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Pastimes : Investment Chat Board Lawsuits -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: dantecristo who wrote (3625)	8/26/2002 1:21:12 PM
From: dantecristo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12465

[VAR & VSEA] "Varian Foes Want to Know Who's Behind The Threats After being ordered to halt online attacks, two disgruntled former employees want the identity of an Internet poster. By Craig Anderson Daily Journal Staff Writer "SAN JOSE - A legal grudge match over defamatory posts on an Internet message board has taken a new twist. Oakland attorney Jon Eisenberg has accused Varian Medical Systems and its attorneys of endangering the lives of two of his clients by refusing to disclose the identity of a person he believes made death threats against them via the Internet. Eisenberg’s clients are Michelangelo Delfino and Mary Day, themselves vociferous online critics of Varian who were found liable for defamation last year because of their online screeds against the firm and two employees. Varian’s case against Delfino and Day was in large measure a discovery battle, as the firm attempted to identify which of the thousands of online attacks posted under dozens of pseudonyms could be attributed to the Los Altos pair. Both former Varian employees, Delfino was fired and Day resigned. Eisenberg launched a discovery campaign on their behalf Friday. He asked Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Jack Komar to order Varian’s lawyers at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe to disclose the identity of a client whom Eisenberg believes is behind recent online threats against them. Orrick attorney Matthew Poppe sad he is offended by the allegations against his firm. ”The suggestion that Orrick is in any way involved with these death threats, or with the person who made the threats, or with the person who made the threats, is untrue and inappropriate,” he said. The FBI has been investigating alleged death threats sent by e-mail and posted on a Yahoo message board against Delfino and Day. According to a declaration signed by Eisenberg, the FBI has identified two people who have made threats via e-mail or on the Yahoo message board devoted to Varian. He says Assistant U.S. Jeff Nedrow told him last week that a criminal investigation is “ongoing,” but declined to reveal the names of the individuals, citing the rules of grand jury secrecy. Nedrow did not return telephone calls seeking comment. It is not clear whether any charges will be filed or are being seriously considered against any of the people purportedly identified. Last year, a jury ordered Delfino and Day top pay $775,000 in damages in the case of Varian Medical Systems v. Delfino, 780187. In June, the 6th District Court of Appeal stayed both enforcement of the judgment and a permanent injunction issued by Komar barring the pair from posting a long list of allegations. Varian accused Delfino and Day of posting information revealing where a company executive’s wife shopped and where his children played soccer. The postings also circulated publicly available SEC filings about the executive’s large sales of company stock. Komar, in his February injunction, ordered Delfino and Day not to include personal information about Varian employees and information from SEC documents. Now the tables have turned. Delfino and Day, citing threats against their lives, want Komar to order the Varian plaintiffs to submit to written declarations to help them investigate the identities of the people who have written the alleged threats. They also want Varian’s attorneys at Orrick to disclose the identity of an unidentified person who posted messages two years ago under the pseudonym “jazzun.” This person was represented by Orrick during a successful effort to quash a subpoena by Delfino and Day in the civil lawsuit. Eisenberg, asserting parallels exist between the language used by “jazzun” and by two other pseudonymous posters who recently have posted the alleged threats, said there is a strong possibility that the Orrick client has committed criminal acts. ”The similarities in language patterns raise a reasonable suspicion,” said Eisenberg, of Encino’s Horvitz & Levy. “I just want to know who is making these threats. Is that so unreasonable?” Citing the case of Tarasoff v. Regents of University of California, 17 Cal.3d 425 (1976) which required a psychotherapist to “use reasonable care to protect the intended victim against [violent] danger,” Eisenberg said Orrick has a similar duty to protect Delfino and Day from one of its clients. Poppe said he does not believe Tarasoff, which involved a psychotherapist, applies to lawyers. In any event, he said, the decision imposes a duty to warn, not -- as Eisenberg is asking -- to investigate. In a letter to Eisenberg, Poppe said Orrick did not know the identity of either person allegedly identified by the FBI, who go by the screen names "crack_smoking_jesus" and "fifthhorseman_2002." If Delfino and Day want to learn the identity of the message board posters, Poppe said, they should do what Varian did and file a John Doe complaint. That would allow them to seek information from Yahoo under discovery rules. Poppe said Eisenberg presents no evidence that "jazzun" is responsible for the most recent posts. "There's no reason to believe that 'jazzun' made these threats," he said. Poppe said Delfino's statements in histhousands of posts over the years were "half a step below the explicit threats" directed against him and Day in the e-mails and messages in the past few months. Still, he added, Delfino's postings "made people very afraid. When this kind of obsession is directed at somebody, it creates fear." The e-mails cited by Eisenberg include one sent to Delfino which warns: "You can look forward to your fingers being broken, several kicks to the ribs and mouth, break some teeth, and a cracked head. ... You think this is all clever little games, but your mommy and your lawyer won't be around to save you from this. And remember: you can't be on guard 24 hours a day." Eisenberg said threats were also being sent via messages and e-mails sent to him and his co-counsel. Delfino said he is frightened, but he has not been deterred from posting regular updates on the FBI investigation as well as speculation about the identity of his unknown antagonists. His online critics have responded in kind. The exchanges are, as a rule, more juvenile than threatening. "I will not be deterred by them," Delfino said. "I'm not going into a hole and stop posting."" San Francisco Daily Journal (Page 1: AUG 26, 2002) geocities.com