John O'Quinn, the prominent Houston trial lawyer who was killed in a traffic accident last year, was the subject of an accusation of jury tampering after his 1986 win against Monsanto. The FBI determined the accusation was false, according to records in O'Quinn's FBI file, which Texas Watchdog procured under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

The allegation sure got the attention of Monsanto, federal prosecutors and the FBI. A grand jury was convened in Houston, and FBI agents in Houston and Nashville, Tenn., tried to run the tip to ground.

See the whole FBI file here.

And unfortunately for those of us looking for the juicy details, the identities of everyone in the file have been blacked out, with the exception of O'Quinn's, due to privacy laws. FBI files on individuals generally become public through the FOIA law only after a person dies.

Colorful and controversial, O'Quinn was well known not only for his work as a trial attorney but also as a major Democratic donor. He featured prominantly in a report by Texans for Lawsuit Reform, titled Hiding Their Influence, detailing how Texas trial lawyers funnel money into political campaigns.

He was also a major benefactor of his alma mater, the University of Houston, which named the football field at Robertson Stadium for him; and a self-avowed car lover who assembled a world-class automobile collection that included the Batmobile used in the film Batman Forever.

O'Quinn and his assistant, Johnny Lee Cutliff, were killed in a wreck on Allen Parkway last October; police said the SUV in which they were travelling ran into a tree.

The information in O'Quinn's FBI file begins with the date of February 1987, when lawyers for Monsanto convened a meeting at the office of the federal prosecutor in Houston. Just a couple of months earlier, O'Quinn had won a $100 million verdict against Monsanto on behalf of the family of a former employee at its Chocolate Bayou plant in Alvin, Texas, who died of leukemia after being exposed to the chemical benzene. (The award would later be tossed out, and the case ended up being settled out of court.)

The lawyers told the feds that they'd heard about a private investigator who had given a sworn statement that he had paid a juror in the Monsanto case "to fix the verdict on behalf of attorney John O'Quinn," the file says. They had sought out the private investigator, who told them the previous day that he'd been "given a list of the jurors in the case with one of the names circled on that particular list ... He met with the unidentified juror whose name was circled on the list at a location in Houston and agreed to have $15,000 paid to this juror ... According to (the investigator), $10,000 was transferred to this juror by John O'Quinn's personal attorney."

It goes on:

Also according to [name redacted] admitted to them that he had also assisted [redacted] in paying off the jurors in four other trials, two of which O'Quinn was involved with. And two of which involved two other unidentified attorneys. [Redacted] stated that [redacted] is willing to cooperate but is concerned that he will be prosecuted and wants immunity prior to testifying.

The unnamed investigator also had given a sworn statement to a court reporter, who later told the FBI that she did indeed take down the statement, though she no longer had a copy of it because she routinely erased her computer disks after transcription.

The FBI also tracked down the attorney taking the sworn statement, whom it described as "a former associated of John O'Quinn ... who presently resides in [redacted] Tennessee," and documented that it had information that "[redacted] and [redacted] had a dispute, at one time, over some money owed to [redacted] by O'Quinn, and [redacted] may be attempted to get even. There is also some dispute now between [redacted] and O'Quinn."

The FBI also tracked down all the jurors and alternate jurors in the Monsanto case, and they all said they'd never been contacted by anyone from either side, the file says.

Finally came the unravelling:

"[Redacted] was interviewed and subsequently appeared before a Federal Grand Jury at Houston and denied that he contacted any of the jurors in the case. He also denied telling (Monsanto's) attorneys that he had been authorized to contact a juror by O'Quinn. He did state that he gave a statement to one of John O'Quinn's former law partners, [redacted], now of [redacted], Tennessee, wherein he stated to [redacted] that he had been authorized to contact and pay a juror in the case. [Redacted] stated that he lied in that particular statement to [redacted] and stated that he did this in hopes that it would help [redacted] collect some money supposedly owed to him by John O'Quinn."

The last notes in the files are dated March and April 1989, some two years later. An assistant U.S. attorney declined to prosecute the matter "in view of the fact that there is insufficient evidence to support a federal violation or prosecution ... Houston is placing this case in closed status."

Under federal law, you can ask to see your own FBI file, and you can request to see the FBI file of deceased individuals through the federal Freedom of Information Act -- though you may have to pay for copying and other associated costs. Do you know of a deceased Texan who might have an interesting FBI file that you'd like to see? Tell us. Send us your suggestions at jennifer@texaswatchdog.org.