Casey Anthony Destitute, Defamation Suit May Be Unwise, Judge Suggests

Casey Anthony appears to be destitute. That’s a key comment by Judge K. Rodney May from a brief hearing yesterday in the US Bankruptcy Court in Tampa, Florida.

As The Inquisitr reported last night, Judge May has ruled that a defamation suit against Casey Anthony will be heard in his federal bankruptcy court — not in the Orange County District Court. You can read a full account of Tuesday’s hearing right here.

The short version is that two plaintiffs are suing Anthony because they said she or her attorneys injured their reputations in the course of defending her against murder charges in the 2008 death of her daughter Caylee Anthony.

Although Anthony was cleared of the charges, she is widely regarded with suspicion and has become something of an outcast in the community. She is unemployed and still reportedly owes hundreds of thousands of dollars to her defense team.

She spends much of her time in hiding but emerged earlier this year to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

The emerging picture of Casey Anthony’s finances isn’t pretty. In a March hearing, she said she had about $1,000 in assets, no job, and $800,000 in debts to defense attorneys.

But the two plaintiffs suing her aren’t satisfied and want a deeper search to see if she has any assets that might be used to pay their claims.

WESH news reported that, in a nod to those concerns, the court said Tuesday that Anthony will turn over her laptop to the bankruptcy trustee to allow them to check it for information about her finances.

However, overall, the judge seemed to feel that the defamation lawsuit could be a waste of time. The Orlando-Sentinel said that the judge openly “questioned the wisdom of spending time and effort on claims that may ultimately be discharged in bankruptcy.”

Back in hiding, Casey Anthony herself didn’t appear at the Tuesday hearing.