Dismissed In Its Entirety From Federal Court

On 3^rd January 2006 Gene Carter, Senior United States District Judge issued an Order Granting Defendants’ Motion For Summary Judgment On Rico Claim (Count I).

Congratulations to Jim Bergin, Judy Garvey and Ian Mander - the only remaining defendants - who have now had ALL the GWP charges against them totally dismissed from Court.

I am informed that it is very rare for a Motion for Summary Judgment (MSJ) to be granted. Judge Carter states: ‘Summary judgment is appropriate only if “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.”’ [My emphasis] This would appear to bring into question the credibility, and validity, of the GWP’s lawsuit, (Rico Claim) especially the evidence they presented to the court.

Judge Carter further states: “A trialworthy issue exists if the evidence is such that there is a factual controversy pertaining to an issue that may affect the outcome of the litigation under the governing law, and the evidence is ‘sufficiently open-ended to permit a rational factfinder to resolve the issue in favour of either side.’” Does this imply that the evidence presented is not rational? It does seem to indicate that the evidence presented (Rico Claim) is not ‘trialworthy’ and even beyond the mind of a rational factfinder to resolve. So the question we should be asking is what was the point of the GWP Plaintiffs bringing this lawsuit to court in the first place? Was it purely an attempt to intimidate critics and ex-members from speaking out?

The GWP (the Plaintiffs) believed that all the original defendants in this lawsuit were grouped together in some form of ‘conspiracy’ to bring down their organisation. Judge Carter states: ‘The record demonstrates that the originally named defendants never acted as an organized “entity.” Clearly, there was no formal organization…The evidence also discloses that they were not organized, even in an informal manner…there was nothing binding the original defendants together such that a reasonable person could conclude that they were an organized entity.” [My emphasis] Does this mean that only an unreasonable person, or persons, could conclude that all the original defendants (including yours truly) acted as an organised entity? Why, when in receipt of all the evidence did the GWP still continue with this non-trialworthy Rico lawsuit? Why did they spend many hundred thousand dollars of public money pursuing this case?

One further statement from Judge Carter interests me because I suggested it in an article I wrote about the GWP. He states: “Plaintiffs make these instruments available to the public for a requested amount of money, which they describe as a donation.” [My emphasis] So it would appear that they do sell their products in a round about way afterall.

I would like to pass on my heartfelt congratulations to Jim and Judy for all of their hard work in standing up for what they believe in, and to Ian Mander for literally ignoring the lawsuit. It is a massive victory for them, but an even more monumental victory for freedom of speech. However, the GWP can still proceed with a new lawsuit in state court, and/or appeal the decision. That is their right but I trust common sense will prevail. To read theJudgment in full (PDF) please click here

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