Casey Anthony lawsuits: Fate unclear after bankruptcy hearing
Gonzalez and Kronk are creditors in Anthony's bankruptcyBy Jeff Weiner, Orlando Sentinel
3:23 p.m. EDT, May 8, 2013
What does Casey Anthony's bankruptcy mean for the two defamation lawsuits pending against her? The answer was no less murky after a hearing Wednesday in Tampa.
The suits, brought by Zenaida Gonzalez and Roy Kronk, were halted in their tracks by Anthony's January Chapter 7 filing -- which she hopes will ultimately end them for good.
Gonzalez and Kronk are both listed as creditors in Anthony's bankruptcy, but because the suits haven't been resolved, it's unclear what, if anything, she owes them.
The parties don't agree on how to settle that question: Anthony's lawyers want a judge in federal court to rule on the suits. Gonzalez and Kronk want jury trials in state court.
Attorneys for Gonzalez and Kronk were in court Wednesday to ask U.S. Bankruptcy Judge K. Rodney May to extend the deadline for them to object to Anthony's bankruptcy until after the suits are settled at the state level.
But May said such a delay is premature: "I haven't determined that [the suits] should be heard in state court."
The judge set a hearing for May 30 to argue both issues.
Anthony has been in hiding since her trial in the 2008 death of her daughter, Caylee. Anthony was charged with murder, but only convicted of four misdemeanors, two of which were reversed on appeal.
She did not attend Wednesday's hearing.
Gonzalez sued after Anthony said a similarly named nanny had kidnapped Caylee. The nanny didn't exist, but Gonzalez was linked to the case in the media — upending her life, she says.
Kronk, the meter-reader who found Caylee's body in woods near the Anthony home, says Anthony's attorneys wrongly implicated him in the girl's death.
Anthony's legal team argues both lawsuits are frivolous.
....more at linkhttp://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/loc ... 3277.story