The lawsuit was filed by the family over the construction of the building that houses the popular local restaurant Mel and Faye’s Diner. The Gillman’s hired White to build the new building in 2003 after agreeing upon a fixed contract price. After construction was completed several mechanics liens were filed against the building by subcontractors on the construction project stating they had not been paid by White. The Gillman’s claimed they had already overpaid White for the services and materials of the subcontractors. In fact, it was discovered that in some cases the family had paid the subs twice. White filed for bankruptcy shortly later and the Gillman’s sued in bankruptcy court to stop the bankruptcy procedures, and then after successfully stopping the bankruptcy, the family filed the case in the Amador County Superior Court.

White then re-filed for bankruptcy, excluding the Gillman family partnership from the discharge amounts. According to the Gillman’s attorney Randy Thomas “Mr. White was dealing unfairly and fraudulently with the Gillmans and the jury clearly saw that.” Thomas explains that White was dealing with the Gillmans with “unclean hands”- in other words-fraudulently and because the jury found that in their decision any amounts owed the Gillmans can not be discharged by any court” According to Maura Gillman the family is committed to paying the subs that have been waiting. Gillman states that if and when they receive any of their judgment from White the subs will receive their payments first.

White still faces 9 felony criminal counts filed against him by Amador County District Attorney Todd Reibe for diversion of construction funds, failure to complete improvements, embezzlement by a contractor, as well as two additional counts of special allegations for white collar crimes. The nine felony counts include five counts of diversion of construction funds, failure to complete improvements between May 5, 2003 and May 4, 2006. The dates cover the bulk of the construction period of the building located at 31 Hwy 49 in downtown Jackson. These counts include receiving money for the purposes of obtaining or paying for services, labor, materials and equipment and then willfully failing to apply such money for those services and equipment that were provided for construction, as well as, diverting funds to uses other than those for which they were received. White is also charged with 4 felony counts of embezzlement by a contractor. According to the court filing this occurred during the same time frame. The District Attorney’s office has also filed 2 special counts against White for aggravated white collar crimes which charges White with a pattern of felony crimes that total over 150,000 dollars.  According to DA Todd Riebe, the maximum exposure for White is up to 7 years eight months.