Our Turn To Get Bizarre Legal Threats From Global Wildlife Foundation

from the you-are-saved-and-wait-for-me! dept

So, on Monday, we wrote about some bizarre legal threats sent to Ken White (aka Popehat) concerning a story both of us had written about years ago. That story was about how a Louisiana zoo called the Global Wildlife Center (apparently run by the Global Wildlife Foundation), got upset about an obviously satirical article about giraffes at the GWC killing people, mocking a recent spate of attacks on humans by animals in captivity. The GWC was briefly able to get an injunction that was quickly removed when someone realized that there's this amazing thing called the First Amendment... For reasons unknown, years later, Ken Matherne, suddenly started threatening White over his original post on the story, which quoted a local news source saying the following:

In addition to filing this lawsuit, via email Global Wildlife Foundation president Ken Matherne threatened to file criminal charges, FCC charges, fraud charges, an IRS complaint, a governor's office complaint, and a federal lawsuit against Brilleaux. Matherne's email did not explain any basis for the additional threats.

Matherne sent a series of emails to White, each more endearingly wacky that the previous one, full of interesting legal theories and creative use of the English language. You can read the details from the earlier post, but just to pass on a few of the more memorable quotes:

I did not say anything at the time. But, I think he would get dis-board by the falsified documents he presented to the judge. His father was a friend or I would have had he dis-board.

We are going to dp this all legal – get ready – I will have one of your partners, associates , friends , spouses, in dispositions for the at least the next 6 – 12 months. Minimum – 1 lawsuit lasted 12.7 years, the next only 6 . I have the means – so write me back or get ready.

Ken It was a BS move – and I appreciate that you do that for the best of people – but you always know our kids are first – and I don't care how many $ it takes – my daughter will not live with this – so I will ask you one more time to pull this down – as a gentleman – or I will come to you! My airplane is only 10k an hour – have more cash & Gold in the bank than you can imagine – but if you hurt my daughter through this – my executives has all authority to go until all is done – I only have 1 daughter and it breaks her heart to see this! I would not do this to you or your family!

And more like that. Anyway, we wrote about that and posted it Monday. Today is Wednesday. At 12:49am California time this morning (2:49am in Louisiana, where the Global Wildlife Center is based), it appears that Ken Matherne subscribed to our daily email. Three minutes later, he unsubscribed. One minute after that, the general catchall email address that is the "from" in the subscription confirmation email, received a message from Matherne with the following subject line and no message:

you are saved and wait for me!

Leaving aside the vague notions of religious salvation, we waited. Not for long. At 1:39am our time, we received a "reply" to the unsubscribe notice that just said:

Get ready!

With anticipation building, we continued to wait (actually, we were all asleep). Eight minutes after that email, we got the following:

What state are you registered in? And if any of your two companies are affiliated - we should start to proceed. My daughter asked me not to last night. But after you new post -- I am coming!

Law is the Law !

Half an hour later (about an hour and a half after he first "subscribed") we get to... well... something:

I will save this - as I will see you in court! You may think this is fun and games - I believe in the law. I believe in the court system. You have just started a conspiracy and you documented it yourself.

So take my foundation down out of your harmful and malice posts or I will spend the next 20 years of my life, with every appeal, and every court to see justice. I will sue you as individuals and corporations - if they are legit.

Gentlemen, I only requested you do the right thing. Now you make the decision. And never use the word that I threaten you. I have been kind and upset, but I would never threaten anyone.

I never raised my voice to my wife. I don't care of your back ground - but through investigation and depositions, I will know each and everyone one of you.

You can print this to under one of you internet companies - but please note that I will hire enough geeks to play fair.

I want an answer by 10 CST that you will stop the damage you and your associates have done. I will have no choice but to proceed to expose you and associates, everything! And I love court and depositions!

I like how he is emailing us after 2am California time, where we are located, and giving us less than 6 hours to respond. While we are curious how reporting on facts means that we have started "a conspiracy," and find it even more interesting that he appears to directly be admitting that his intention is merely to tie us up in court, we believe that he probably should have heeded the original advice of his daughter that this was not a productive path to take.

He might also want to look up the definition of what a "threat" is, because saying that he will spend the next 20 years taking us to court is pretty much the definition of a threat.

Anyway, if there is anything he feels we wrote about him that is inaccurate, we (of course) are open to hearing about it, reviewing the evidence and determining if any correction needs to be issued. Though, as we saw with White, Matherne never seemed to provide any such evidence. Either way, we aren't easily bullied by random threats based on bluster and a weak understanding of the law.

Oh, and we should note that while Matherne was referred to as the President of the Global Wildlife Foundation in that original press report that White quoted, one of our commenters pointed out that Matherne does not appear to be listed as an officer, director, trustee or key employee of the Global Wildlife Foundation, according to its publicly available IRS filings, the latest of which you can see here or embedded below. Other reports have said that Matherne is merely the President of the Foundation's "advisory board."

Either way, I would suggest that his emailed threats to both us and Ken White are not doing the Global Wildlife Foundation or Global Wildlife Center any favors. Also, since I imagine he'll be reading this soon enough, Ken Matherne: I believe in the law, too. And the law doesn't let you just make up reasons to bring people to court because you're upset that those people are reporting on factual information that involves an organization that you are connected to. Again, if you believe there are factual inaccuracies in our reporting, we are happy to review the evidence. Otherwise, continually sending these kinds of emails isn't helping anyone.

Filed Under: ken matherne, legal threats
Companies: global wildlife center, global wildlife foundation

Bizarre Legal Threat Of The Day: Confused Zoo Owner Threatens Popehat Over... Well... Just Read It

from the i-don't-think-it's-legal-help-that-he-needs dept

Almost exactly three years ago, we wrote about a ridiculous situation down in Louisiana, where the "Global Wildlife Center" was able to get a judge to issue an injunction against an obviously satirical site that had written an obviously satirical article about "killer giraffes" and a "recent attack" at the Center. The article was poking fun at recent violent attacks at other zoos, normally involving animals like tigers and bears. It was amazing that a court issued the injunction, and thankfully, less than two weeks later, the injunction was removed and GWC was told to pay the legal costs for the site. And that was the last that we had heard of the Global Wildlife Center... until now.

On Friday, the Center's President apparently threatened to sue lawyer Ken White, better known as Popehat, defender of internet free speech. You see, Popehat had covered the original story too, and for some reason, the President, Ken Matherne, isn't too happy about that (even though it's three years later). Perhaps it was this tidbit in Popehat's original post (which was actually quoted from a local news site):

In addition to filing this lawsuit, via email Global Wildlife Foundation president Ken Matherne threatened to file criminal charges, FCC charges, fraud charges, an IRS complaint, a governor’s office complaint, and a federal lawsuit against Brilleaux. Matherne’s email did not explain any basis for the additional threats.

If that gives you a sense of Matherne's grasp on basic legal concepts, and his willingness to assume that he can use all sorts of totally unrelated laws against people he doesn't like, well, you're just getting a tiny little sense of what Popehat went through on Friday. You kind of have to read the whole thread on Popehat to get the full effect, because each time you think "this can't possibly get more ridiculous," it does exactly that. Assuming Matherne really did send the emails in question, he would appear to have almost as much trouble with the English language as he does with the legal concepts he uses to threaten White. Here's a snippet from the first email:

My last case to decide the Apple vs Microsoft case. I am not joking – you can send this email to the judge and soon as I file suit. I will ask you as I asked that kid to take it down, if you think your malice to to our Foundation is free speech – let’s get real lawyers and hosted judges to find out! It scared teachers, parents and the general public. They were canceling trips, it was malicious, and the evidence given to court was a fraud. I did not say anything at the time. But, I think he would get dis-board by the falsified documents he presented to the judge. His father was a friend or I would have had he dis-board.

Everyone will see the truth of you and your boyfriends. You can print this – You do not have a clue what you did to damage my foundation I created for my daughter. And when you wake up in the morning – hoping you have kids- I want you to think about what you have done. Your site has done more damage than the issue and my guys think your damages will be worse the any free speech issue. And we are ready!

We are going to dp this all legal – get ready – I will have one of your partners, associates , friends , spouses, in dispositions for the at least the next 6 – 12 months. Minimum – 1 lawsuit lasted 12.7 years, the next only 6 . I have the means – so write me back or get ready. This again is no threat. Simply a promise. It is no longer about what the kid did – it is about what your company did! And I promise you we will win = you have damaged my daughters trust for at least 50 years. You are about to meet the best attorneys on the planet.

There's also a discussion about Matherne's belief that White is apparently a dope smoking drug fiend who is having sexual relations with the partners at his law firm (or maybe on Popehat, it's not clear). White, quite calmly, asks Matherne if there was anything specific in the original post that he felt was a false statement of fact, and offered to review such claims and "make adjustments to the post if appropriate." Matherne's response was to just demand that the original Popehat article was taken down "or believe I will do everything for my daughter that you would do for your children !"

And then it got wacky.

Just send me you attorney of record – you will not hurt my daughter – I do not care what it cost ! Ken It was a BS move – and I appreciate that you do that for the best of people – but you always know our kids are first – and I don't care how many $ it takes – my daughter will not live with this – so I will ask you one more time to pull this down – as a gentleman – or I will come to you! My airplane is only 10k an hour – have more cash & Gold in the bank than you can imagine – but if you hurt my daughter through this – my executives has all authority to go until all is done – I only have 1 daughter and it breaks her heart to see this! I would not do this to you or your family!

I really love this line: "My airplane is only 10k an hour – have more cash & Gold in the bank than you can imagine."

White points out, in response, that he is still waiting for any specific inaccuracies, and notes that he's willing to speak to any attorney representing Matherne -- to which Matherne initially sent a simple "Game on!" email, followed by this (not the full email, which has more where this came from):

Get your check book out – and unless you can buy every judge to the State Supreme Court – you will pay damages = not about freedom of speech –
Oh, And I will follow up with everything I said I would do. Ken White, You better have an attorney or get one .

Cannot wait to meet you – You are and I can “quote again” a piece of shit! You do a disservice to mankind. I hope the judge we come before understands what a parasite you are and does not want his kids or grandchildren to be exposed to someone like you!

And I do not care about are inaccuracies about was said or texted. You are wrong and you are libel. Again, I do not lose lawsuits, and I do not think to can pay off the judges!

If I'm reading this right, and I believe that I am, Matherne is not only threatening to take White to court under some ridiculous legal theories, but he is flat out admitting that he does "not care" about "inaccuracies." He also seems to be admitting throughout that he's doing this to tie White up in court. I would imagine that if this ever actually got to a court and wasn't thrown out immediately, these admissions would not help his case very much.

Randomly, out of curiosity, I went to check out the website for the Global Wildlife Foundation, and discovered that if you have Javascript turned off, you can see that they've got a ton of "payday loans" spam links hidden on their page. Either they've been hacked or they're selling link spam. Maybe they should take care of that before issuing bogus legal threats trying to censor a lawyer known for vocally defending the First Amendment.

Filed Under: defamation, ken matherne, ken white, legal threats, popehat, threats, vexatious litigation
Companies: global wildlife center, global wildlife foundation

Judge Decides That Fake Giraffe Attack Story Is Protected Free Speech

from the good-move dept

A few weeks back, we were a bit concerned about a judge's decision to force offline a satirical "news story" about a fake giraffe attack at the Global Wildlife Center in Louisiana. Just because GWC was worried that some people might take the story seriously, it doesn't remove the First Amendment rights of the creators of the satirical site. Thankfully, the judge now agrees and has removed the injunction and ordered GWC to pay the legal costs of the site's creators. The judge noted that while the center had some concerns about how the article was viewed, it doesn't change the fact that the content is protected free speech as satire.

Filed Under: free speech, giraffe, satire
Companies: global wildlife center

Judge Orders Satirical Site To Remove Joke Story About Fictional Giraffe Attack

from the there-goes-the-onion dept

There are tons of "satirical" news websites out there (pretty much all of them are following -- not nearly as well -- in the trail blazed by The Onion) and every so often it is true that someone gets "fooled" by one of those sites. But it usually doesn't take long for the fooled party to set things straight. But apparently the Global Wildlife Center in Louisiana thinks that a satire about itself is illegal... and somehow has convinced a judge of that as well. Romenesko points us to the news that a judge has issued an injunction forcing a blog to pull down its satirical story about a supposed "giraffe attack" at the Center. The story was a play on the usual stories of tiger or bear attacks. Who knows if it was actually funny or not, but the Center's director is upset that "it's malicious and untrue." It's satire. It wasn't malicious, but the whole point is that it's untrue. It's pretty sad that the judge agreed to shut it down, and the Center's argument that it can't be satire because "the site isn't labeled as satire" is pretty ridiculous as well. Should everyone writing satire be forced to label it as such?

Filed Under: free speech, giraffes, satire
Companies: global wildlife center