Tracy Morgan Ordered To Hand Over Documents In Walmart Settlement

Tracy Morgan must hand over six years of tax returns and other highly personal information in an ongoing dispute over his megabucks crash settlement with Walmart.

A federal magistrate judge in New Jersey gave the comedian 20 days to cough up the documents sought by Walmart insurers in a ruling last week.

In the underlying dispute, Ohio Casualty Insurance Company and Liberty Insurance Underwriters are fighting their obligation to the “exorbitant” cash windfalls promised to Morgan and fellow comedian Ardie Fuqua by the retail behemoth.

Morgan and Fuqua both received confidential settlements from Walmart after the deadly July 7, 2014, crash on the New JerseyTurnpike that killed their friend James McNair.

The crash was caused by a sleep-deprived Walmart truck driver who plowed into their limo van as they traveled back from a show in Delaware.

Morgan, 48, suffered a serious brain injury.

In March 2015, Walmart agreed to pay $10 million to settle claims brought by McNair’s children over the horrific pileup.

The company didn’t disclose the size of its final pacts with Morgan and Fuqua when the deals were announced a couple months later.

The insurers revealed in follow-up filings that 90% of the money paid in crash-related settlements went to Morgan and Fuqua claims.

That suggests the two received at least $90 million together.

The insurance companies now argue Walmart acted too soon and opened its purse strings too wide.

They’re trying to prove Morgan’s potential future earnings weren’t as compromised as first believed.

The insurers revealed in follow-up filings that 90% of the money paid in crash-related settlements went to Morgan and Fuqua claims.

That suggests the two received at least $90 million together.

The insurance companies now argue Walmart acted too soon and opened its purse strings too wide.

They’re trying to prove Morgan’s potential future earnings weren’t as compromised as first believed.

In a November court filing, a lawyer for the insurance companies said Morgan should be forced to hand over his tax returns from 2009 through 2014 and documents related to certain activities after the crash.

The insurers want anything related to Morgan “appearing on national television shortly after the settlement, driving a Lamborghini in midtown Manhattan shortly after the settlement, (walking) around midtown New York shortly after the settlement and his appearing at the Emmy Awards to make a presentation.”

The judge on the case ordered Morgan and Fuqua to comply with the subpoena and produce the documents after failing to pose adequate objections, the order issued Thursday said.

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