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Image via WikipediaSchlichtmann, whose battle against two companies that allegedly contaminated the Woburn town water supply with toxic chemicals was dramatized in the 1998 film, A Civil Action, in which he was portrayed by John Travolta, finds himself on the wrong end of the verdict in a case brought by The Cadle Co., a debt collection firm located in Ohio. Schlichtmann, who represented himself in the case, has been embroiled in litigation with the plaintiff since 1995, when Cadle sued him to enforce a security interest it claimed that it had on attorneys fees earned by Schlichtmann in a former case.
Schlichtmann set up a website, www.truthaboutcadle.com, to alert visitors about what he perceived to be unlawful conduct by the plaintiff in Massachusetts. Cadle sued for defamation, and a jury found that the plaintiff proved the defendant made defamatory statements about Cadle with actual malice on the website.
Judge Kathe M. Tuttman presided over the month-long trial. The case is The Cadle Co. v. Jan R. Schlichtmann et al (Case No. 05-00603-D).
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Odd for a lawyer to cross the libel line since one expects he'd know the boundaries.
ReplyDeleteHe's his own worst enemy. He & Cadle Co. have been at war for more than a decade. He's a zealot who I first encountered in the '70s as a reporter when he was representing Clamshell Alliance members arrested at a Seabrook, N.H. nuclear power plan protest.
ReplyDeleteIt's not Jan's fault. I heard his lawyer was the real problem.
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