National Geographic Society, Toronto Star respond to Douglas Handshoe lawsuit, conspiracy theories

Attorneys for the National Geographic Society have just filed a motion to dismiss Mississippi blogger Douglas K. Handshoe's legal claims against the renowned non-profit organization, filed in U.S. district court by Handshoe in mid November, 2015.

Brief of the National Geographic Society

Citing Handshoe's self-created "legal quagmire" National Geographic lays out numerous grounds for dismissal of the claims, which include "civil conspiracy."

A few days ago, Torstar Corporation, publisher of the Toronto Star newspaper, filed its reply to the same lawsuit. This is the second time Handshoe has sued the Star in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. His previous defamation lawsuit against Canada's largest daily was thrown out, but before that occurred Handshoe sued the same company a second time, with new made up claims. Handshoe's lawsuits, which thus far all seem to get thrown out, are clogging an already overburdened Mississippi judicial system, and causing those he sues to waste financial resources and time.

According to its web site, "The National Geographic Society has been inspiring people to care about the planet since 1888. It is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, and the promotion of environmental and historical conservation." In addition to local counsel, National Geographic is represented by Lisa R. Bonanno and Ellen S. Kennedy, both from a major Washington, D.C. law firm. 

Handshoe accuses NGS and the Star of conspiring with the owners of a Nova Scotia wilderness lodge, and a Nova Scotia magazine publisher and journalist, to injure him through a coordinated attempt to silence his purported investigation of a long-ago concluded corruption scandal in Louisiana.

Handshoe claims that the conspiracy involved using notices of copyright infringement that contained intentional misrepresentations and damaged Handshoe's shell company Slabbed New Media, LLC, which is currently in bankruptcy court. National Geographic points out numerous alleged deficiencies in Handshoe's legal claims, and even cites a decision of Mississippi federal judge Keith Starrett  issued in mid December, 2015, that determined Handshoe has a "plain misunderstanding of copyright law."  Handshoe purports that he somehow has a right to publish a photograph of Trout Point Lodge owner Charles Leary taken and copyrighted by NGS, while also claiming that NGS's notice to his web host that he was infringing copyright was somehow a misrepresentation that caused injury.

Leary was a delegate to the 2010 Geotourism Summit held by NGS, according to Trout Point's blog. The Lodge was a finalist in the 2009 NGS Geotourism competition on the theme "Power of Place."

Judge Halil Ozerden will hear the current National Geographic case. Torstar has denied all of Handshoe's allegations, and is seeking costs from the Wiggins, Mississippi, accountant. The other defendants have not replied to Handshoe, whose methods of serving process look highly questionable according to court documents.

National Geographic's legal brief, filed January 5, 2016, succinctly summarizes the argument against Handshoe--that is, the facts stated in his own lawsuit contradict his status as a legitimate plaintiff:

The sole ground for including NGS as a defendant in this latest complaint: a notice that NGS sent to the internet service provider hosting the website of non-party Slabbed New Media, LLC (“Slabbed”) on January 7, 2013—almost three years ago—demanding that a photograph clearly displaying NGS’s copyright be removed from Slabbed’s website. 

Based on this slender reed, Plaintiff seeks to manufacture causes of action against NGS for supposed copyright misrepresentation and, even more incredibly, for civil conspiracy. He also asks this Court to take the entirely unnecessary step of resolving the question of whether Slabbed’s use of NGS’s copyrighted image on its website qualified as “fair use.” The threadbare allegations in the Amended Complaint, however, contradict, rather than support, these claims. 

The Amended Complaint is first subject to dismissal under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) because, by Plaintiff’s own admission, he does not have standing to bring a claim against NGS, having suffered no injury or been personally accused of violating any copyright. It is also subject to dismissal under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) as a shotgun pleading that fails to give fair notice to NGS as to what allegations are being made against it individually. Finally, the handful of specific allegations regarding NGS that can be gleaned from the Amended Complaint are patently insufficient to support Plaintiff’s claims for numerous reasons, including the following: 

● The Amended Complaint fails to adequately plead at least three essential elements of a claim under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), requiring the dismissal of Count 5;

● Plaintiff’s attempted civil conspiracy claim under Count 9 fails both because such a claim is preempted by the Federal Copyright Act, and because the Amended Complaint does not plausibly allege the fundamental requirement of an agreement between NGS and its alleged co-conspirators; and

● There is no actual case or controversy to support Plaintiff’s request for a declaratory judgment and, consequently, this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over Count 10. 

Because the Amended Complaint is deficient as a matter of law in both its form and content, NGS’s Motion to Dismiss should be granted.

Notably, Handshoe has until today to file an amendment to yet another lawsuit he filed claiming "misrepresentation" under the Copyright Act, and also has to answer a "show cause" order from the federal court as why his last claim in that other lawsuit should not be dismissed. Handshoe has filed legal papers against dozens of persons and companies in multiple lawsuits over the past three years.

In 2012, the Chief Judge of the same federal court found Handshoe prone to "conspiracy theories" regarding Trout Point Lodge, a 12-room Nova Scotia hotel and its purported connection to an international money laundering scheme with former Louisiana politician Aaron Broussard, conspiracy theories that now have extended to major Canadian newspapers, journalists, and National Geographic:

Handshoe has not published any specific allegations about what role he believes Leary and Perret played in Broussard’s crimes. It is possible this is because Handshoe does not have any information indicating Plaintiffs were involved in Broussard’s criminal activity. Handshoe, has, however, made numerous more generalized allegations about connections between Leary, Perret, Abel, and Broussard. Some of these statements seem to be based in fact; others appears to be conspiracy theories that may or may not be substantiated.

What in 2012 "may or may not be substantiated" appears in 2016 as either the stark lunatic ravings of a true conspiracy theorist,  or an attempt to use lawsuits to harass his enemies, or both.  The New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper retraced any and all implications that Trout Point Lodge was somehow involved with Broussard in two retractions published in 2010 and 2011. Handshoe has written on his blog that the retractions from the Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper owned by Advance Publications were coerced, and part of a massive international coverup.

Stay tuned for news on the Show Cause Order issued to Handshoe . . . .

The Slabbed Nation Part 1(d): "unslabbed" Vandenweghe, Doug Handshoe, motive, means, and opportunity

"unslabbed" Vandenweghe has been a regular, though largely anonymous, fixture on Slabbed since slightly before the Jefferson Parish and River Birch scandals came to the fore of public consciousness. And, coincidentally, Slabbed has only targeted Jefferson Parish precisely since those scandals started to become public. How and why does a Mississippi blog on insurance matters so suddenly come to focus on Jefferson Parish, Louisiana corruption? That's about like a small town Mississippi accountant showing up liquidating the assets of a forfeit criminal RICO corporation in Baton Rouge bankruptcy court.

Is it any surprise Vandenweghe and Handshoe have particularly targeted topics directly relevant to Vandenweghe's "whistleblower" lawsuit under Louisiana state law, while also regularly attacking people like "the goatherders" (men previously referred to as "the girls") whose actions in legitimately fighting defamation from their home jurisdictions might interfere with Handshoe & Vandenweghe's plans and vendettas? 

What does Vandenweghe stand to gain if she wins the whistleblower claims? 

Louisiana RS 23:967

. . . the plaintiff may recover from the employer damages, reasonable attorney's fees, and court costs.

C...For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the definitions ascribed below. . . .

(2).."Damages" include compensatory damages, back pay, benefits, reinstatement, reasonable attorney fees, and court costs resulting from the reprisal.

Likewise, if Vandenweghe reported ethical violations to her supervisor or the Louisiana Ethics Board under RS 42:1169 she would be "entitled to receive any lost income and benefits for the period of any suspension, demotion, or dismissal."

On January 2, 2013, Handshoe published a post referring to why blogger "Ignatius Jeff Reilly" had purportedly just left WordPress.com to move to his own domain. (Trouble is, he very well might be Doug Handshoe as well). Handshoe writes on Slabbed of people invading the privacy of his commenters, including "unslabbed" Vandenweghe:

What he [Reilly] is taking about is Charles Leary of Trout Point Lodge swearing false affidavits in Canada for the purpose of invading the privacy of American internet commenters discussing the massive political corruption scandal in New Orleans on Slabbed when we were hosted on WordPress. According to the Concrete Busters lawsuit Leary, Perret and Danny Abel are working on behalf of Fred Heebe, the target of the massive Federal investigation to silence public discourse on the matter and retaliate against those blowing the whistle on the systemic corruption that plagues this area.

Mr. Handshoe apparently followed up by faxing a letter further accusing Leary of perjury and misleading the court to a Nova Scotia judge on February 6.  He just recently published the letter on Slabbed. There was a hearing involving scheduling for a copyright infringement lawsuit against Handshoe on February 7, and Mr. Handshoe must have thought this would be the judge presiding at that hearing. Nothing like trying to extra-judicially influence judges against the other side!

Yet again, there Mr. Handshoe goes falsely acusing Charles Leary of perjury, but this time he and his partners aren't purportedly working for Aaron Broussard, they're all working for Frederick Heebe. Amazing how that happens--the "goatherders" in Nova Scotia are somehow always connected to whatever is the scandal of the day in metro New Orleans.

Once again, there is Mr. Handshoe in his "good citizen" pose, fighting corruption and crime he ironically knows a lot about.

Yes, yet again there is Mr. Handshoe hypocritically railing on about "the privacy of American internet commenters."

Now, in this case, Handshoe has unproven and unfounded allegations in an actual lawsuit to refer to as "evidence," the "Concrete Busters lawsuit." Such a memorable name! He referenced Concrete Busters again in that letter to the Nova Scotia judge:

To the extent it has been alleged in a civil suit filed with the United States District Court in the Eastern District of Louisiana that Mssrs. Leary, Perret and Abel have been acting on behalf of organized crime figures in New Orleans, the impact of the of your courtroom being used in furtherance of a American organized crime conspiracy cannot be understated.

Indeed, Handshoe has made a lot of hay out of the civil claim captioned "Concrete Busters," and though Leary & Perret's own recent civil lawsuit accused him of conspiring with that lawsuit's attorney, Randall A. "Randy" Smith, Handshoe has publicly denied certain things:

I’d like to note that I have never spoken with Smith or communicated with him nor did I have any advance knowledge of the amended complaint Concrete Busters filed against River Birch which mentioned Trout Point Lodge and Cerro Coyote as Heebe co-conspirators and I have no problem saying that.

Let's examine those assertions.

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It behooves anyone reading thus far to review the persons who keep popping up in research into Mr. Handshoe, Ms. Vandenweghe, and the little project named "Slabbed":

• Defamation Defendant Doug K. Handshoe – corporate officer (Treasurer) with Fred H. Goodson in Slidell Motel, Inc. and other Goodson corporations in Mississippi and Louisiana starting in 1992 (the same year video poker became legal) – accountant for Goodson enterprises – incorporator of new Goodson company “Interstate Management” in Mississippi in 1997, after Fred Goodson's conviction
• Fred H. Goodson – represented in federal bribery, money laundering, wire fraud and racketeering criminal trial by Michael Fawer, whose law partner was Randall A. Smith - convicted felon – prosecuted and sentenced in Louisiana by a team that included James B. Letten in 1997
• Randall A. Smith – Michael Fawer's law partner since 1995 – attorney for Greg Meffert, who was cooperating with U.S. Attorney Jim Letten in New Orleans & Jefferson Parish corruption investigations – attorney for Waste Remediation of Plaquemines
• Smith & Fawer, LLC – law firm for the Lauricella business interests, including but not limited to Waste Remediation of Plaquemines
• Anne-Marie Vandenweghe – minister in Marion Lauricella's church – “Jane Doe” co-defendant of Doug Handshoe explicitly outed by him as "unslabbed" in September, 2012 – plaintiff in whistleblower lawsuit involving fraud in River Birch Landfill contract award – former Asst. Jefferson Parish Attorney in charge of Public Record Requests – self-proclaimed FBI informant – law school classmate of James Letten and Jan Maselli Mann – former gambling consultant - former wife of Ray Valdes
• Marion Lauricella – first cousin of Hank Lauricella - former backroom gambling operator
• Hank Lauricella – former Louisiana state senator implicated but never indicted in wide-ranging gambling/bribery investigation in which Fred Goodson was indicted and convicted – represented Harahan at the same time as Anne-Marie Vandenweghe reresented Harahan on Jefferson Parish Council - beneficial owner of Waste Remediation of Plaquemines
• Waste Remediation of Plaquemines – plaintiff in civil RICO lawsuit against Frederick Heebe and River Birch Landfill

Now, Mr. Handshoe claims he didn't have "any advance knowledge of the amended complaint Concrete Busters filed."

What did that amended civil complaint allege? For one prominent thing, that there was a criminal racketeering conspiracy involving a multimillion dollar waste disposal RFP: "co-conspirators included numerous shell corporations and limited liability companies [LLCs] owned and/or controlled by the Defendants and/or their co-conspirators." Smith then listed more than 28 companies, including a lot of LLCs. Who was an alleged co-conspirator and alleged member of many of the LLCs? Of course: former Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard. That amended complaint was filed with the court at 10:54 am on October 4, 2012.

Attorney Randy Smith knows a lot about racketeering and bribery. Among other things, he represented Greg Meffert and Frank Fradella, two persons involved in the alleged bribery scheme of former New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin. As the Times-Picayune reported on June 26, 2012, in an article entitled "Mayor Ray Nagin implicated in new document charging Covington businessman":

Until Monday, Fradella had steadfastly maintained his innocence even as Meffert and other Nagin associates pleaded guilty to various white-collar crimes -- and even though Fradella also faced daunting securities-fraud charges in Dallas. Those charges could have carried more than $20 million in fines and scores of years in prison.

But presented with a chance to slash the charges against him in the Dallas and New Orleans cases down to two felonies, Fradella's attorney, Randy Smith, said his client would become "another Team USA volunteer" and plead guilty today at 10 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan, "unless he changes his mind overnight."

Although "Public Official A" is not named, there is no confusion about his identity. The document describes him as an agent of the city of New Orleans from May 2002 through May 2010. That coincides with Nagin's tenure as mayor.

Asked whether the public official mentioned in the documents was Nagin, Smith declined to answer directly, saying only: "Let's put it this way. He served from May 2002 to May 2010. It's not my right to name him. But if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's probably a duck."

(Wasn't it news about Meffert's plea deal that Handshoe says he was tipped off by "The Wino" about before it was made public?)

In early October, 2012, a federal judge in Mississippi was considering submissions from both sides in the $427,000 defamation judgment enforcement action against Handshoe. Handshoe had argued that a lot should turn on whether Handshoe could even remotely justify his multiple criminal allegations against "the goatherders" on Slabbed, including prominently their purported collusion with Aaron Broussard in a criminal enterprise involving bribery and money laundering. Handshoe stood to loose the $427,000 if he did not prevail. PACER shows that submissions to the judge had closed in late August, 2012.

On October 2--two days before Smith & Fawer filed the Concrete Busters amended complaint--Handshoe published a Tweet in response to another Twitter post quoting a twist on a particular and strangely familiar saying, and referring to Slabbed:

 
Now that's quite a coincidence! Ducks and LLCs. Wonder who Ponchartrain Pete is? Looks like maybe Handshoe wasn't really forthcoming when he said that about no prior knowledge of the Concrete Busters amended complaint.

Of course, there's more to tell.  

Magically, Mississippi resident Handshoe got his hands on the Concrete Busters/Waste Remediation complaint the same day it was filed in Louisiana state court. In fact, Handshoe "broke" the story at 4:41 pm with a scanned pdf of the entire amended complaint. Now, in the Louisiana courts, there is no system like PACER where you can instantly get scans of court filings online. So how did Handshoe get the Concrete Busters/Waste Remediation suit so fast? How did he know about it at all? Even the Times-Picayune didn't publish about it on nola.com until 6:23 pm that day, including its own scanned pdf file of the lawsuit. 

Handshoe's very proud of his cyber sleuthing capacities. Mr. Handshoe has a B.S. degree from the University of Southern Mississippi (1986) and wrote a thesis entitled “The drive to make comuters [i.e. computers] talk to each other : the micro-mainframe connection.” He says he's succesfully identified the U.S. Department of Justice and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police looking at his blog. He stated in February, 2013:

I aver that I have visitor logs that indicate Mr Leary and his husband Vaughn Perret were closely monitoring Slabbed in January, 2010 when the allegations involving their roles in Broussard’s criminal enterprise first surfaced in the local media.

So, Mr. Doug knows exactly who's who in the Slabbed audience. 

Where did the Times-Picayune get it's copy of the amended Concrete Busters/Lauricella lawsuit?

Let's take a look at Google results for the two pdf files: one published on Slabbed, and the other one nola.com. Here's Google's take on the Slabbed pdf:

And here's what Google saw about nola.com's pdf:

 
Now that's funny--both titles are exactly identical! Maybe reporter Manuel Torres at the Times-Picayune was provided with a pdf copy of that lawsuit by some interested party promoting an agenda? That must just be a coincidence, no?

Here is how Google itself says it analyzes pdf file titles posted on the Internet:

The anchor text of links pointing to the Concrete Busters pdf file did not contain the word "Slabbed" on either nola.com or slabbed.org. So, it must be that "title metadata within the file" said "Slabbed" for both the Slabbed pdf and the nola.com pdf. Hmmm.

Handshoe and Vandenweghe might indeed hope that wide distribution of the unfounded allegation that Leary, Perret, and Trout Point Lodge were criminal co-conspirators of Aaron Broussard might  influence influential persons making important decisions about Mr. Handshoe's fate . . . including people in courthouses.

----

"unslabbed" Vandenweghe's own federal lawsuit makes for interesting reading, as does the May, 2012, decision of Judge Barbier, especially when compared with anonymous comments published on Slabbed by viewfromhell, unslabbed, Whitmergate, and others in early 2010. Judge Barbier threw out the bulk of Vandenweghe's allegations on a motion to dismiss, including her defamation claim:

Finally, relying on the same technique utilized to escape dismissal of her other claims, Plaintiff mistakenly contends that her claim is not prescribed to the extent it is based upon her November 2, 2010 termination, which she characterizes as the “ultimate defamation to [her] reputation and character.” However, standing alone, the fact that Defendants terminated Plaintiff’s employment cannot be defamatory because this is conduct, and not words.

The judge dismissed Vandenweghe's defamation claim without prejudice, allowing Covington lawyer Mr. Truitt to re-plead defamation, however he never did so and let all such potential claims expire. Louisiana-licensed lawyer Mr. Truitt would then also end up representing Handshoe pro hac vice in Mississippi federal court to fight enforcement of that Canadian defamation judgment against Handshoe, a judgment in a lawsuit that also named his other client, "Jane Doe" Vandenweghe as a defendant. Only, no one but Handshoe & Vandenweghe knew Vandenweghe was "unslabbed" until Handshoe admitted it online in September, 2012, after submissions to that Mississippi federal judge had closed. Mr. Truitt certainly never let the Mississippi federal court know that he also represented Handshoe's Jane Doe co-defendant. Must all just be a big coincidence, no?

In his decision, Judge Barbier had dismissed all claims except the Louisiana state law whistleblower claim. So proving "reprisal" by Jefferson Parish officials based on her alleged whistleblowing activities remained a prime motivator for Ms. Vandenweghe. That whistleblowing included the River Birch RFP. 

Despite the dismissal, and the missed chance to continue her defamation claims, Vandenweghe's allegations would then magically appear again on October 4, 2012, in that amended Concrete Busters lawsuit about that pesky River Birch waste disposal contract brought by the Lauricella's company Waste Remediation of Plaquemines against River Birch, filed by attorney Randy Smith of Smith & Fawer, LLC. Smith explicitly "adopted and alleged" the Vandenweghe allegations--including ones by then already long dismissed by the federal judge in Louisiana--reviving them as part of far-ranging conspiracy allegations in the Lauricella/Waste Remediation lawsuit that also mentioned Trout Point Lodge and another Abel, Leary, & Perret business as criminal co-conspirators of Aaron Broussard in racketerring.

Wow! Now that's quite a coincidence!

Is this just a case of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend?" 

Perhaps.  

Probably not.

---

Attorney Smith was part of a triumvirate of lawyers who in 1991 were sanctioned by a federal judge over a RICO suit. The Baton Rouge Advocate reported:

U.S. District Judge Frank Polozola has ordered three New Orleans attorneys and their former client to pay $323,532 in sanctions for filing and prosecuting a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations suit against a local hospital.

The attorneys -- Phillip A. Wittman, John M. Landis and Randall A. Smith of Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann & Hutchinson -- and their former client, Dr. Prentiss E. Smith, "have openly and flagrantly abused the judicial system," Polozola wrote in an opinion signed on Tuesday.

The attorneys and Smith made "scandalous, unjustified and unsupported allegations in their pleadings, abusing the discovery procedures of the federal court and proceeding in an improper and frivolous manner with callous disregard of the judicial system," the judge wrote. "Their actions must and shall come to an abrupt end."

Campbell Hutchinson, chairman of Stone Pigman's management committee, said Tuesday his firm will immediately appeal the judge's decision to issue sanctions to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal.

"We strongly disagree with Judge Polozola's ruling in the case," Hutchinson said. "We do not believe that sanctions were warranted in this case, and we believe when it is reviewed upon appeal, it will be reversed."

Polozola also ordered that a fourth Stone Pigman attorney, Marc D. Winsberg, attend a "continuing legal education program on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Federal Rules of Practice." He was also ordered to attend five Inns of Court meetings, which are regular education sessions conducted by the court.

The judge also ordered each of the four attorneys be given a public reprimand.
The suit was filed in 1987 when Smith lost his staff privileges at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center because the number of his patients who had died was "unacceptably high," according to court documents.

Lawyers for the hospital and other defendants had asked Polozola to sanction Smith and his attorneys in the amount of $375,419, the cost of the defendant attorneys' defense against the lawsuit.

In his 42-page opinion that includes 75 footnotes, Polozola said the "impermissible, misleading and half-truth pleadings, briefs and oral arguments made by the plaintiff and his counsel cannot be tolerated.

"The court shall not allow a party to use hired guns to make allegations of fraud and criminal activity on the basis of speculation and implausible inferences which are not only inconsistent with the facts but could or should have been discovered from the slightest investigation of the facts," the judge wrote.

However, Hutchinson said his firm agreed to file the suit only after investigating Smith's claims.

"Before we filed the lawsuit, we investigated the facts," said Hutchinson, who pointed out that Smith still is pursuing a state lawsuit against the hospital.

Polozola wrote that he "must question the real purpose for which the plaintiff filed this RICO suit. The evidence suggests it was to be used as a vehicle to develop facts for an antitrust suit or for use in the state court suit."

The district court decision was appealed and reversed, though the 5th Circuit Court of Appeal noted that "we doubt the merits of Smith's suit" and concluded its decision with a "continued warning regarding baseless RICO claims" that "should not be taken lightly."

This would not be Smith's last encounter with RICO and controversy. In HENDRICK v. ABC INS. CO. 760 So.2d 650 (2000), the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal was reviewing a legal malpractice judgment against, among others, Randall A. Smith for $2,867,547.00, plus interest. The plaintiff, named Hendrick, "testified that he had numerous meetings and telephone conversations with attorneys of Stone, Pigman. Specifically, he had various conversations with Randall Smith ("Mr. Smith"), the Stone, Pigman associate who did a large portion of the work associated with the Hendrick matter."

"Mr. Smith," according to the court, was "the attorney who did much of the initial work and legal research after Stone, Pigman was retained as special counsel." Smith was the attorney charged with "determining the facts of the case and doing some research on possible RICO and fraud claims."

The decision continued:

At trial, Mr. Triche was asked his opinion as to whether Stone, Pigman's handling of the matters at issue met the standard of care required of counsel. According to Mr. Triche,
... the investigation and the inquiry in the earlier of the case fell below the standard of care.... [I]t's a lawyer's obligation to review the antecedent proceedings that bring the case to him. All of this case dealt with transactions, fraud, or otherwise that led to the sale of Mr. Hendrick's stock in February of 1985, all of that. Somebody says they saw—somebody in the law firm says they saw a minute entry. I think Mr. Randy Smith says I thought the minute entry was the judgment, that's not appropriate. Mr. Landis—excuse me. Mr. Smith should have sought out the judgment in the bankruptcy court, should have reviewed it with his associations that were reviewing that file, and should have been alerted that they had a time bar problem, and that should have been alerted to them in the early stages of the case. I saw the testimony that well, we looked at—in the deposition— well, we looked at the minute entry. Mr. Smith says I thought the minute entry was a judgment, that's elementary. A minute entry is not a judgment.

The Court of Appeal ultimately affirmed the plaintiff's victory, "failure to conform to the requisite standard of care required for competent attorneys." However, damages as apportioned to Stone Pigman were reduced substantially.

Thus Randall A. Smith knew all about sensational RICO allegations when Smith & Fawer, LLC filed suit on behalf of the Lauricella's company, included a laundry list of alleged co-conspirators in criminal corruption without making them parties, and added Anne-Marie Vandenweghe's allegations to his amended claim.

The Louisiana Supreme Court reversed the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals' decision in the Hendrick case, but based on prescription. Mr. Smith did not stay at Stone, Pigman for long--he was in business with Fred Goodson's lawyer Michal Fawer in 1995, one year before he started to represent "Sixty" Rayburn and Handshoe's fellow corporate officer in the Slidell Motel gaming operation, Fred H. Goodson.  

To sum up, both Handshoe and Vandenweghe had apparent social links to the Concrete Busters lawsuit. Vandenweghe through the Lauricellas, and Handshoe through Smith & Fawer. Everybody had links to the gambling/bribery/mafia investigations that snagged Handshoe's business partner Fred H. Goodson and former Senator Larry Bankston in the late 1990s. (Vandenweghe did legal work for gambling interest Grand Palais in 1994, while serving as a Councilwoman and while her law license was suspended. William Broadhurst was indicted for skimming money from Grand Palais project River City, as part of the broader investigation. He was later acquitted.) This was the self-same investigation in which Senator Hank Lauricella's name also popped up, after which he did not seek re-election. 

Handshoe denies advance knowledge of the Concrete Busters/Lauricella lawsuit, but there's pretty strong evidence to suggest otherwise.  Both Handshoe and Vandenweghe would have been quite well motivated to defeat the $427,000 defamation judgment against Handshoe, as they were actually co-defendants and alleged "joint concurrent tortfeasors." By placing false and completely unfounded allegations of criminal conspiracy involving Trout Point Lodge and Aaron Broussard inside privileged civil RICO pleadings, and then publicizing those allegations as extensively as possible, including getting the suit published on nola.com, Handshoe and Vandenweghe might even have more than hoped that certain people they knew were looking at the blog Slabbed might just take notice . . . 

Slabbed and leaks

Slabbed publisher Doug Handshoe has informed the world: "I can confirm the Department of Justice is crawling every square inch of Slabbed looking for evidence of grand jury leaks with particular emphasis on my composite source, the Legendary Wino of Lafayette Square." What would the DOJ be looking at?

On July 2, 2012, 1^st Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) Jan Maselli Mann wrote to federal judge Head responding to the judge's request for an investigation of leaks, including Grand Jury leaks, related to the Broussard/Wilkinson prosecutions. One of the alleged “leaks” was of the existence of target letters drafted by the New Orleans U.S. Attorney's Office on February 14, 2011. 
 

In that letter AUSA Maselli Mann wrote that target letters for Broussard, Wilkinson, and Broussard's ex-wife Parker(-Broussard) were drafted on February 14, 2011, and that the letters were leaked by news media including nola.com on February 16, 2011. Mann indicated no publication about the target letters prior to February 16, 2011, and insisted that the targets' own attorneys had leaked this information at that time. She unequivocally denied the possibility that the leak came from the Grand Jury or the USAO. 

First, Maselli Mann's purported timeline is patently untrue. Main stream news media had the story starting at around 9:30 pm on February 14, including Fox 8 News and WWL Television. 
 

The New Orleans U.S. Attorney's Office in New Orleans is located at 650 Poydras Street, facing Lafayette Square. Jan Mann was in charge of the Office on February 14, 2011, as U.S. Attorney Jim Letten was at home recovering from heart surgery.

The Slabbed blog published on the evening of February 14, 2011:

BREAKING: We have a Slabb-o-gram from the Lafayette Square Wino!!!!!!!

with 30 comments

Target letters are out. And the Wino reports the winners are: (Drumroll please)

• Aaron Broussard
• Tim Whitmer
• Tom Wilkinson
• Karen Parker (Broussard)
• Tim Coulon

And if he didn’t get one today it will arrive shortly.

• Lawrence Chehardy

Plus the Wino indicated there were “a number of others”.

We’ll have more on this as we get it.

sop

Earlier, on February 9, 2011—5 days before the target letters were drafted--Handshoe had published:

I just had the most amazing conversation with the Lafayette Square Wino….

with 11 comments

I’m coughing like I have TB but when the Wino calls I gotta take it. “You’re doing a better job since I busted your chops on Meffert’s plea deal”, he said, “but is something you need to know….”

And talk we did but there is one problem, beyond being able to disclose that we received a great deal of additional color on Lawrence Chehardy’s untimely departure from the office of the Jefferson Parish Tax Assessor there isn’t much I can publish at this time. (I know that sucks)

I will say this, I’ve again had a knowledgable observer explain how the DoJ is the fly in the ointment when it comes to some of these very obvious cases of public corruption down here. Holding case files until the statute of limitation expires is one way this is done. An understaffed US Attorney’s office is another way the public is cheated of justice as it is when valuable resources are wasted on political prosecutions like the one involving our own Ashton O’Dwyer.

Like with the crime cameras and Sean Alfortish, civil litigation could well force Mr Letten’s hand in some of these other matters.

I know the answer but the Wino made certain I asked the Slabbed Nation this question:  If the Kelvin Landfill (JPL) closes as part of a deal with River Birch, where will Team River Birch get the land to expand their landfill down the line?  (Hint. Industrial zoned land sports the highest valuations.)

As early as December 10, 2010, Handshoe was publishing on Slabbed posts such as:

We have new subpoenas out in the Federal Grand Jury Investigation

with 21 comments

Not seen the actual paper but my source is serendiptiously well placed. It involves real estate transactions involving Team Heebe/River Birch and a major local media personality.  Due to the sensitive nature of the actual subpoena and the fact the info went to the grand jury this morning that is all I have to say about that for now.

I could be wrong but I think all hell is fixing to break loose with this federal corruption investigation involving Jefferson parish politicos.

sop

On September 5, 2011, Handshoe published a post:

Ok people here is the lowdown on the Robinette Grand Jury subpoena

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Hopefully this information will advance the quest for the truth in the Garland Robinette portion of the widening scandal in Jefferson Parish.  I remembered it wasn’t just Robinette and Heebe but included other names that should be very familiar to Slabbed lifers like Dominick Fazzio. So without further adieu.

The grand jury subpoena listed Jim Ward, Nancy Rhett, Fred Heebe, Jennifer Sneed, Dominick Fazzio and Garland Robinette. The properties are 7 Riverdale, 4 Honeysuckle and 22 Catalpa in Covington and 6017 Patton in New Orleans are/were owned by Robinette/Rhett. 5423 Camp in New Orleans was also listed.

I am digging for another tip in my email folders on this and will update in comments.

sop

On November 3, 2010, Handshoe published:

I hate to admit it folks but I had the Meffert plea in my inbox early Sunday [October 31, 2010] afternoon and took a pass since such tips are generally unreliable. When the news on the Greg Meffert guilty plea subsequently broke on Monday I immediately hopped in the car and headed for NOLA and my source, who reportedly hangs out around Lafayette Square with the Wino (when the Wino isn’t hanging out at Yenni).  So I park and start walking, first down St Charles past the LeDale Hotel and then back to the Park.  I then found a local watering hole and went in and there he was.

“You shudda listened to that tip I gave you about Meffert buddy. My sources are impeccable.”  My attempt to explain that such tips have been unreliable for us in the past was interrupted with a “you shudda asked!” and he then told me who he overheard while lying in the gutter.   So to make amends I bought the guy Colt 45 and made my way back to my vehicle wondering what to do with the info I had.

And I kept pondering until earlier this evening, when I saw this Frank Donze story which highlighted Ray Ray the Chocolate Guy’s take on Meffert’s plea.  I had to laugh because Mr Meffert is telling all and then some according to skid row bum.  Meffert is really fond of his wifey and is endeavoring to save her skin by spilling his guts.  The boogie man is coming for you Ray Ray.

On November 1, 2010, Greg Meffert plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bribery and one count of filing a false income tax return. He had previously reached a deal with the USAO.

On December 2, 2011, Broussard, Parker, and Wilkinson were indicted. On December 12, 2011, Broussard filed a pro se motion in judge Head's court seeking an investigation of leaks. The same day, Handshoe published:

So without further adieu lets check in with the T-P’s Rich Rainey as AB is upset that news of his indictment leaked out and he is demanding an investigation.

Since Slabbed is media if I may be so bold I’ll disclose that I too heard about the indictments in advance, from another member of the media in fact. That said I also knew Briussard’s driver had visited the federal grand jury and a good idea of what the feds were after with their then new late summer subpoenas at Yenni.  I got neither of those tidbits from Team Letten. And for those that wonder about my Youtube embeds a few days before AB was indicted I posted a very unique missive for Slabbed, a post with no name that featured Big Ben striking 12. The only thing I didn’t know then was the exact day it was coming down.

On May 31, 2012, Handshoe published a post entitled: “Breaking: I have received a Slabb O’Gram from the Wino!!!!!” He published: 
 

 sources familiar with the ongoing investigation have indicated to Slabbed there are several bit players to the saga we know on Slabbed as the Jefferson Parish Political Corruption Scandal that may well get Jim Brown’d via 18 U.S.C. § 1001 for fibbing to Federal Agents.  This would be a damn shame IMHO because it is always the small potatoes that end up burnt the worst when the carnage is finally tallied thus the homespun wisdom we see in the local rumor mill of people like Fred Heebe skating, while others that did his bidding get hit with sentences that run into the decades (see Mark St Pierre covering for Ray Ray the Chocolate Guy).

On July 6, 2012: Handshoe published: “Folks Slabbed loves to get its information from low places and indeed I count among my best sources the infamous gutter wino of Lafayette Square.”

On November 30, 2012, Handshoe published:

Well folks, being in Team Unwashed Masses has its benefits as Jan Mann and Sal Perricone evidently preferred Legitimate Media™ types for their leaking, not that there is anything wrong with that as rumors are swirling and the Wino, in a drunken stupor mentioned “the chilling effects” Kurt Engelhardt’s order is having on the discussion, even in the depths of the gutters at Lafayette Square. 

On December 10, 2012, Handshoe published a series of Twitter posts:

SLABBED ‏@SLABBEDblog

@erster @Editilla And indeed it has turned into a nasty fight. The better question is who would be in a position to know and tell me.

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10 Dec SLABBED ‏@SLABBEDblog

@erster @Editilla Everyone is trying to figure out how I knew about the Garlandfill subpoena. Rumors are swirling gentlemen. #chillingeffect

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10 Dec SLABBED ‏@SLABBEDblog

This is gonna be a nasty fight: Team River Birch sues Uncle Sam.: http://www.slabbed.org/2010/12/12/this-is-gonna-be-a-nasty-fight-team-river-birch-sues-uncle-sam/ …

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10 Dec SLABBED ‏@SLABBEDblog

Managing ethics when no one else is looking http://msbusiness.com/blog/2010/09/19/managing-ethics-when-no-one-else-is-looking/ …

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10 Dec SLABBED ‏@SLABBEDblog

We have new subpoenas out in the Federal Grand Jury Investigation: http://www.slabbed.org/2010/12/10/we-have-new-subpoenas-out-in-the-federal-grand-jury-investigation/ …