Tabberone is pronounced tab ber won
not tay ber own
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Tabberone is pronounced tab ber won |
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| This letter was received in a Word Perfect format. Not everyone has Word Perfect so we have reformatted it into HTML so the browser may show it directly. Re-formatting has altered it in appearance however the content of the letter remains unchanged. |
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Public Citizen Litigation Group 1600 Twentieth Street, NW Washington, DC 20009 (202) 588-1000 (202) 588-7795 (fax) _____ |
Gregory A. Beck Direct Dial: (202) 588-7713 E-mail: gbeck@citizen.org |
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By Fax and Email
Darren B. Cohen, Esquire Re: Demand letter to Karen Dudnikov Dear Mr. Cohen: This is to follow up on our phone conversation of today. I represent Karen Dudnikov, who received a demand letter from you on behalf of Sy Garfinkel and Fabrique Innovations, Inc., dated today. In your letter you claim Ms. Dudnikov's web site defames Mr. Garfinkel and demand that she take down the site by February 27, 2006. Your letter specifies three statements that you admit are not litigable as defamation (such as the characterization of your client as a "pompous twit"), but then goes on to object vaguely to other, unspecified statements that you claim are false and defamatory. Despite your lack of specificity, I have reviewed Ms. Dudnikov's web site carefully and can find nothing defamatory. In our phone conversation, you identified the seven numbered paragraphs appearing under the phrase "Sy Garfinkel falsely alleges" as the defamatory material, but, as you admitted, those paragraphs merely contain quotations from an email authored by Mr. Garfinkel along with Ms. Dudnikov's responses to those quotations. You were unable to identify for me any specific language in that portion of the web site that is either false or misleading. In fact, the selected quotations accurately reflect Mr. Garfinkel's position in the email from which they are taken, and Ms. Dudnikov's responses to those quotations are no more than expressions of her personal opinion. Because everything on Ms. Dudnikov's web page is either factually true or a statement of opinion (which you acknowledge in your letter to be protected by the First Amendment), Mr. Garfinkel has no claim against Ms. Dudnikov based on anything on her web site. Nevertheless, you informed me in our phone conversation today that Mr. Garfinkel will bring a lawsuit for defamation against Ms. Dudnikov next week unless she agrees to take down the portions of her web site regarding Mr. Garfinkel. You also declined my offer to allow Mr. Garfinkel to write a response to be posted on Ms. Dudnikov's site. The only conclusion I can draw from our conversation is that Mr. Garfinkel is intent on using the courts to stifle an opinion he finds personally distasteful. As I am sure you know, the First Amendment would prohibit any such action. If Mr. Garfinkel insists on pursuing this baseless claim against Ms. Dudnikov, she will respond with a motion for sanctions, including attorneys' fees, to be sought against Mr. Garfinkel personally as well as any attorney who lends himself to such an endeavor. Sincerely, Gregory A. Beck |
