Group Sues Lawyer for Malpractice Over Failed Radio Station Application

NEW ORLEANS —  A New Orleans group that tried unsuccessfully to open a radio station has filed a malpractice suit against Thomas Root, the Washington lawyer involved in a bizarre air odyssey that ended with his crash in the Bahamas earlier this month.

The suit filed Thursday in state District Court in New Orleans accuses Root of legal malpractice when representing a group seeking a Federal Communications Commission license for a radio station in nearby Belle Chasse earlier this year.

The suit said Root lied about certain things and failed to attend to details in the licensing procedures. Root also told other groups vying for the license that his group planned to drop their application, the suit said.

The effort to get the license failed and the group, called the Belle Chasse Radio Limited Partnership, is asking for $125,000 in damages.

Root had told the station’s investors that they would get a $125,000 settlement for pulling out their application and then he allowed their application to be dismissed, the suit alleged.