Stanislaus County Pays $22.5 Million to Wrongfully Prosecuted Defense Attorney and Co-Plaintiffs
Stanislaus County agreed to pay $22.5 million to settle a federal civil rights suit brought by criminal defense attorney Frank Carson's estate and seven co-plaintiffs who were acquitted after a years-long murder conspiracy prosecution. The firm served as co-lead trial counsel, representing four of the eight plaintiffs and negotiating roughly $12 million of the total; Morrison & Foerster represented the other four.
What happened
In 2012, Korey Kauffman, a 26-year-old Turlock resident, went missing. His remains were found in Stanislaus National Forest more than a year later. Stanislaus County prosecutors concluded that Frank Carson, a prominent Modesto criminal defense attorney, had orchestrated Kauffman's killing because Kauffman had repeatedly stolen from Carson's property. Prosecutors arrested Carson and seven others on murder-conspiracy charges.
Carson had previously run against the Stanislaus County District Attorney and won multiple high-profile cases against that office. His attorneys argued the prosecution was retaliation. Among the named defendants in the malicious prosecution suit were then-District Attorney Birgit Fladager and two of her prosecutors. Investigators were accused of withholding evidence and focusing on Carson while ignoring other suspects.
The criminal case consumed years. A preliminary hearing alone lasted 18 months. The jury trial ran another 17 months before concluding in 2019 with acquittals for Carson and his co-defendants. Charges against two other plaintiffs, Georgia DeFilippo and her daughter Christina DeFilippo, had been dismissed earlier during preliminary proceedings. Carson had been released from jail in 2016 after prosecutors failed to disclose evidence to the defense, but he continued practicing law throughout the ordeal under indictment.
Carson died in August 2020 at age 66. His widow attributed his death partly to the health toll of his confinement and the prolonged prosecution, telling reporters his blood pressure surged and his kidneys failed under the stress.
J. Gary Gwilliam and Jayme L. Walker of Gwilliam Ivary Chiosso Cavalli & Brewer in Oakland were appointed co-lead counsel in the subsequent federal civil rights suit. They represented four of the eight plaintiffs: Carson's estate, his wife Georgia DeFilippo, his stepdaughter Christina DeFilippo, and former CHP officer Eduardo Quintanar Jr. The firm Morrison & Foerster represented the other four plaintiffs. The case was set for a jury trial before U.S. District Judge Daniel J. Calabretta when the settlement was reached. On April 15, 2025, the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors approved the $22.5 million settlement in a closed session; the county announced it publicly on April 18. The county said it agreed to resolve the case to avoid further litigation and eliminate trial risk.
The settlement distributed funds across all eight plaintiffs. Of the total, the roughly $12 million negotiated by the Gwilliam firm went to its four clients: Carson's estate received $4 million; Georgia DeFilippo received $4 million; Christina DeFilippo received $2.5 million; and CHP officer Eduardo Quintanar Jr. received $1.5 million. The remaining plaintiffs, represented by Morrison & Foerster, recovered the balance: CHP officers Walter Wells and Scott McFarlane received $3.5 million and $1.85 million respectively, and brothers Baljit Athwal and Daljit Atwal each received $1.85 million.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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