Civil case seeks $26.5 million, accuses Courtney's employer of negligence in hiring, supervision

A $26.5 million lawsuit filed in 2006 by the family of Brooke Wilberger against the company that employed the man accused of kidnapping and murdering her has been slowed because the company had filed for bankruptcy.

The civil lawsuit claims that Creative Building Maintenance, where Courtney was employed when Wilberger disappeared, was liable for her death because it either hired Joel Courtney - a known sex offender - or did not conduct a criminal history check that would have disclosed his criminal past.

The lawsuit also alleges that the company failed to properly supervise Courtney, who was driving a dark green Dodge Caravan owned by the maintenance company the day Wilberger disappeared.

However, the Wilbergers' civil case is likely on hold until the conclusion of Joel Courtney's criminal trial in Benton County Circuit Court, a legal expert said.

Courtney, 41, is charged with aggravated murder, kidnapping, rape, sodomy and sexual abuse in connection with Wilberger's disappearance May 24, 2004, from outside a Corvallis apartment complex. District Attorney John Haroldson is seeking the death penalty in the case.

On May 16, 2006, Greg Wilberger, Brooke's father, filed a civil lawsuit in federal court against Creative Building Maintenance, a Canadian corporation with a U.S. subsidiary. Courtney worked there as an operations supervisor, providing cleaning and maintenance services, according to federal court documents.

CBM filed for bankruptcy after losing some of its major accounts 11 days before the lawsuit was filed. Bankruptcy documents do not state that a pending lawsuit was the reason the company was going out of business.

"It is highly unusual for a tort case to precede the criminal case," said Ronald Lansing, a tort law professor at the Lewis & Clark College Law School in Portland. "There is an urgency that happens more often in a criminal case."

Although a civil case could precede a criminal case, Lansing said, the time and effort involved in a civil issue could detract from the criminal issue.

CBM's Canadian and U.S. corporate officers resigned their positions on May 19, 2006, the same day the company received official notice of the lawsuit. It is unknown if the resignations came before or after the court summons was served, or if they knew about the lawsuit. Both company presidents are listed in court documents by last name only. The summons was not signed by either president and was officially received by a company clerk.

A representative from CBM's Canadian law firm, Doyle Salewski Inc. of Ottawa, did not return phone calls from the Gazette-Times on Thursday seeking information on when Courtney was hired.

Courtney's official criminal history dates back to at least 1985, when he was convicted of sexual abuse and required to register as a sex offender.

When the lawsuit was filed in the fall of 2006, it was widely reported that the Wilbergers sought more than $75,000. But that amount was merely the minimum required to establish the jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court in Eugene. On Dec. 18, 2006, the Wilbergers' Portland attorney, Gerald Doblie, filed an affidavit with the court that outlined the amount of damages sought. The total came to $26.5 million.

"We're not going to get there," Doblie said of the dollar amount sought. "We're limited to the amount covered by the (insurance) carrier."

CBM'S corporate assets are still being divided, and the lawsuit was put on hold as part of the bankruptcy process.

Doblie then separated the lawsuit from the bankruptcy issue by seeking only the maximum amount of insurance coverage the company had at the time.

To date, Doblie said, he still doesn't know how many insurance companies were carriers for CBM in 2004 - although one, Liberty International Underwriters - insured CBM for $1 million, according to court documents.

"There are a lot of things we haven't found out about the workings of the company," Doblie said. "They say they have got (the company files) in about 1,000 banker boxes in Canada."