Accused of Bombing Ex-Partners' Home, Kirkwood Lawyer Fights Back

A Kirkwood lawyer is firing back at an ex-partner who accused him of being connected to the bombing of her St. Louis home.

Mark R. Bates, of Kirkwood, filed a petition for damages against Beth C. Boggs and Boss, Avellino, Lach and Boggs in St. Louis County Court Oct. 25. He is suing for tortious interference with business expectations and defamation.

The lawsuit follows Beth and Darin Boggs filing a petition for damages against Bates on Sept. 17, 2012, that includes surveillance video of Bates buying possible bomb materials days before two pipe bombs were set off at the Boggs' South St. Louis Home in October of 2010. .

In Bates' civil suit against Boggs, Bates claims that in 2010 while working at the law firm Boss, Avellino, Lach and Boggs, Boggs told members of Rynearson, Suess, Schnurbusch and Champion (RSS&C) that he was connected to the 2010 bombing of her home and that she was going to place Bates on a suspect list she was submitting to law enforcement.

Bates was working for RSS&C at the time after leaving Boggs, Boggs and Bates (BB&B) in 2008. Bates, along with Boggs' husband Darin founded BB&B.

Bates says that statements made to members of RSS&C, in addition to a client transferred from BB&B to RSS&C, caused him to suffer financially.

Due to Boggs' alleged statements made to RSS&C, Bates was terminated from his position with RSS&C on Sept. 1, 2012, according to the suit.

Since then, he has not received him monthly salary of $10,000 or ability to participate in profit sharing with the firm, the suit says. Bates is asking for a jury trial to determine a judgment of more than $25,000.

Bates also claims in the civil suit that Boggs made defamatory statements about him to a client, colleagues and members of the Missouri and Illinois Bar to damage his reputation professionally and personally.

According to the suit, the statements included that Boggs was responsible for the murder of Ernest Brasier who was found dead from a gunshot wound in 2006 while working at BB&B. The case remains unsolved.

A call to Bates Thursday for comment went unreturned. Bates is representing himself in the civil suit.

Related Content:

• Kirkwood Lawyer Accused of Bombing Ex-Partners' Home
• Kirkwood Lawyer to Face Civil Trial Over Pipe Bombs at Ex-Partners' Home