Willis Carto Loses (Again)!
This Time in Texas
Again, as repeatedly stated in previous issues of SR, we know that we should let sleeping dogs lie and not open up old wounds. If I had a chance, I wouldn't publish the following article. But we are in the business of posting the contents of all issues of Smith's Report for historical and archival reasons—all of its contents. So we won't hide this opinion piece either. –Webmaster, Oct. 4, 2015.
On August 22, 1997, Judge Harvey Brown ruled against Willis Carto in a decision in the state of Texas.
This was another of Carto's nuisance, but very expensive, time-consuming, and potentially bankrupting, lawsuits, which he pays for ultimately with the money he took from the bequest left the Legion for Survival of Freedom (LSF), the parent company of the Institute for Historical Review, by a descendant of Thomas A. Edison.
This latest suit was brought by the “Carto group” against Andrew Allen, Frederick (Fritz) Berg, and John Curry. Allen, Berg, and Curry were sued as directors of the Legion for Survival of Freedom (LSF).
The specifics of the case were about whether a true legal relationship existed between the Carto group and the LSF. Judge Brown ruled that there is not, and the defendants' motions were granted on all grounds. Judge Brown wrote:
“Plaintiffs’ [the Carto Group] ability to bring this suit based on their claims as a voting group Incorporators, is not available. Other than his claim as a voting member Incorporator, Willis Carto has no legal relationship with LSF [emphasis added—BRS] which would allow him to sustain this suit. . . The Carto group's actions in generating a paper LSF, and bringing suit in its name as the Plaintiff-in-Intervention are without effect.”
This case demonstrates once again the legality of the removal of Willis Carto from the LSF and the Institute for Historical Review’s day to day activities.
This is the fourth time that an attempt by Wills Carto to take over the IHR has been thrown out of court. Orange County Court Superior Court Judge Polis ruled after a trial that “Willis Carto was exercising substantial control over the Legion without any apparent legal authority” and that the evidence submitted by Carto to that court was “untrustworthy as evidence and disbelieved by the court.”
The California Court of Appeals simply staled that a “Carto-elected” director has no standing to bring an action against LSF or the Institute. San Diego judge Maino ruled that Carto didn’t elect directors and didn't have a right to keep the millions of dollars left to LSF and the Institute by the Edison descendant. And now Texas judge Harvey Brown has ruled against Carto and for the Institute.
The pattern appears clear. In effect. Carto is using the Edison bequest of millions, which the courts one after another have ruled he illegally diverted from the LSF and the Institute, to attempt to bankrupt those for whom the money was intended in the first place. He has nothing to lose by continuing the process, other than a further diminution of his character, so he will likely continue it.
Bibliographic information about this document: Smith's Report, no. 46, October 1997, pp. 5f.
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