Part of Cross Motion filed with the Supreme Court of New York Index
No. 006170
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11. The tenuousness of this action has already been demonstrated. As a result of the aforesaid motion practice, there is no need to elaborate as to the allegations of the amended complaint, but suffice it to state that causes of action for intentional interference with contract, tortious interference with contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and prima facie tort are brought. The heart of the factual allegations, in the 38 page amended complaint, are based on paras. 56 and 57, where it is acknowledged by the plaintiffs that they sent their teenage son to Tranquility Bay, Jamaica, which they refer to as a"school". The complaint then alleges that all of the named defendants, and a group of John Does essentially conspired to force plaintiffs out of their well-paying jobs, including Hatzalah, a volunteer ambulance company, and disrupt their family. One of the John Does is Vin News,according to complaint para. 127, where it is pleaded that Vin is amember of the conspiracy. It is claimed that VIN "posted many entries on his/her website intending that Mr. Hersh be fired from his position at Hatzalah".
12. Tranquility Bay is hardly a "school". In Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, it is described as a residential treatment facility. It is best described as a house of horrors where child abuse and torture were regularly practiced. When it was learned within the orthodox Jewish community in New York that one of the plaintiffs' sons was consigned there, a significant protest arose, which did not subside until leading and widely respected community activists were able to have him released. The Wikipedia entry about Tranquility Bay is Exhibit D herewith, together with a Miami New Times article from June 2006. There are other online media articles well describing the rampant and horrible child abuse occurring at this so-called "school".
13. Vin News is an anonymous, online site which is, essentially, a digest oftopical news stories that are of interest to mostly the orthodox Jewish community. People have the opportunity to comment. Vin News, together with other sites, such as UOJ, Daat Torah, and Failed Messiah, have been active in addressing the ongoing problem of child abuse in the Jewish and general community. Relevant to this case, Vin re-produced two articles, in 2008, about the Isaac Hersh/Tranquility Bay situation, annexed herewith as Exhibit E.
14. In April 2008, the largest orthodox Jewish newspaper in the United States, .the Jewish Press, published a full-page ad which displayed a letter dated April 14, 2008, signed by a very prominent rabbi, psychiatrist, and psychologist, stating, "We would like to express our deepest appreciation to all those shtadlanim (activists) who gave of their time, effort and money to save Yitzchok Meir (Isaac) from a nonJewish oriented reform facility. The selfless devotion that they displayed to save a fellow Jew was truly inspirational. What has clearly emerged, is that the facilities such as Tranquility Bay, Jamaica is not a place for any Jewish child. We understand the need for all types of intervention to help our children, but Tranquility Bay SHOULD NOT be an option." The signatories are, Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky, a senior member ofthe Council of Sages (Moetses) of a leading ultra-orthodox organization, Agudath Israel of America; Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski, a psychiatrist and widely published author, who for many years was the founder and operator of an addition treatment facility in Pittsburgh, Pa.; and, Dr. David Pelcovitz, a psychologist who pecializes in treating child sex abuse victims, currently a professor of psychology at Yeshiva University, New York, and previously, Director of Psychology at North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, Long Island. This letter also appeared in Vin news.
15. With this basic factual background in mind, the premise of the complaint is actually absurd. The underlying assumption is that the public, including a religious community, may not, legally, discuss and act upon credible allegations of a child being physically abused at a defacto prison camp. To accept that premise would be to eviscerate the protections of the First Amendment, and expose children to the worst forms of abuse. This badly misguided lawsuit is serving as a chilling effect upon responsible adults "getting involved" and preventing child abuse. Web site and blog site operators, such as Vin News and others, should continue to possess the legal right to remain anonymous, so as to avoid harassment and retaliation. Particularly where the interests of children are at stake, the right to remain anonymous should be enforced.
16. The subject subpoenas should clearly be stricken in this dubious lawsuit. This court should consider the public policy of free and robust speech as expressed in the First Amendment, and all of the child protection laws in our state and country. A rescue operation was mounted for Isaac Hersch, and it succeeded. The subject subpoenas are fishing expeditions to get evidence to add even more defendants in this lawsuit which well deserves a summary dismissal. The subpoenas should be quashed.
Dated: July 22, 2010 Cedarhurst, New York
Amen and Yasher Koach to Mr. Pasik who speaks the truth !!!
ReplyDeleteWill Hersh amend his suit to add Pasik as a defendant now?
ReplyDeleteIn fact, Mr. Pasik should also have clarified that the Tranquility Bay facility was shut down and closed in 2009, the year after Isaac Hersh was rescued from there in 2008. While facing many lawsuits against them the school's founders have also used legal means to defend themselves gaining dismissal of cases on technical grounds while avoiding the accusations by former captive students.
ReplyDeleteIn the Wikipedia article that Mr. Pasik cites, about the owners of Tranquility Bay, the so-called World Wide Association Of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS or WWASP), it lists Tranquility Bay as one of its institutions now closed and a "subject of several documentaries detailing severe abuse;closed in Jan. 2009"
The Wikipedia article makes the problems with places like Tranquility Bay very clear in the section over "Controversy: WWASPS and its associated institutions have been the target of criticism over their treatment methods, including allegations of severe abuse and torture by staff at programs supported by WWASPS. The programs have been the subject of legal investigations by several U.S. states. In 2003, a reporter for The New York Times interviewed 60 current and former program participants and parents; some gave positive reports of their experiences, while other participants and parents said that WWASPS programs were abusive.
Numerous former students or their parents have filed lawsuits against WWASPS, its personnel, or individual schools. Most have been settled out of court or dismissed for procedural reasons...On several occasions, WWASPS and its principals have responded to criticism by suing their critics. Robert Lichfield sued two individual people associated with the International Survivors Action Committee (ISAC) for defamation, invasion of his privacy, and causing "intentional interference with 'prospective economic advantage'." That suit was pending as of April 2005. In May 2005 a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed (on jurisdictional grounds) a defamation lawsuit brought by WWASPS against a United Press International reporter who had done research for a news story about alleged abuse at several WWASPS schools. The reporter was accused of having made defamatory statements about WWASPS to "potential students, former students, parents of potential and former students, an employee of a state agency responsible for licensing a member school, and a Utah attorney who had filed numerous suits against [WWASPS]."
Sound familiar?
"On August 31, 2007, Randall Hinton was convicted of one count each of third degree assault and false imprisonment, for mistreating students at the WWASP-affiliated Royal Gorge Academy, of which he was manager and co-founder. However, the jury returned verdicts of "not guilty" on four other counts of third-degree assault and one other count of false imprisonment. Hinton was sentenced to jail followed by probation."
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/teacher-molested-kids-for-20-years-while-community-turned-blind-eye-1.304673
ReplyDeleteFor almost 20 years, one man allegedly sexually abused dozens of children on Moshav Kommemiyut, an ultra-Orthodox community in the northern Negev. Yet no one ever complained - either to the police or to the welfare authorities.
The police have since opened an investigation into the abuses, but the suspect is in the U.S. and refuses to return. Meanwhile, some say community leaders knew of the crimes but did nothing to stop them.
At least one of the victims is suspected of having sexually abused younger children in turn.
The main suspect, Shimshon Walzer, began his alleged career as an abuser 19 years ago, while serving as a teacher at a religious elementary school. Two years later, rumors of his abusive conduct led to him being fired as a teacher. Yet for some reason, he was allowed to retain an office at the school.
Over the ensuing years, his conduct became ever more abusive, police say, and an entire generation of children became his sex slaves. According to the testimony they have collected, he abused his victims frequently and in broad daylight, in barns and chicken coops, in fields and even at the mikveh (ritual bath ).
Some Kommemiyut residents, as well as some of the victims, told police the rabbi of the moshav, the principal of the school and members of the moshav's governing body all knew about the alleged abuse committed by the two suspects.
Kommemiyut's rabbi, Mendel Mendelson, declined to respond to Haaretz's questions.
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/archive/2968/Maran+R'+Eliyashiv+Shlita+-+
HaRav Menachem Mendel Mendelson, the rov of Komemiyus, addressed the meeting, speaking at length about the importance of crying out in defense of Shabbos.
http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5766/NCH66asherut.htm
HaRav Menachem Mendel Mendelson, the gavad of Komemiyus who together with his father fought battles for chareidi Jewry 50 years ago—especially against Sherut Leumi—began his speech by citing the verse, "Ki seitzei lamilchomoh al oyvecho"
these thugs who made big bucks at tranquility bay have already found a new business called "21st century skills"....
ReplyDeleteThe court will laugh out of court the hearsay wikipedia references.
ReplyDeleteWikipedia is well known, and has numerous times been documented in the mainstream press including the ny times, regarding their inaccuracies and anyone on the internet with a political viewpoint can spin any wikipedia any which way.
Google hits for "EFF Urges Court to Block Dragnet Subpoenas Targeting Online Commenters" passes the 11,000 mark as of July 30, 2010.
ReplyDeleteSince the EFF posted it's press releas on its own website "EFF Urges Court to Block Dragnet Subpoenas Targeting Online Commenters" on July 14, 2010, it has grown by about 500 hits every day, meaning that more organizations, sites and blogs are re-posting the information verbatim, sometimes adding to it and allowing comments, and therefore gaining more attention from readers world-wide which in turns means and proves that the Chillul Hashem is growing exponentially moment by moment and can be verified.
Reading from the fist few Google pages showing the hits, the EFF press release has been posted and reported and re-posted. The following are some of the main ones on the first 12 pages: privacydigest.com, slyck.com, npr.org, israelforum.com, fsdaily.com, dallasnews.com, uslaw.com, jewpi.com, action4liberty.info, 360reports.com, reddit.com, geektown.ca, techrights.org, wordpress.com, firstamendmentcoalition.org, patentlylaw.com, newscenter.com, wikicompany.org, tzedek-tzedek.blogspot.com, privacyandsecuritymatters.blogspot.com, silobreaker.com, telematicsfreedom.org, pocketpublishing.net... with many of these sites and blogs being mirrored and re-posted resulting in the over 11,000 Google hits and counting.
"Dan said...The court will laugh out of court the hearsay wikipedia references. Wikipedia is well known, and has numerous times been documented in the mainstream press including the ny times, regarding their inaccuracies and anyone on the internet with a political viewpoint can spin any wikipedia any which way."
ReplyDeleteYou are obviously not familiar with Wikipedia's high standards as the world's largest encyclopedia. Wikipedia articles must conform to strict policies and guidelines of a neutral point of view, no original researc and verifiability. In addition, libel is strictly forbidden and removed on sight.
Articles must be based on reliable sources, must be verifiable and must cite sources. Articles that are deemed to be unfit to be in Wikipedia are scrutinized and submitted for deletion. Interestingly, Blogs are not considered to be "reliable sources" and cannot be cited in articles which shows just how much behind the curve Hersh's lawyers are because while they harp about what blogs are saying, Wikipedia does not even pay attention to blogs altogether!
Therefore Wikipedia, while not perfect because it's evolving all the time, has immense credibility because of its growing reliability and use and resource in many spheres. Wikipedia, in its ten year history has evolved into a reliable major force of storing and conveying information about almost any subject.
Now coming back to the Wikipedia article that Mr. Pasik cited. The Wikipedia article about the organization that ran Tranquility Bay and others like it, the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS) has at least 29 References and sources based on reliable newspaper reports, articles and books that are quoted in the body of the article itself, quite an impressive body of evidence that will most definitely not be "laughed" out of court and on the contrary will prove the case of the extent to which Tranquility Bay was a damaging and dangerous place and the reason why it was shut in 2009 after it received only negative attention for the abuses and sufferings it inflicted on its child captives and inmates.
Here are most of the still active links to some of the 29 reliable sources that are cited in the Wikipedia article against the organization that ran Tranquility Bay and that run against Tranquility Bay in multiple directions, no matter which way you slice it, no one has anything nice to say, so Mr. Pasik is right on target by ultimately relying on these very reliable sources:
ReplyDeleteCBS Business Network: Utah-based school owner banned (Jul 6, 2003); NY Times: Parents Divided Over Jamaica Disciplinary Academy (Jun 17, 2003); Reason.com:The Trouble with Troubled Teen Programs How the "boot camp" industry tortures and kills kids (Jan 2007); WebWire.com: Troubled Teen Programs - 25 Plaintiffs Join in Lawsuit Against WWASPS, Cross Creek Manor, Robert Lichfield, and Associates – More Expected to Join In (October 16, 2006); The News Observer: Darrington closes doors "The closing comes as a joint investigation of certain activities at the school is under way by the Fannin County Department of Family and Children Services, the Fannin County Sheriff’s Department and state regulatory officials..." (March 2, 2009); Forbes: Too-tough love? (1999): San Diego Union-Tribune: Baja raids shut boarding schools for U.S. teens (September 11, 2004); Legal Affairs:Want Your Kid to Disappear? (2004); Denver Rocky Mountain News: Desperate Measures; Miami New Times: Rough Love Kids from South Florida and beyond are sent to Jamaica to straighten up. Or else. (Jun 22 2006); Utah-based group under fire Legislation targets association of schools for troubled youths (April 21, 2005); Reason.com: Romney, Torture, and Teens The former governor's connections to abusive "tough love" camps (June 27, 2007).
There is no way such serious reporting stretching back over the last few years will be "laughed" at or out of any court by any rational and reasonable serious-minded and fair-minded judge or jury, which makes the determination of the Hersh lawyers even more self-damaging to their professional image and highlights the absurdity their premises on behalf of Hersh's Quixotic cause.