Reprinted with permission of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch / November 26, 2005
Copyright (2005) St. Louis Post-Dispatch
(http://STLtoday.com)

Robert Rongey works on his balance with physical therapist Benedicte Hanquet at King Spinal and Sports Rehabilitation on Nov. 16.
(David Carson/P-D)

In the morning dark, alone in his Ford Explorer, Robert Rongey began to drift off the road. He jerked the wheel back but overcorrected. The SUV swerved, flipped and rolled several times before grinding to a stop - upside down - nearly 500 feet down the highway.

Rongey was thrown from the vehicle, skidding along the pavement of Interstate 55/70, his skull shattered, his elbow worn to the bone. A helicopter would airlift his broken body to the hospital.

There, on the asphalt last March, Rongey's life slipped from his control.

And it landed squarely in the Madison County courts. While Rongey spent months in a coma, undergoing surgeries and physical therapy, his family was left to battle over his care and custody.

Guardianship cases are part of the day-to-day routine of the courts. Rongey's situation - and the fighting among multiple sides - could happen to anyone who has not assigned power of attorney to a caretaker.

"It's a sort of worst-case scenario of what can go wrong without a durable power of attorney," said Steve Beckett, a legal expert and a law professor at the University of Illinois.

And Rongey's story involves prominent names. Rongey, 45, was a well-known lawyer, the ex-husband of Madison County Circuit Judge Ann Callis and a senior partner at the law firm of his former father-in-law, the successful trial lawyer Lance Callis.

The case also has an unusual twist: Since late summer, Rongey has been mostly cogent and mobile, even testifying on his own behalf.

"I tell you what, it's been a real eye-opener for me, all of this fighting in the courts," Rongey said.

'Taste of freedom'

Court records, originally sealed, detail a fight among a sister, a half-sister and Rongey's 13-year-old daughter. A court-appointed guardian and an independent lawyer have also weighed in.

Whomever Associate Circuit Judge Ralph Mendelsohn chooses as Rongey's guardian will be responsible not only for Rongey's long-term care, but also for two homes, an Infiniti G35 automobile, a motorcycle and various investments, together worth nearly $550,000, according to court records.

The legal back-and-forth peaked at closed hearings Aug. 3 and 4. The result: Rongey was made a ward of the state.

From there, Lynda Evers, the Madison County public guardian, moved him to Sumner Care and Rehabilitation, a group home, 150 miles away from his home in Troy.

Much of Rongey's memory returned by late summer. By last month, his walker, with bright green tennis balls covering the feet, was only a formality.

In Sumner, he dressed and shaved himself daily. His nurses and family said he craved contact, talking to anyone who would listen.

He discussed the news, politics, his family, the law. Sometimes he would move from tangent to tangent. Sometimes his facts were confused.

His mind hadn't - and still hasn't - fully recovered.

"I still have a ways to go," he says.

And he was daily growing frustrated. He said he felt trapped in the care home with many permanent residents who are decades older than he.

Occasionally, he would yell at nurses. He pleaded with his mother to take him home and complained to attorneys and his county guardian.

After an outburst last month, he was sent to a nearby hospital in Olney for observation. When doctors there released him to his mother, he refused to return to the rehab center and threatened to get out of the car on the highway.

His mother gave in and - without court permission - took him to her home in Granite City.

"I'm like a former prisoner," he said days later. "I feel like this is a taste of freedom for me. Now I want my life back."

An infectious smile

For Marilyn Rongey, there was a certain amount of relief after the accident when word came back early: Despite being thrown from the vehicle, her son's face was almost untouched.

"Thank God, because he has such a pretty smile," she said.

That smile - and the personality behind it - has been Rongey's hallmark. A Granite City boy, sharp in his classes and good on the football field, Rongey was gifted with charm, friends said.

He graduated from Granite City South High School and cruised through college, earning a law degree at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, waiting tables almost full time to pay his way.

"School was pretty easy for Rob," said Belleville lawyer and college classmate John Cunningham. "He didn't seem to have to study as hard as the rest of us."

Rongey returned to practice law in the Metro East area and had a reputation as a dogged attorney who could sway almost any jury, local lawyers said.

"He didn't just go through the motions and take a fee," said Madison County State's Attorney Bill Mudge.

Rongey focused primarily on civil work, in particular personal injury. He won large verdicts - $6 million in a drunken driving case, $4 million in a railroad worker lawsuit. At the time of the accident, his income was estimated at $125,000 a year, according to court records.

But Rongey broke the trial lawyer stereotype - he was more teddy bear than shark. In and out of court, he occasionally used expressions such as "my gosh," "by golly," "gee minitly."

"He was the guy who would show up with a coffee stain on his shirt from driving," said Ken Danzinger, who worked with Rongey on many cases. "He'd use it to his advantage. Rather than changing shirts, he'd make fun of himself."

His charisma won him cases, and the attention of Ann Callis, then a lawyer, now a Madison County circuit judge. The two dated for about a year before marrying, Callis said. They had a daughter, Caroline, and divorced about eight years ago. Callis has since married St. Louis lawyer and bar owner Jim Holloran.

For all his success, Rongey avoided becoming part of high society. After a night of work, he opted for a place such as Sue's Corner, a tavern along Illinois Route 203 in Granite City.

The bar is bathed in light from a host of neon signs and stained glass beer lamps - Bud Light, Coors Light, Miller Lite. Sue Johnson, the bar's owner, lives upstairs.

On a given night, a good number of stools are warmed by area steelworkers such as John Valencia, Rongey's friend since middle school. It was a perfect place for the down-home lawyer.

"He was well-grounded. He never forgot where he came from," Valencia said.

That Wednesday in March, hours before the accident, Rongey dropped by the bar after work, Johnson remembers. Over a few hours, he ordered a couple of rounds of his usual - Jack Daniel's whiskey and Coke.

He left about midnight, not drunk, not even showing signs. Johnson would have called a cab otherwise, she said.

It's unclear where he went between leaving the bar and the accident, which happened shortly after 4 a.m.

Legal wrangling

Federal privacy laws prohibit Rongey's neurologist from commenting on his case, and his medical records are sealed in the court's files. But his mother explained how her son was pulled back from the brink.

Doctors put Rongey on a respirator and a feeding tube after the accident, Marilyn Rongey said. They operated in stages, repairing his skull, fixing his elbow, draining fluid from his brain, installing a shunt, breaking up a blood clot in his legs.

He moved back and forth between St. Mary's Health Center in Clayton and St. Louis University Hospital. He started rehab at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur.

"They were teaching him to swallow," Marilyn Rongey said. "They were teaching him to hold a cup. They were teaching him to write."

Meanwhile, the court battle for his future was under way. As many as six lawyers have been involved. Many have declined to comment.

According to court records and interviews:

Laura Brotherton of Troy and Walter Rongey, an Army colonel stationed in Germany, were initially made temporary guardians of their brother's estate. Brotherton continued as guardian until Rongey was made a ward of the state.

She has contended that she managed his property - renting his duplex, paying the mortgage on his Troy home and making improvements either for sale or Rongey's use.

Rongey's daughter, Caroline, has been represented by attorney Mike Stewart. Stewart has alleged Brotherton spent more than $13,000 to make unnecessary improvements to Rongey's home for her own benefit.

Deborah Epperson Podoba, Rongey's half-sister, who lives in Granite City, supported Stewart's allegations and asked that she be appointed guardian because of alleged "conflicts of interest and self-dealing" by Brotherton.

Granite City attorney Brian Konzen, who was appointed early in the case by Mendelsohn, the associate circuit judge, to independently monitor Rongey's estate, also objected to Brotherton's remaining guardian.

Public administrator and guardian Lynda Evers, who oversees all wards of Madison County, was put in charge of Rongey's estate after Brotherton was removed at the August hearings.

In June, Mendelsohn ordered all parties to communicate only through attorneys.

And that's becoming increasingly expensive. Evers and the attorneys have asked the court for nearly $34,000 in fees from Rongey's estate.

On a Web site dedicated to supporting comatose patients and their families, several prayer requests have been posted for Rongey, including some by his daughter Caroline, that detail family infighting.

"My dad is doing wonderful, he started talking and everything ... my mom did get me an advocate and we are fighting back," reads a post from June 9. "His mom and sister have completely taken control of everything, without giving his friends or anyone say."

Ann Callis declined to comment specifically on the legal struggle, but said, "It was done to give my daughter a voice in what happened to her father."

Callis has said she has not tried to influence the case. But Rongey's mother nonetheless continues to wonder if politics are involved.

As an associate judge, Mendelsohn serves at the discretion of the county's full judges, including Callis. When Mendelsohn's term ends in 2007, the circuit judges will vote in secret on his retention.

Callis would not comment further.

On Oct. 18, after hearing Rongey's testimony, Mendelsohn allowed him to remain at his boyhood home in Granite City. Though he is still a ward of the state, Evers, the public guardian, has asked that Marilyn Rongey be appointed permanent guardian.

The case is scheduled to be heard again on Dec. 28.

At home, Rongey now has physical, occupational and speech therapy five days a week. His mind is still recovering, and he is on a cocktail of medications.

In interviews, Rongey has repeatedly said he's frustrated being the subject of hearings and briefs. Recently, he again said that he wanted the legal wrangling finished.

"It's my mom. It's who I want to live with," Rongey said, with anger in his voice. "Here's somebody who cried and prayed for me. I have no idea why all this is still going on."

adam.jadhav@post-dispatch.com
618-659-3637

Robert W. Rongey II
Age: 45

Home: Owns a house and duplex in Troy, but lives in Granite City with his mother.

Job: Former senior partner with Callis, Papa, Jackstadt, Szewczyk, Rongey and Danzinger law firm. Member of the bar for Illinois; Southern District of Illinois, U.S. District Court; Seventh Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals; U.S. Supreme Court.

Education: Granite City South High School and law degree from Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Hobbies: Sports, Golf, Motorcycling

Family: Mother Marilyn Rongey of Granite City; father Robert Rongey of Granite City; sister Laura Brotherton of Troy; brother Walter Rongey, U.S. Army colonel in Germany; half-sisters Deborah Podoba of Granite City and Angela Epperson of Tierra Verde, Fla.; ex-wife Ann Callis of Troy; daughter Caroline.

Accident: Injured when his SUV rolled on the interstate in March. Rongey spent weeks in a coma and has continued to recover while his family has battled for custody of him and his estate.