Thread: Jim Gilchrist Loses Another Big Round in Court!

News from the MINUTEMAN PROJECT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Marvin L. Stewart, President
(562) 221-1820
Daniel F. Lula, Esq.
(949) 851-1100
Jim Gilchrist Ordered to Pay Over $18,000 in Attorneys’ Fees to
the Patriots He Sued, Bringing Total to Over $27,000;
Main Case Against Gilchrist Will Proceed in Superior Court
Santa Ana, Calif. – August 27, 2008 – Judge Randell Wilkinson of the Orange
County Superior Court today handed down double blows against Minuteman founder
Jim Gilchrist.
On the heels of the dismissal of his defamation suit against Minutemen Deborah
Courtney, Marvin Stewart and Paul Sielski last month, the Court ordered Gilchrist to
pay the Patriots he sued $18,888.13 in attorneys’ fees.
“We are elated,â€

Minuteman loses another court round
Frank Mickadeit
Columnist
The Orange County Register
fmickadeit@ocregister.com
Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Could there have been a better way to end a drought of matters litigious and celebrate my return to the O.C. Courthouse than to bear witness to Minuteman Jim Gilchrist being socked with another $18,888 in attorney's fees?

The only thing that would have made me happier yesterday is if Jimbo had been there himself. But his once-thriving anti-immigration empire is in free fall these days, and who can blame him for not wanting to see everything he built come a-tumblin' down?

And its not like Gilchrist lost this money – and another $9,100 a few weeks back – to some pansy immigrant-lover like me. He lost this money to his former allies in the valiant fight to guard our borders from the brown-skinned horde that daily menaces the Republic with its desire to do jobs Americans won't.

Gilchrist and these allies have been suing and countersuing each other over control of the Minuteman Project. Judge Randell Wilkinson recently tossed out Gilchrist's ham-fisted attempt to shut up his opponents via a defamation lawsuit.

Part 1 of yesterday's court hearing was to hear Wilkinson rule on whether he would apply a pro-free-speech law and force Gilchrist to pay the attorney fees of three former allies, including Deborah Courtney and Marvin Stewart.

Not only didn't Gilchrist show up for Part 1, neither did his attorney. Not that it would have mattered. Wilkinson read from a prepared order. Roughly $4,000 of the $18,888 judgment against Jimbo was a bonus the judge tossed in based on Courtney's attorney's pleading that he had represented indigent defendants and at some personal risk.

Attorney Daniel Lula alleged that Gilchrist or someone close to him had called up Lula's supervising partners at Payne & Fears and suggested it would be bad for the firm's reputation if Lula continued to work on Courtney's behalf. The partnership apparently blew off the threat, and Lula remains on the case.

I put in a call to Gilchrist's attorney – the one who didn't show up – but he hadn't returned it as of my deadline.

Part 2 of the afternoon's events was to see how Wilkinson would deal with Gilchrist's request to toss out the lawsuit Courtney et al have filed against him for fraud, conspiracy, unjust enrichment and improper conversion of funds.

Wilkinson did essentially toss out the fraud part but allowed the other actions to go forward. He also allowed the plaintiffs 10 days to amend the lawsuit with more specifics about the fraud allegation, at which point he might reconsider.

In any case, as Lula all but shouted as he pushed through the swinging courtroom doors on his way out, "We're going to trial!"

Not so fast, the Gilchrist attorney who did show up for Part 2, Guy Mailly, told me.

Mailly represents the corporations purportedly controlled by Gilchrist, not Gilchrist personally. Lula's failure to separate himself from the individuals he represents and the corporations on which they purport to be board members will lead to Lula's total disqualification from the litigation, Mailly contends. He says he's preparing a motion to that effect.

To which Lula says, essentially, "Go ahead. Waste your time."

The next big fight, Lula says, will be over his request for Gilchrist's financial documents. He's so far refused to turn them over, which Lula says will force him to go back to Wilkinson and ask for an order.

And the judge gave little hints that his patience is wearing thin, such as when he kind of sighed when Lula suggested that Wilkinson might have more than passing familiarity with the parties in the case.

As for his own familiarity with the case, despite just taking it on after three other attorneys had gone by the wayside, Lula quoted Omar Khayyam: "And evermore I came out by the same door as in I went."

Which is to say, he's caught himself up. That's what Yale undergrad/Harvard Law gets you. Not only a winner, but a guy who will do so while quoting 11th-century Persian poets.

Doesn't it sound more fun to buy your Tupperware from a drag queen? Find out at my Drag Queen Tupperware Party. Go to www.ocregister.com/columns/frank for details.

Mickadeit writes Mon.-Fri. Contact him at 714-796-4994 or fmickadeit@ocregister.com

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/gilc ... orney-says