HAMMOND | Hammond songwriter Cheryl Janky has filed several lawsuits against the Lake County tourism bureau over a doo-wop song, but two recent judicial decisions might give Janky material more appropriate for a blues record.

On Monday, judges from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago reversed the judgment and $100,000 jury award Janky won in 2007 when she sued the Lake County Convention and Visitors Bureau for licensing the song "Wonders of Indiana" from another songwriter. Janky claimed she wrote the song alone. The panel of federal appeals judges ruled Monday that Janky wrote the song with Lakes of the Four Seasons songwriter Henry Farag, overturning the judgment and negating her award.

"This doo-wop ditty is a joint work," wrote 7th Circuit Judge Terence T. Evans.

One business day earlier, Hammond federal Judge Philip Simon dealt with another of Janky's lawsuits against the bureau when he issued an indignant rebuke and a $16,000 fine aimed at stopping Janky and her lawyers from continuing to file what Simon sees as abusive, haphazardly reasoned and "nearly indecipherable" legal claims against the tourism bureau.

"I have strong doubts as to whether they even bothered to proofread, let alone check, the foundations of their legal theories," Simon wrote.

Farag said Tuesday the decisions add up to a "vindication." Janky has misled people about the song's origins, Farag said. Farag, of the singing group Stormy Weather, said he was unsure if he would see any money from the 7th Circuit decision.

"For me, it's satisfactory enough that, shall I say it politely, the untruths that were told on the stand were revealed on the overturning of the award," Farag said.

Neither Janky nor her lawyers could be reached for comment Tuesday.

The six-year stream of claims and appeals stems from Janky's original lawsuit accusing the tourism bureau, now called the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority, and CEO Speros Batistatos of ripping off the song for promotions.

The 7th Circuit judges called the case "over-litigated" in their opinion that overturned Magistrate Judge Paul Cherry's 2006 summary judgment in favor of Janky and the $100,000 a jury awarded in March 2007.

Simon's decision Friday was related to a federal lawsuit that followed Janky's $100,000 victory. The second suit claimed the bureau and its lawyers used unreasonable defenses in the first suit. Simon found this second suit to be based on a "flimsy" legal claim.

Simon's excoriating 21-page opinion and order fines Janky $1,000, while her Detroit-based attorneys, Gregory Reed and Stephanie L. Hammonds, absorb fines of $10,000 and $5,000, respectively.

Aiming to pre-empt the thickening of the legal "morass," Simon also ruled that if Hammonds and Reed file another federal civil suit against the bureau, they will have to post $5,000 to cover the "high probability of further sanctions." Simon noted many other cases that have led judges to fine the two lawyers. Simon wrote the lawyers seem to be "flaunting their inappropriate conduct."

Simon also chastised the lawyers for their "numerous typographical mistakes, run-on sentences, spelling errors and pervasive inability to put down on paper a cogent, comprehensible English sentence." He wrote that in one legal filing, the lawyers appeared to accidentally mention satellite television provider DirecTV. Simon wrote he suspects this was caused by an errant cut-and-paste.

Batistatos noted one more Janky-bureau case is still pending in Lake County court. He said the federal decisions bolster the bureau's position on cases involving "Wonders of Indiana."

"I'm anxious that we can revolve the last one and put it behind us," Batistatos said.

The bureau stopped using the song shortly after the first suit was filed, Batistatos said.

Details

1999 - The Lake County Convention and Visitors Bureau starts using the song "Wonders of Indiana," performed by the local group Stormy Weather.

October 2003 - Hammond songwriter Cheryl Janky sues the bureau in federal court, claiming the bureau licensed the song from another person when she alone wrote the song.

March 2007 - Janky draws a $100,000 jury award following a judgment in her favor.

Friday - Hammond federal Judge Philip Simon fines Janky and her lawyers $16,000 for alleged shortcomings in their legal work on a second federal lawsuit linked to the first suit.

Monday - The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago overturns the 2007 judgment and award.