Tim Steller's column: LD 17 candidate has long record of litigation

When state Senate candidate Justine Wadsack and her husband Garret were sued by their former attorney over unpaid bills, they lashed back in a countersuit.

“John Munger refused to file multiple incremental Notice of Claims between 2017-2019 that would have allowed us to pursue (4) separate lawsuits that would have resulted in monetary awards of multi-million dollars,” they argued.

Going further, they accused Munger of failing to disclose a conflict of interest in the Wadsacks’ earlier suit against the Arizona Department of Economic Security, which Munger’s firm handled.

“Mr. Munger ran for the seat of Governor in 2009, leading to a political relationship with the current Governor, Doug Ducey, who is at the top of the organizational chart at the ‘man in charge’ of DES, DDD and DCS State agencies, also known as the ‘defendants’ in the Wadsack’s case.”

It was typical of Wadsack’s frequent appearances in civil litigation — she and her husband fight back hard acting as their own attorneys, sometimes using far-fetched legal arguments, before settling or otherwise ending the case. (Ducey, for what it’s worth, was running for Arizona treasurer in 2010 while Munger was running unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination for governor.)

Wadsack, a Republican, has been a party — either a plaintiff or defendant — in 10 different legal actions over the last nine years, Pima County court records show.

That’s much more than any other candidate in the district where she’s running, Legislative District 17. Three of Wadsack’s cases were related to the 2022 campaign — two signature challenges and a challenge to her residency, leaving seven that were not about election processes.

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Her opponent, Democrat Mike Nickerson, has no significant legal trail in Arizona records, and neither do the four Republicans and Democrats running for state House in the same district.

The suit against Munger’s law firm ended in a settlement — with the Wadsacks promising to pay $35,000 to the firm in $250 monthly increments.

On lawsuits: ‘Quantity is not relevant’

I texted with Justine Wadsack about the number of lawsuits she’s been involved in. She responded by making reference to the software, called Agave, used in Pima County Superior Court to search court records.

“To look at Agave is not a fair understanding of my life,” she said. “Quantity is not relevant. Substance is never acknowledged.”

The suits Wadsack has been a party to run the gamut:

In 2013, a financing company sued her over $11,847 in alleged debt, but a Pima County Superior Court judge threw out the case over lack of evidence.

In 2015, Wadsack, who is a Realtor, sued Town West Realty, alleging that she fell down stairs that were in disrepair and broke her laptop. She asked for $1,500. The parties quickly came to an agreement and the case was dismissed.

In 2017, Donald Northrup, a founder of The Independent Distillery sued the Wadsacks and others over conflicts in the operation and ownership of the downtown business. The Wadsacks were investors in the business and countersued in the case, which was ultimately settled.

In 2018, the Wadsacks sued the Arizona Department of Economic Security over restrictions the Division of Developmental Disabilities had put on the family’s use of equipment for Garret Wadsack’s daughter (Justine’s stepdaughter) who is severely disabled. Munger’s firm handled this case, which the parties settled.

In 2019, Munger Chadwick sued the Wadsacks over what they said was $89,000 in unpaid legal bills, and the Wadsacks countersued, ultimately settling for the $35,000 in payments.

In January 2021, real estate broker Aaron Parkey named the Wadsacks along with Kelly Walker, Viva Coffee and others, accusing them of being involved in taking down the Facebook pages of people who criticized Walker over his stance against mask requirements. The Wadsacks denied responsibility and countersued, calling the Parkey suit “frivolous.”

In November, 2021, Justine Wadsack got an injunction against harassment against Chris King, a Vail school board member and Republican Party activist. King contested it in December in Pima County Superior Court and it was overturned.

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This year, Wadsack sued twice to challenge the signatures of opponents in her primary race, a common tactic in campaigns, and she was sued by a loser of the primary, outgoing Sen. Vince Leach, over her residency in the district. She prevailed in that case.

Raucous school board meeting

The incident that prompted Wadsack’s injunction request occurred at a meeting of the Pima County Republican Club on Nov. 9, 2021. It was a raucous meeting that even included blows thrown.

In her petition for the injunction against King, the Vail school board member, Wadsack traced hostilities with him back to April 27, 2021, when she was among a group of people who forced their way into a school board meeting in a protest over mask mandates.

“During the school board meeting, the parents were locked out,” Wadsack said in the petition. “The school board resigned and the parents were elected to the quorum. The board hid in a closet.”

This was not really the case — the protesters claimed to elect a replacement board that night, but what really happened was the board postponed that meeting and resumed another day.

Wadsack alleged that in the petition that, after an exchange of words, King “started SCREAMING at me, LUNGED at me, and had I not moved my head and chest back, would have touched me.”

The room was full of witnesses. Wadsack called one of them, Anastasia Tsatsakis — now a candidate for Vail school board — and testified herself. King’s attorney didn’t call any witnesses and argued for the judge to dismiss the injunction outright based on the evidence provided.

The judge, Superior Court Judge Deborah Pratte, agreed and dismissed it.

‘People can’t fight crazy’

As Wadsack noted, people can’t necessarily control whether they are sued. It happens sometimes even when it’s not deserved.

In the counterclaim against Parkey, she called his lawsuit “vexatious and frivolous” and alleged he has unfairly tied her to acts by Walker, who, coincidentally, was convicted of four misdemeanors Thursday in Tucson City Court.

“By calling the parties ‘Conspiracy Defendants’ it is no different than referring to someone with racists name-calling,” the Wadsacks wrote in their counterclaim, citing the language in Parkey’s lawsuit. “Parkey’s intention is to ‘Cancel Culture’ J.Wadsack and G.Wadsack.”

But Wadsack has also used the courts aggressively on her behalf.

She told me via text message, “The AZ Bar needs to go away. The people can’t fight crazy, and citizens rights are abused every day. Lawyers are unattainable, and the courts are corrupted.”

This isn’t the first time she has used the phrase “fight crazy” to describe her approach to lawsuits. Commenting on her own Facebook post Jan. 30, Wadsack said she wasn’t planning on hiring a lawyer to fight the lawsuit by Parkey.

“I am not interested in a $10-$15,000 retainer so I can fight crazy.”

She texted me Thursday: “I’m trying to prove points by creating case law that will hopefully be used to write new laws.”

If she beats Nickerson, she’ll have a chance to write those laws.