Kohring provides details of lawsuits

PALMER — Vic Kohring had to hire a private investigator to track down and serve a lawsuit against the star witness in his public corruption trial.

That was actually Plan B, according to an email the former legislator penned Friday and sent to the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.

“It was my intention to have (former VECO CEO Bill) Allen served during the re-trial in Fairbanks where the judge mandated his attendance. But when the trial was canceled, it changed everything,” Kohring wrote.

Kohring reached the end of his criminal trial at the end of October. He was one of six state lawmakers and a handful of businessmen and lobbyists ensnared in a wide-ranging investigation of corruption in the state Legislature.

At trial, Kohring was convicted but his conviction was overturned when information emerged that prosecutors had withheld evidence in his case. In October, he pleaded guilty to extortion and received no prison time in addition to what he’d already served.

The lawsuit he served on Allen just before the former businessman was released from a halfway house following his own sentence for his role in the corruption was for defamation of character.

Essentially, Kohring argues Allen’s testimony against him irreparably damaged his reputation, destroyed his career and caused him emotional injury.

“Attorneys for both Allen and CH2M Hill have since responded to my suit, which they’re required to do within 20 days,” Kohring writes. “As expected, they strongly disagree with my claims and request for damages and intend to vigorously oppose me in the courts. Furthermore, both lawyers insist I drop my suit, otherwise they will take legal action against me (i.e. that I pay legal expenses for each defendant, etc.).”

The former lawmaker said he believes he has a case and that there is evidence in the material gathered for his criminal trial to prove it. Kohring said he believes Allen committed perjury to secure a conviction against the former longtime Valley lawmaker.

In his email, Kohring also addresses another pending lawsuit in state court, a personal injury suit against the attorney who represented him at trial, John Henry Browne. Browne was behind the wheel of a rental car with Kohring as a passenger on the way to court the day the two got into an accident.

Kohring said the lawsuit was simply his means of making sure Browne’s insurance company pays for his injuries.

“If I hadn’t filed it, I would have been prevented from continuing with the case and potentially settling with Mr. Browne’s insurance company, as I understood, leaving me with significant unpaid medical bills and an inability to have much-needed surgery and medical care,” Kohring wrote.

He said he broke the windshield with his head in the accident and has needed numerous surgeries since. There’s another surgery coming up.

“I’m also considering possibly having the surgery done at an overseas hospital, such as in Israel, where I’ve learned world-class surgeons exist and do surgeries for far less costs than here in the U.S.,” Kohring wrote.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.