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John T. Reed’s Notice of Removal against Russ Whitney suit against Reed in State court

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

Case No. ___________________-Civ

WHITNEY INFORMATION NETWORK, INC.,
a Florida Corporation, and RUSS WHITNEY,
an individual,

Plaintiffs,

v.

JOHN T. REED, an individual,

Defendant.

NOTICE OF REMOVAL OF ACTION UNDER 28 U.S.C. §1441(B)
BY DEFENDANT

TO THE CLERK OF THE ABOVE-ENTITLED COURT:
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that Defendant John T. Reed hereby removes to this Court the state court action described below:
1.On January 29, 2003, a complainte entitled WHITNEY INFORMATION NETWORK, INC., a Florida corporation, and RUSS WHITNEY an individual, Plaintiffs, vs. JOHN T. REED, an individual, Defendant, as case number CACE 03-01788(21) was filed in the Circuit Court of the 17th Judicial District Circuit, in and for Broward County, Florida (Exhibit A). On or around February 5, 2003, an EMERGENCY MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION AND INCORPORATED MEMORANDUM OF LAW, was filed in that same court. A copy of the EMERGENCY MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION AND INCORPORATED MEMORANDUM OF LAW is attached hereto as Exhibit B.
2. The first date upon which Defendant John T. Reed received a copy of said motion and memorandum was February 10, 2003 when Defendant was served a copy of the said motion and memorandum by first class mail from Christina M. Kitterman. The first date upon which Defendant John T. Reed received a copy of said complaint was February 12, 2003 when Defendant was served a copy of the said complaint by a process server.
3. This action is a civil action of which this Court has original jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §1332, and is one which may be removed to the Court by Defendant pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. 1441(b) in that it is a civil action between citizens of different states and the matter in controversy exceeds the sum of $75,000, exclusive of interest and costs because the size of Plaintiffs’ businesses and the harm claimed are both so great that an award of less than $75,000 would be “…outside the range of permissible awards…” if Plaintiffs prevailed in all claims. [Burns v. Windsor Insurance Co. (11th Cir. 1994) 31 F 3d 1092]
Plaintiff Whitney Information Network, Inc. claims in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission to have annual income of $42,157,740 for the calendar year 2001 (Exhibit C). If previous growth trends continue, their sales would be significantly greater than that in 2002 and 2003. Plaintiffs claim in their motion and memorandum (page 2) that Defendant’s behavior “…has resulted in, and continues to result in, substantial harm to Plaintiffs.” On pages 3 and 4 of their motion and memorandum, Plaintiffs claim that they “…have lost and continue to lose, substantial profits” and that “many” of Plaintiff’s prospective and existing customers have either refrained from purchasing Plaintiffs’ services or ceased to continue utilizing Plaintiffs’ products and services. Plaintiffs further state on page 4 of their motion and memorandum that Plaintiffs’ reputation has been harmed and their goodwill has been severely damaged. On page 7 of the motion and complaint, Plaintiffs state they are “…consistently losing an immeasurable number of customers and an undeterminable amount of money due to…”Defendant’s actions. On page 9, they complain of losing “…countless consumers…”
In addition, Plaintiff Russ Whitney claims in S.E.C. filings (Exhibit D) that he has numerous additional business interests not part of Whitney Information Network, Inc. and Plaintiffs’ allegations of various harm suffered by them clearly apply to those additional interests, thereby making the amount from which income is allegedly being subtracted greater than the $42,157,740 that Whitney Information Network, Inc. grossed in 2001. $75,000 is a mere .0018 of the 2001 sales of Whitney Information Network, Inc., and an even smaller percentage of the income of both Plaintiffs combined. It is inconceivable that the harm described in such dire terms in the emergency motion could only affect businesses the size of Plaintiffs’ by such a small ratio.
4. Defendant is informed and believes that Plaintiff Russ Whitney was, and still is, a citizen of Cape Coral, Florida. Defendant is informed and believes that Plaintiff Whitney Information Network, Inc. had, and still has, its principal place of business in Cape Coral, Florida and is incorporated in the State of Colorado, notwithstanding the contrary caption on Plaintiffs’ motion and memorandum. Defendant John T. Reed was at the time of receiving this motion and memorandum, and still is, a citizen of Alamo, California and is the only defendant that has been mailed the motion and memorandum in this action.
5. Most of the wording of the Broward County complaint is copied verbatim from a complaint (Case No. 2:02-cv-288-FtM-29DNF) filed by these same plaintiffs against this same defendant on June 25, 2002 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Fort Myers, Florida, a city which is adjacent the principal place of business of Plaintiffs in Cape Coral, Florida. One change made to the motion and memorandum filed in Broward County was dropping the federal Lanham Act claim which Plaintiffs cited in the Fort Myers complaint as giving that court jurisdiction. The almost identical complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Fort Myers is attached as Exhibit E. That litigation is still active.

February 12, 2003 ________________________________
Date John T. Reed, pro se Defendant
John T. Reed Publishing
342 Bryan Drive, Alamo, CA 94507
925-820-6292, Fax: 925-820-1259
johnreed@johntreed.com
John T. Reed on real-estate-investment information | Real estate investment page | Order form | Real estate investment books
John T. Reed, a.k.a. John Reed, Jack Reed, 342 Bryan Drive, Alamo, CA 94507, Voice: 925-820-7262, Fax: 925-820-1259, Email: johnreed@johntreed.com

CONSUMER WARNING NOTICE: I recently saw Russ Whitney on a late night TV infomercial and then attended one of his "free" seminars. Unfortunately I believed all of their LIES and FRAUDULENT CLAIMS and I paid thousands of dollars to go to his "training camps". Needless to say I was clearly ripped off, cheated and lied to by Russ Whitney and his employees (band of thieves). My mistake was not searching the Internet to find out more about Russ Whitney and his company's HORRIBLE reputation for fraud, deception and illegal activities. Had I searched online I would have found out about THOUSANDS of customers being cheated, HUNDREDS of investigations by the Attorney General into the fraud of Russ Whitney and his company's, and that Russ Whitney himself is a CONVICTED VIOLENT FELON and spent years in PRISON. I saved the cached pages from the major search engines of the John Reed lawsuit with Russell Whitney and the TRUTH and FACTS that Reed discovered during his investigation of Whitney. I am posting this information on real estate discussion boards so other people do NOT get cheated and ripped off like I did.