Gentle Spirit Magazine Lawsuit
Helen
From: American Homeschool Association <AHA@...>
This is just a note to advise anyone interested in the recent lawsuit won
by Gentle Spirit magazine: An in-depth discussion of this lawsuit has been
taking place on the AHA-Networking list:
http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/AHA-Networking
The list archives are private, but you can read them without downloading
the currently heavy list traffic by joining the list and setting your
preferences to "no mail."
For those who are unfamiliar with this important case, here
is a statement from the publisher, Cheryl Lindsey Seelhoff:
Statement
In early spring of 1994, after having published Gentle Spirit Magazine for
five years, I experienced a crisis in my marriage which resulted eventually
in its dissolution. My ex-husband had moved to another state, and I had met
the man who is now my husband, Rick Seelhoff. At the time, I was a member
of Calvary Chapel of Tacoma. I asked to meet privately with my then-pastor
and his wife, Joe and Irene Williams, in April of 1994, for confession and
spiritual counsel. The pastor and his wife assured me they would keep my
family situation confidential. After I met with them, I stopped attending
their church and never attended their church again.
Months after I last attended church services at Calvary Chapel of Tacoma, in
the days shortly before and just after my last public speaking engagement at
the CHEO convention in Ohio, Pastor Williams and his wife received phone
calls from several leaders in the national conservative Christian
homeschooling community, asking for detailed, intimate information about my
personal life. Pastor Williams and his wife provided that information.
Among the leaders who called requesting personal information about me were
Gregg Harris, Sue Welch, and the then-chair of CHEO, Michael Boutot. I knew
these homeschooling leaders only very casually, in some cases, or not at all.
None was my mentor in publishing or had been involved with the publication
of my magazine. I had no idea any of these leaders had been made aware of
my family circumstances or that they were conducting any kind of
investigation of me. None of these leaders attended any Calvary Chapel
church, let alone my own church. Gentle Spirit was not a nonprofit,
religious organization, but a for-profit, private, family business concern.
After the Williams spoke with these leaders, calls were placed to other
prominent persons in the Christian homeschooling community. A decision was
made among some of these leaders that I be presented with a list of
ultimatums, which they called, "proofs of repentance," or have intimate
details of my personal life disclosed nationally and publicly. The "proofs
of repentance" I was to perform included not answering my telephone, turning
over the contents of my business and personal bank accounts to others, not
having a post office box, never going anywhere alone, stepping down from my
position as Editor and Publisher of Gentle Spirit, agreeing not to speak
publicly, agreeing not to defend myself, firing my attorneys, withdrawing
restraining orders I had obtained to protect my family and business, and
replacing Gentle Spirit with Teaching Home Magazine. At the time, I was the
sole support of my family of 11 people, and Gentle Spirit Magazine provided
all of our family's income.
When I failed to comply with the "proofs of repentance," the Williams
drafted a "letter of discipline." They discussed the contents of the letter
of discipline with Sue Welch and Michael Farris of HSLDA. The letter
stated, among other things, that I was guilty of unrepentant adultery with
lying, because I said I was repentant although I continued my relationship
with Rick, whom I married in 1995. They read this letter of discipline
publicly, against my will, at a Sunday morning church service months after I
had last attended the church. The pastor's wife, Irene Williams, read the
letter of discipline over the telephone to Sue Welch, Editor of Teaching
Home Magazine, who audiotaped the reading of the letter. Ms. Welch then
asked the Williams to write a letter to her requesting her help in
disseminating the contents of the letter of church discipline to leaders in
the homeschooling community. Ms Welch also offered to the Williams the
services of her attorney, Michael Farris, who spoke with the Williams
several times by phone. The Williams provided the letter Sue Welch
requested, along with a copy of the letter of discipline, and Sue Welch then
faxed and otherwise circulated the letter of discipline to the chairpersons
of more than 43 state homeschooling organizations as well as many other
leaders, publishers, business persons, and others in the homeschooling
marketplace. The information was circulated over a number of months by
facsimile, regular mail, telephone, and via the internet. In early 1995,
an "update" was provided in a newsletter sent out by Teaching Home staff to
all state homeschooling leaders. Another magazine publisher, Mary Pride,
whom I had never personally met and with whom I had never done business,
also paid a member of her staff to investigate my situation. This staff
member contacted the Williams, Sue Welch, and others and asked intimate
questions about my personal life. Gregg Harris also participated in the
early investigation of my family's crisis, discussing my personal life with
my ex-husband, the Williams, and Sue Welch. I did not become aware of Ms.
Welch's , Mr. Farris's, Mr. Harris's, Mary Pride's, Michael Farris's, or
other leaders' actions, in some instances, until years after the fact.
In the wake of the circulation of this information, I began receiving
letters from subscribers, columnists and advertisers who canceled their
subscriptions, resigned as columnists or canceled their advertisements.
Some of these people demanded refunds. Several different homeschooling
publications ran articles disclosing the contents of the Williams' letter of
discipline and other facts, some true, some untrue. Ms Welch reimbursed the
pastor and his wife for the costs of the many telephone calls they received
which resulted from the circulation of this letter. As the mother of nine
and sole provider for my family via Gentle Spirit, these actions were
devastating to me.
I subsequently attempted to do what I could to fulfill my obligations to
subscribers. I mailed refunds, sent out back issues, at one point attempted
to publish Gentle Spirit in an e-mail loop, and finally I established a
website. At each turn I was met with intense opposition, as long as three
years after the fact, so that I could not continue.
Finally I despaired of ever being able to fulfill my obligations to
subscribers or to lead a normal life absent legal action. At that point I
filed suit in Federal Court for the Western District of Washington against
several defendants: Calvary Chapel of Tacoma, Joe and Irene Williams,
Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, The Teaching Home and Sue Welch, Gregg Harris,
Christian Home Educators of Ohio and its then-chairperson, and Bill and Mary
Pride, alleging a number of causes of action, among them defamation, slander,
outrage, interference with commerce, and violation of the Sherman Antitrust
Act of the United States. We settled our claims with Gregg Harris, Calvary
Chapel of Costa Mesa, CHEO, and the Prides before trial for amounts which we
agreed to keep confidential. We did go to trial with Sue Welch, and after
eight days of trial, a unanimous jury found that Sue Welch and the Williams
had entered into an illegal conspiracy to restrain trade in violation of the
Sherman Antitrust Act. The jury found that I had been damaged in the amount
of $435,000. Because damages awards in antitrust actions are automatically
trebled, I was entitled to receive in excess of 1.3 million dollars from Sue
Welch. In addition, I was entitled to recover my attorneys' fees and costs.
Subsequent to the jury verdict, we settled our claims with Sue Welch for an
amount which we have agreed not to disclose.
We then proceeded to trial in one remaining cause of action, interference
with commerce. The sole defendants by this time were the Williams and
Calvary Chapel of Tacoma. Prior to trial, we settled with these remaining
defendants as well, so that all of our claims against all of the defendants
have now been resolved.
This information and the lawsuit are a matter of public record in Pierce
County Superior Court at Tacoma and in the US District Court for the Western
District of Washington at Tacoma.
End
------------------------------------------------------------------------
With more than 20 million e-mails exchanged daily...
http://www.onelist.com
...ONElist is home to the liveliest discussions on the Internet!
This is just a note to advise anyone interested in the recent lawsuit won
by Gentle Spirit magazine: An in-depth discussion of this lawsuit has been
taking place on the AHA-Networking list:
http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/AHA-Networking
The list archives are private, but you can read them without downloading
the currently heavy list traffic by joining the list and setting your
preferences to "no mail."
For those who are unfamiliar with this important case, here
is a statement from the publisher, Cheryl Lindsey Seelhoff:
Statement
In early spring of 1994, after having published Gentle Spirit Magazine for
five years, I experienced a crisis in my marriage which resulted eventually
in its dissolution. My ex-husband had moved to another state, and I had met
the man who is now my husband, Rick Seelhoff. At the time, I was a member
of Calvary Chapel of Tacoma. I asked to meet privately with my then-pastor
and his wife, Joe and Irene Williams, in April of 1994, for confession and
spiritual counsel. The pastor and his wife assured me they would keep my
family situation confidential. After I met with them, I stopped attending
their church and never attended their church again.
Months after I last attended church services at Calvary Chapel of Tacoma, in
the days shortly before and just after my last public speaking engagement at
the CHEO convention in Ohio, Pastor Williams and his wife received phone
calls from several leaders in the national conservative Christian
homeschooling community, asking for detailed, intimate information about my
personal life. Pastor Williams and his wife provided that information.
Among the leaders who called requesting personal information about me were
Gregg Harris, Sue Welch, and the then-chair of CHEO, Michael Boutot. I knew
these homeschooling leaders only very casually, in some cases, or not at all.
None was my mentor in publishing or had been involved with the publication
of my magazine. I had no idea any of these leaders had been made aware of
my family circumstances or that they were conducting any kind of
investigation of me. None of these leaders attended any Calvary Chapel
church, let alone my own church. Gentle Spirit was not a nonprofit,
religious organization, but a for-profit, private, family business concern.
After the Williams spoke with these leaders, calls were placed to other
prominent persons in the Christian homeschooling community. A decision was
made among some of these leaders that I be presented with a list of
ultimatums, which they called, "proofs of repentance," or have intimate
details of my personal life disclosed nationally and publicly. The "proofs
of repentance" I was to perform included not answering my telephone, turning
over the contents of my business and personal bank accounts to others, not
having a post office box, never going anywhere alone, stepping down from my
position as Editor and Publisher of Gentle Spirit, agreeing not to speak
publicly, agreeing not to defend myself, firing my attorneys, withdrawing
restraining orders I had obtained to protect my family and business, and
replacing Gentle Spirit with Teaching Home Magazine. At the time, I was the
sole support of my family of 11 people, and Gentle Spirit Magazine provided
all of our family's income.
When I failed to comply with the "proofs of repentance," the Williams
drafted a "letter of discipline." They discussed the contents of the letter
of discipline with Sue Welch and Michael Farris of HSLDA. The letter
stated, among other things, that I was guilty of unrepentant adultery with
lying, because I said I was repentant although I continued my relationship
with Rick, whom I married in 1995. They read this letter of discipline
publicly, against my will, at a Sunday morning church service months after I
had last attended the church. The pastor's wife, Irene Williams, read the
letter of discipline over the telephone to Sue Welch, Editor of Teaching
Home Magazine, who audiotaped the reading of the letter. Ms. Welch then
asked the Williams to write a letter to her requesting her help in
disseminating the contents of the letter of church discipline to leaders in
the homeschooling community. Ms Welch also offered to the Williams the
services of her attorney, Michael Farris, who spoke with the Williams
several times by phone. The Williams provided the letter Sue Welch
requested, along with a copy of the letter of discipline, and Sue Welch then
faxed and otherwise circulated the letter of discipline to the chairpersons
of more than 43 state homeschooling organizations as well as many other
leaders, publishers, business persons, and others in the homeschooling
marketplace. The information was circulated over a number of months by
facsimile, regular mail, telephone, and via the internet. In early 1995,
an "update" was provided in a newsletter sent out by Teaching Home staff to
all state homeschooling leaders. Another magazine publisher, Mary Pride,
whom I had never personally met and with whom I had never done business,
also paid a member of her staff to investigate my situation. This staff
member contacted the Williams, Sue Welch, and others and asked intimate
questions about my personal life. Gregg Harris also participated in the
early investigation of my family's crisis, discussing my personal life with
my ex-husband, the Williams, and Sue Welch. I did not become aware of Ms.
Welch's , Mr. Farris's, Mr. Harris's, Mary Pride's, Michael Farris's, or
other leaders' actions, in some instances, until years after the fact.
In the wake of the circulation of this information, I began receiving
letters from subscribers, columnists and advertisers who canceled their
subscriptions, resigned as columnists or canceled their advertisements.
Some of these people demanded refunds. Several different homeschooling
publications ran articles disclosing the contents of the Williams' letter of
discipline and other facts, some true, some untrue. Ms Welch reimbursed the
pastor and his wife for the costs of the many telephone calls they received
which resulted from the circulation of this letter. As the mother of nine
and sole provider for my family via Gentle Spirit, these actions were
devastating to me.
I subsequently attempted to do what I could to fulfill my obligations to
subscribers. I mailed refunds, sent out back issues, at one point attempted
to publish Gentle Spirit in an e-mail loop, and finally I established a
website. At each turn I was met with intense opposition, as long as three
years after the fact, so that I could not continue.
Finally I despaired of ever being able to fulfill my obligations to
subscribers or to lead a normal life absent legal action. At that point I
filed suit in Federal Court for the Western District of Washington against
several defendants: Calvary Chapel of Tacoma, Joe and Irene Williams,
Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, The Teaching Home and Sue Welch, Gregg Harris,
Christian Home Educators of Ohio and its then-chairperson, and Bill and Mary
Pride, alleging a number of causes of action, among them defamation, slander,
outrage, interference with commerce, and violation of the Sherman Antitrust
Act of the United States. We settled our claims with Gregg Harris, Calvary
Chapel of Costa Mesa, CHEO, and the Prides before trial for amounts which we
agreed to keep confidential. We did go to trial with Sue Welch, and after
eight days of trial, a unanimous jury found that Sue Welch and the Williams
had entered into an illegal conspiracy to restrain trade in violation of the
Sherman Antitrust Act. The jury found that I had been damaged in the amount
of $435,000. Because damages awards in antitrust actions are automatically
trebled, I was entitled to receive in excess of 1.3 million dollars from Sue
Welch. In addition, I was entitled to recover my attorneys' fees and costs.
Subsequent to the jury verdict, we settled our claims with Sue Welch for an
amount which we have agreed not to disclose.
We then proceeded to trial in one remaining cause of action, interference
with commerce. The sole defendants by this time were the Williams and
Calvary Chapel of Tacoma. Prior to trial, we settled with these remaining
defendants as well, so that all of our claims against all of the defendants
have now been resolved.
This information and the lawsuit are a matter of public record in Pierce
County Superior Court at Tacoma and in the US District Court for the Western
District of Washington at Tacoma.
End
------------------------------------------------------------------------
With more than 20 million e-mails exchanged daily...
http://www.onelist.com
...ONElist is home to the liveliest discussions on the Internet!