Judge delays suit against former Illinois lawyer

BELLEVILLE, Ill. -- A civil lawsuit against a former prominent Madison County attorney is on hold while federal charges that he gave drugs to young women and transported a boy across state lines for sexual purposes are pending.

St. Clair County Associate Judge James Radcliffe ruled that civil proceedings against Lowell Thomas "Tom" Lakin should be delayed until the federal case is resolved. A trial date on the federal charges is set for January.

Lakin, formerly of East Alton but now of Malibu, Calif., has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges. A judge has ordered him to remain under electronic monitoring.

In the civil case, a former law firm secretary claims Lakin sexually abused her two sons when they were minors.

Attorneys for Lakin and the woman say the delay is necessary because the two cases are related and, as a criminal defendant, Lakin could invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and not testify in the civil case.

"The discovery I intend to take from Mr. Lakin would go into those acts contained in the federal indictment," said Tom Keefe, who filed the civil suit on behalf of the woman and other plaintiffs. "I want to ask him, point blank, 'What happened?"'

Lakin attorney Clyde Kuehn requested the delay, which Radcliffe granted Tuesday.

"The defendant's fundamental constitutional right against self-incrimination outweighs the value of resolving the present civil action," Kuehn argued in his motion to delay the case.

Lakin -- the namesake of one of the St. Louis area's most prominent personal injury law firms -- was charged in April in a seven-count federal indictment.

The indictment accuses Lakin of cocaine dealing and consumption, distributing cocaine to two young women and transporting a minor boy across state lines with the intent to engage in sexual activity.