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FTW WINS SABOTAGE CASE – FINALLY
by
Michael C. Ruppert
© Copyright 2006, From The Wilderness Publications, www.fromthewilderness.com. All Rights Reserved. May be reprinted, distributed or posted on an Internet web site for non-profit purposes only.
January 17, 2006 1300 PST (FTW) – It took an almost-unheard-of ten months for the Small Claims case involving deliberate sabotage by a former FTW employee to reach its final resolution. But with an appeals ruling issued on December 20th, 2005, (received in the first week in January) it finally did. In his ruling
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Judge Michael Hoff reaffirmed the original Small Claims ruling in FTW’s favor from last summer. That ruling found that FTW had made its case proving deliberate sabotage. By filing an appeal willfully using an incorrect address for FTW, the former employee, Christopher Lee Fusco, had successfully won a default judgment against FTW after notice of the trial De Novo failed to reach our offices.
It was a cheap trick and although it didn’t ultimately succeed it did thoroughly disrupt our operations and cash flow. More than $5,000 was levied without notice from FTW’s business checking account last October, nearly putting FTW out of business. That, coupled with two months of deliberate sabotage by Fusco involving more than one hundred misplaced customer orders, uncashed checks, unfilled orders and shipments of FTW inventory to incorrect addresses nearly forced FTW to close its doors.
The sabotage, which also involved former employees other than Fusco, was so serious that, in his December 20th testimony, Ryan Spiegl, FTW’s Information Technology Manager, categorized the damage level as between 8 and 9 on a scale of 10. It also necessitated an urgent appeal to FTW’s readership for emergency funds which saved the day. More than $50,000 much-needed dollars were received which covered most of the costs of straightening out every order and satisfying every customer. It also helped FTW to prepare for its now-imminent move to Ashland, Oregon. That move is scheduled to be completed by mid-February. FTW has secured wonderful new offices and now plans to move ahead with a long-planned expansion of services and news coverage.
While funds are still tight we are confident we’ll get the job done.
I lack the words to express my gratitude for this generosity. All of us at FTW have re-committed ourselves to staying in this necessary fight to educate and prepare America and the world about the consequences of Peak Oil over the long haul.
The Small Claims decision, which is not appealable, leaves the door open for a larger civil suit by FTW against the former employees wherein the record of the Small Claims case would stack the odds of a larger victory in our favor. FTW has until April, 2006 to file that action.
Thank you all, from the bottom of our hearts.
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