stay out of it. Heck just when they saw how political this was they should have stood down.

[Razz Barry]

Still, Loflin wants several defendants to come up with a figure.

"If they don't agree to my number, we'll let a jury decide what it's worth," Loflin vowed. "We'll ask jurors what their citizenship is worth to them. The jury can put a number on it."

If a jury does "set it's worth", I wonder how it might effect the citizenship for military service program. Shouldn't American citizens serving receive that amount over what those serving to gain citizenship receive? I'd think so.