TJ Fisher
Encyclopedia
TJ Fisher is a Southern author
, documentarist and social critic who lives in New Orleans, Louisiana
and Palm Beach
, Florida
.
, in late 2005 Fisher authored the narrative work Orléans Embrace, for which she received praise for her prose. Orléans Embrace is a three-part compendium: the first and third parts are by Fisher, and the middle part is the companion book, The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré by Roy F. Guste, Jr. with photography by Louis Sahuc
. She was not paid for her work on the (post-Katrina) French Quarter fundraising book, a crusade for New Orleans.
Fisher received awards for Best New Voice Nonfiction and The Bill Fisher Award for Best Fist Book Nonfiction for Orléans Embrace with The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré at the PMA Publishers Marketing Association
Benjamin Franklin Awards in 2007. At the Independent Publisher Book Awards it received a gold medal in the Home & Garden category. The title also won the Best Books 2007 Awards in the Home: General category.
(Vieux Carré
). She was nominated for a Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance SIBA Book Award
for her poetry in Hearsay from Heaven and Hades: New Orleans Secrets of Sinners and Saints. The title won the Best Books 2009 Awards Poetry: General category.
Beyond personal experience, her first post-Katrina work "imprinted a style reminiscent of Lafcadio Hearn
". Gris Gris Rouge, a paper in Louisiana, wrote that FIsher's narratives celebrate and capture the elusive quality of New Orleans.
Michael McCrary
added Fisher to a lawsuit
aimed at her husband and others for $60 million dollars. The Circuit Court for Baltimore
City civil
litigation concerned a hurricane-derailed New Orleans real estate venture at the New Orleans landmark
(Crescent City Towers) Plaza Tower site. McCrary's case targeted a tangle of Louisiana limited liability companies. The soured real estate and development investment deal netted McCrary and a web of partnerships millions of dollars in post-Katrina profits within a few months. McCrary reaped $2,384,639 in profits and the return of his $3,550,000 capital investment.
In June 2008, a Baltimore courtroom
rendered a $33.3-million-dollar default judgment against Fisher and others, in favor of McCrary. Precedent to the award, all defendants and their attorneys were precluded from speaking or participating in the damages hearing inquisition. Legal analysts cited U.S. Constitution and Due Process
violations.
Fisher was unable to post a $33.3-million-dollar supersedeas bond
to stay execution of McCrary's default judgment against her during the pendency of the appeal. Nearly a year after the trial court default, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals
granted a stay against the judgment without a bond being posted.
In June 2009 the Maryland intermediate appellate court tossed the $33.3-million-dollar default judgment against Fisher and others.
In earlier Pre-Katrina litigation on eminent domain
site expropriation
by the New Orleans Morial Convention Center, Fisher retained Johnnie Cochran
to represent herself and a partner. On a separate but nearby parcel of property, Fisher turned over her winning-bid auction contract on a multimillion-dollar Mississippi River
riverfront ex-casino property to Tulane University
, at no profit, for future development of the Riversphere project. The former River Gate Casino tract was previously associated with hotelier/developer/dreamer Christopher Hemmeter
and Louisiana ex-governor Edwin Edwards
.
In the late 90s, Fisher was one of the original owner/developers of the Ritz-Carlton
Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida; she was also associated with the South Beach
and Baltimore Ritz projects.
On several joint-venture projects Fisher aligned with Philip Pilevsky of Philips International, the on-off financier/partner of hotelier Ian Schrager
. The Schrager/Philip pairing began with Studio 54
. Later, in conjunction with designer Philip Stark
, they founded original boutique hotels, including NYC's Paramount Hotel
and Royalton Hotel
, Miami's Delano Hotel
and Shore Club, and LA's Mondrian Hotel
.
College of Veterinary Medicine, a program established in memory of her late yellow Labrador retriever.
Fisher resides with one of the three original 1940s Howdy Doody
marionettes, Photo Doody
.
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, documentarist and social critic who lives in New Orleans, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
and Palm Beach
Palm Beach, Florida
The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
.
Career
Prior to being an author, Fisher had taken jobs as a journalist, gossip columnist, documentary filmmaker and ad agency/PR executive.Post-Katrina
After Hurricane KatrinaHurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
, in late 2005 Fisher authored the narrative work Orléans Embrace, for which she received praise for her prose. Orléans Embrace is a three-part compendium: the first and third parts are by Fisher, and the middle part is the companion book, The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré by Roy F. Guste, Jr. with photography by Louis Sahuc
Louis Sahuc
Louis Sahuc is an American photographer, a lifelong New Orleanian who resides in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. Sahuc lives in one of the Pontalba Buildings, facing Jackson Square, an historic park also known as Place d' Armes...
. She was not paid for her work on the (post-Katrina) French Quarter fundraising book, a crusade for New Orleans.
Fisher received awards for Best New Voice Nonfiction and The Bill Fisher Award for Best Fist Book Nonfiction for Orléans Embrace with The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré at the PMA Publishers Marketing Association
Publishers Marketing Association
The Independent Book Publishers Association is a trade association of independent publishers founded in 1983. With more than 3000 members, it is the largest association of independent publishers in the United States...
Benjamin Franklin Awards in 2007. At the Independent Publisher Book Awards it received a gold medal in the Home & Garden category. The title also won the Best Books 2007 Awards in the Home: General category.
Recent works
Fisher's works center on New Orleans and the historic French QuarterFrench Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. When New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré as it was known then...
(Vieux Carré
Vieux Carre
Vieux Carré may refer to:*New Orleans's French Quarter* Vieux Carré, a play by Tennessee Williams...
). She was nominated for a Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance SIBA Book Award
SIBA Book Award
SIBA Book Award is an American South literary award given by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance , first awarded in 1999. Nominated books must be southern in nature or by a southern author, have been published the previous year, and have been nominated by a SIBA-member bookstore or one of...
for her poetry in Hearsay from Heaven and Hades: New Orleans Secrets of Sinners and Saints. The title won the Best Books 2009 Awards Poetry: General category.
Beyond personal experience, her first post-Katrina work "imprinted a style reminiscent of Lafcadio Hearn
Lafcadio Hearn
Patrick Lafcadio Hearn , known also by the Japanese name , was an international writer, known best for his books about Japan, especially his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things...
". Gris Gris Rouge, a paper in Louisiana, wrote that FIsher's narratives celebrate and capture the elusive quality of New Orleans.
Real estate and controversy
In 2007 ex-NFL Raven football playerAmerican football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
Michael McCrary
Michael McCrary
Michael Curtis McCrary is a former American Football defensive end who played for the Seattle Seahawks and the Baltimore Ravens for ten seasons in the NFL between 1993 and 2002. McCrary was a two time Pro Bowler in 1998 and 1999. McCrary was inducted to the Ravens' Ring of Honor in 2004...
added Fisher to a lawsuit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
aimed at her husband and others for $60 million dollars. The Circuit Court for Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
City civil
Civil law (common law)
Civil law, as opposed to criminal law, is the branch of law dealing with disputes between individuals or organizations, in which compensation may be awarded to the victim...
litigation concerned a hurricane-derailed New Orleans real estate venture at the New Orleans landmark
Landmark
This is a list of landmarks around the world.Landmarks may be split into two categories - natural phenomena and man-made features, like buildings, bridges, statues, public squares and so forth...
(Crescent City Towers) Plaza Tower site. McCrary's case targeted a tangle of Louisiana limited liability companies. The soured real estate and development investment deal netted McCrary and a web of partnerships millions of dollars in post-Katrina profits within a few months. McCrary reaped $2,384,639 in profits and the return of his $3,550,000 capital investment.
In June 2008, a Baltimore courtroom
Courtroom
A courtroom is the actual enclosed space in which a judge regularly holds court.The schedule of official court proceedings is called a docket; the term is also synonymous with a court's caseload as a whole.-Courtroom design:-United States:...
rendered a $33.3-million-dollar default judgment against Fisher and others, in favor of McCrary. Precedent to the award, all defendants and their attorneys were precluded from speaking or participating in the damages hearing inquisition. Legal analysts cited U.S. Constitution and Due Process
Due process
Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...
violations.
Fisher was unable to post a $33.3-million-dollar supersedeas bond
Supersedeas bond
A supersedeas bond, also known as a defendant's appeal bond, is a type of surety bond that a court requires from an appellant who wants to delay payment of a judgment until the appeal is over....
to stay execution of McCrary's default judgment against her during the pendency of the appeal. Nearly a year after the trial court default, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals
Maryland Court of Special Appeals
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals is the intermediate appellate court for the U.S. state of Maryland. The Court of Special Appeals was created in 1966 in response to the rapidly growing caseload in the Maryland Court of Appeals. Like the state's highest court, the tribunal meets in the Robert C...
granted a stay against the judgment without a bond being posted.
In June 2009 the Maryland intermediate appellate court tossed the $33.3-million-dollar default judgment against Fisher and others.
In earlier Pre-Katrina litigation on eminent domain
Eminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
site expropriation
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
by the New Orleans Morial Convention Center, Fisher retained Johnnie Cochran
Johnnie Cochran
Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. was an American lawyer best known for his leadership role in the defense and criminal acquittal of O. J...
to represent herself and a partner. On a separate but nearby parcel of property, Fisher turned over her winning-bid auction contract on a multimillion-dollar Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
riverfront ex-casino property to Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
, at no profit, for future development of the Riversphere project. The former River Gate Casino tract was previously associated with hotelier/developer/dreamer Christopher Hemmeter
Christopher Hemmeter
Christopher Hemmeter was a real estate developer who pioneered the concept of the destination resort in Hawaii and was involved in casino gaming development, primarily in New Orleans and Colorado.-Real estate development:...
and Louisiana ex-governor Edwin Edwards
Edwin Edwards
Edwin Washington Edwards served as the Governor of Louisiana for four terms , twice as many terms as any other Louisiana chief executive has served. Edwards was also Louisiana's first Roman Catholic governor in the 20th century...
.
In the late 90s, Fisher was one of the original owner/developers of the Ritz-Carlton
Ritz-Carlton
The Ritz-Carlton is a brand of luxury hotels and resorts with 75 properties located in major cities and resorts in 24 countries worldwide...
Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida; she was also associated with the South Beach
South Beach
South Beach, also nicknamed SoBe, is a neighborhood in the city of Miami Beach, Florida, United States. It is the area south of Indian Creek and encompasses roughly the southernmost 23 blocks of the main barrier island that separates the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay.This area was the first...
and Baltimore Ritz projects.
On several joint-venture projects Fisher aligned with Philip Pilevsky of Philips International, the on-off financier/partner of hotelier Ian Schrager
Ian Schrager
Ian Schrager is an American hotelier and real estate developer. Often associated with co-creating of the Boutique Hotel genre. Originally, he gained fame as co-owner and co-founder of Studio 54.-Early years:...
. The Schrager/Philip pairing began with Studio 54
Studio 54
Studio 54 was a highly popular discotheque from 1977 until 1991, located at 254 West 54th Street in Manhattan, New York, USA. It was originally the Gallo Opera House, opening in 1927, after which it changed names several times, eventually becoming a CBS radio and television studio. In 1977 it...
. Later, in conjunction with designer Philip Stark
Philip Stark
Philip Stark is an American television and film screenwriter. A native of Houston, Texas, Stark graduated with a degree in Radio-Television-Film from The University of Texas at Austin in 1995....
, they founded original boutique hotels, including NYC's Paramount Hotel
Paramount hotel
The Hotel Paramount in New York City is a hotel located at 235 West 46th Street, to the west of Broadway. Designed by Thomas W. Lamb, construction was completed in 1928. In 1988, the hotel was closed for an 18-month remodelling project. In 1990, the hotel, under the ownership of Ian Schrager and...
and Royalton Hotel
Royalton Hotel
The Royalton Hotel is a hotel in at 44 West 44th Street, midtown Manhattan, New York City, USA.The building was built in 1898 as the exclusive residential Hotel Royalton. The firm of Rossiter & Wright served as the architects, and the contractor was E. F. Dodson & Company...
, Miami's Delano Hotel
Delano Hotel
The Delano Hotel is an upscale resort located at 1685 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, Florida. The resort features 194 guest rooms, suites and lofts, and is located directly on the beach. Delano is now a part of the Morgans Hotel Group collection. The Delano is known for its whimsical, art-deco...
and Shore Club, and LA's Mondrian Hotel
Mondrian Hotel
The Mondrian Hotel is the name of three boutique hotels owned and/or operated by the Morgans Hotel Group.-Mondrian Los Angeles:The original Mondrian Hotel is located on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California. The structure was built in 1959 as an apartment building. It was later renovated...
.
Personal life
She helped found the Rufus Fisher Dog Angel program at Kansas State UniversityKansas State University
Kansas State University, commonly shortened to K-State, is an institution of higher learning located in Manhattan, Kansas, in the United States...
College of Veterinary Medicine, a program established in memory of her late yellow Labrador retriever.
Fisher resides with one of the three original 1940s Howdy Doody
Howdy Doody
Howdy Doody is an American children's television program that was created and produced by E. Roger Muir and telecast on NBC in the United States from 1947 until 1960. It was a pioneer in children's television programming and set the pattern for many similar shows...
marionettes, Photo Doody
Photo Doody (Howdy)
Photo Doody is one of the three original Howdy Doody 1940s marionettes. He is the Howdy figure that was used in Howdy Doody still photo sessions for the Howdy Doody Show and the publicity pictures taken with Buffalo Bob Smith. The near-stringless Howdy marionette was also used in personal...
.