[Editor’s notes: This report was transcribed by Heather Shannon. The editors are grateful for her invaluable assistance.
[This document retains its original spellings throughout, with corrections made only when the meaning may otherwise be unclear. In addition, where known, we have added first or last names in brackets to those identified by a single name. It should be noted that a number of names have not been annotated. The name is either unknown, there may be more than one person with that name or – most often the case – the name is in code.]
B-4 c (110)
Law Office Report #37
July 1, 1978
from June [Crym]
page 1
1. [Jim] Cobb libel suit – attached is a copy of it (3 copies).
2. [Steven] Katsaris libel suit – attached is a copy of [Temple attorney] Charles [Garry] motion for change of venue. Grounds: it’s based on the third cause of action of Katsaris complaint, where nothing that is alleged there to have happene happened in Mendocino County. Defendant Sandy B [Bradshaw] signs a declaration stating she is not a resident of Mendocino County, and begins declaration “I am informed I am a defendant” so as to protect her since she’s not been served as a defendant yet. Charles does not want Carol Stahl to go over as she will be needed to sign declarations here in this lawsuit and others.
3. He wants to sue TOS [Timothy Oliver Stoen] on grounds of conflict of interest, breaching attorney/client confidentiality, preparing suit papers this weekend, wants kplaintiffs to be those people who have been named in lawsuits already filed against us here, who reside here in the States – this is Martha, Dr. Bedford, and Lillie. He is suing for injunction against TOS for violation of attorney/client relationship, chasing cases (champetry = soliciting); he will ask Superior Court to enjoin, has jurisdiction in San Francisco court because of Cobb suit filed in San Francisco Superior Court. Alege TOS has personal vendetta, considering including allegations re TOS and child but not decided on that yet; will have Carol Stahl as corporate presidentsign the complaint, and send a copy of it to the State Bar, hoping for disbarment, though might end up in probation. He doesnt care at this point the ultimate decision by the State Bar; but would hope that if found in our favor, TOS would be stricken from the cases, [text xx’d out] from participation in either overtly or covertly. He will file similar action in each one of the lawsuits filed against us, against Stoen.
4. Compressor suit – he is going to try to get an attorney in Ukiah(?) to represent us. Sheriff served writ of possession papers tax at ranch; [text xx’d out] could not serve complaint because Claire [Janaro] wasnt there. Claire is named the party because she and Harold signedthe lease with Snyder.
5. Charles has to have, for the suit against TOS, facts re who was present at the April meeting called by TOS to discuss conservatorships He wants an answer now, confusion re whether TOS was already there, [text xx’d out] whether Maria was present; we dont have the departure date of Maria here so we couldnt tell him for sure either. We all thought she was here and not present at the meeting, but [text xx’d] out none of us knew for sure.
6. Charles will not consolidate the cases – they are unreallated [unrelated], one is for fraud on property sale; two are for libel, all filed in different locales, and he doesnt want to put all that mess in front of one jury.
7. Truth Enterpreises – written by Tim Clancy: We had been holding off on dissolving Truth as a corporation until we heard from [Temple attorney Marshall] Bentzman just exactly what our liabilities would be with printing various kinds of literature under
B-4 c (111)
the auspices of the church. We showed him various samples of [text xx’d out] the work we had done, such as Mary Warner’s book, some posters for Dennis B’s [Banks] group, and the National Alliance against Racist and Political Oppression. He recommended that we formally dissolve the corporation with the Franchise Tax Board, which will require a resolution from the Board of Directors, which are all overseas. He said that as long as we are not printing anything that would be affecting pending legislation or partisan material in election campaigns, we were all right. He said all the material we showed him would be acceptable for a church to do. Yesterday (June 30) was the end of the second quarter for taxes. We are going to stop doing business as Truth as of then, and do whatever is required to formally end the corporation unless you have other thoughts on it here.
Note from June: remember, Truth [Enterprises] was a tax loophole for [Eugene] Chaikin; does that matter anymore?
B-4 c (112-13): duplicate of B-4 c (110-11)