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Is Russ Whitney litigious? 2

COLUMN HEADINGS: Date Opposing parties Case number Synopsis Court

Date
Opposing parties
Case number
Synopsis
Court
11/05/2002
Blagman, et al
2:2002cv00549
?
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Fort Myers, FL
12/12/2002
Panio Webb Catherine

File Number 5652042
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 3796/3599
Legal: CS02-5351 SP

Lee County Court Web site says this is a “judgment;” no other explanation
Lee County, FL Court
1/29/03
John T. Reed
case number CACE 03-01788(21)
tortious interference with a business relationship
Reed removed this case from state to federal court
17th District Circuit Court in Broward County (Fort Lauderdale area)
2/12/03
John T. Reed
Case # 03-60195 Marra/Seltzer
This is the state case above that Reed removed to federal court
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida (Fort Lauderdale division)
3/19/2003
Webb Panio Catherine
File Number 5753084
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 3876/4248
Legal: CS#02-5351SP

Lee County Court Web site says this is a “judgment;” no other explanation
Lee County, FL Court
4/8/03
Glenn Purdy
Case #C 03-60693-CIV MARRA/SELTZER
Breach of contract and Uniform Trade Secrets Act violation suit against former speaker and member of Whitney’s “Wealth Team” listed in the back of his 2003 book Millionaire Real Estate Mentor. See articles about Whitney attempts to force John T. Reed to testify in that suit.
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, Fort Lauderdale Division
6/6/2003
Northern
6:2003cv00765
Unknown cause of action involving International Administrative Services, Inc. which is the same name as a company that is or was reportedly affiliated with Whitney
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Fort Myers, FL
6/18/2003
Merrill Lynch Pierce
2:2003cv72363
?
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
6/19/2003
Pete & Tony Youngs and their company Real World Enterprises, Inc.
Civil Action File No. 1:03-CV-1697
copyright lawsuit against Whitney and the publisher of his Millionaire Real estate Mentor book by two former Whitney instructors and members of Whitney’s “Wealth Team” listed in the back of the book Millionaire Real Estate Mentor David Keller also defendant
United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division
4/19/2001
Matt Gagnon, Mazu Publishing an Oregon Corporation
See the suit against Gagnon, who is the owner of Mazu.com, above
Was criticized by Mazu.com which reviews business opportunities. Settled out of court then sued Mazu.com again later
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Fort Myers, FL
3/25/2002  12:44:22

Giles Thomas H
Scharger Jack
Hildreth Lawrence F
Repperger Cliff
File Number 5395057
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 3607/1168
Legal: CASE#01-9464CA,DISMISSED
Lee County Court Web site says this is an “Order;” no other explanation
Lee County, FL Court
6/25/02
John T. Reed
2:02-CV-288-FTM-29DNF
Whitney and his corporation sued Reed for trademark infringement; false designation, description and origin under the Lanham Act; common law trademark and servicemark infringement; unfair competition; libel, trade libel. Whitney withdrew this suit without having received anything from Reed.
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Fort Myers, FL
3/31/03
John T. Reed
03-60597 CIV-Seitz/Bandstra
Defamation per se of business reputation
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, Miami Division
10/28/2003
Ogunfowokan Femi
File Number 6025850
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 4105/3302
Legal: CS03SC001966

Lee County Court Web site says these are “Court Papers;” no other explanation
Lee County, FL Court
8/12/2003
Sean Frederick, Don Frederick, Markus Group a Canadian Corporation
0:2003cv61544
Apparently these defendants were former independent contractor associates of Whitney. Complaint for Breach of contract, violation of FL Trade Secrets Act, Copyright infringement
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, Fort Lauderdale Division
2003
Better Business Bureau of West Florida
03-15947 CACE (09)
Whitney is attempting to sue the BBB as part of a class action. The class has not yet been certified and may not be. He also originally sued the national headquarters of the BBB but they got the case dismissed as to them.
Broward County, FL Court
11/17/2003
Todd Dotson, Laurie Dotson, Dotson Consulting Group, Radical Real Estate
0:2003cv62052 Altonag
Whitney suit against Dotson after previously having settled with him.
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, Fort Lauderdale Division
12/19/2003
Davis
2:2003cv01108
Unknown cause of action involving Professional Marketing International which is the same name as a company that is or was reportedly affiliated with Whitney
U.S. District Court for the District of Utah
1/27/2004
Xcentric Ventures (RipoffReport.com, BadBusinessBureau.com)
2:2003cv00047
Motion to dismiss filed by Xcentric Ventures and denied
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Fort Myers, FL
2/12/2004
Northen v. Key Enterprises, Inc.
8:2004mc00004
Unknown cause of action involving International Administrative Services, Inc. which is the same name as a company that is or was reportedly affiliated with Whitney
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
4/9/2004  08:42:34

Franklin Derek
File Number 6216692
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 4252/1878
Legal: CS#04-SC-000969

Lee County Court Web site says these are “Court Papers;” no other explanation
Lee County, FL Court
4/16/2004
Dotson Consulting Group (Todd Dotson)
4:204cv00278
Click here to see a detailed descrpiton of the case file
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas
4/30/2004
Purvis Andrews S
File Number 6247438
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 4277/150
Legal: CS#04-CA-678

Lee County Court Web site says these are “Court Papers;” no other explanation
Lee County, FL Court
6/30/04
Robert E. Yates
Case No. 04-CA-002668
hostile work environment and retaliatory discharge claim under Americans ith Disabilities Act with Lee County Office of Equal Opportunity and Florida Whistleblowers Act suit against Whitney Education Group, Inc.
Lee County, FL Court
7/31/04
Robert E. Yates & John T. Reed

Breach of contract against Yates and tortious interference with a business relationship and Uniform Trade Secrets Act against Reed
Lee County, FL Court
8/12/04
Robert Blagman, Blagman-century Media, Blagman Media International, Inc.
CV-640-FTM-29DNF
Complaint alleges that defendants were supposed to pay TV stations to air Whitney’s infomercials. When they did not, the commercials were not aired. Whitney says they prepaid the defendants but the defendants did not buy the spots. Breach of contract, breach of implied contract, unjust enrichment, and equitable accounting.
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Fort Myers, FL
9/15/2004
Verio, Inc. (for being John T. Reed’s Web host company)
2:2004cv00462
False designation of origin, false description, false representation under 15 USC 1125(a) [trademark law]; common law trademark infringement; tortious interference with a business relationship; defamation per se of business relationship
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Fort Myers, FL
Threats
Whitney threatened John T. Reed four times before suing him and repeatedly thereafter. Twice, Reed did what Whitney asked to avoid litigation, but Whitney sued him anyway.
John T. Reed located and interviewed Russ Whitney’s 73-year-old stepmother. Reed sent the resulting article to the stepmother and Russ Whitney before publication to make sure it contained no errors. Shortly thereafter, Whitney’s stepmother called and told Reed’s son that she “could not release her statement because Whitney’s boys had threatened her” in a phone call. She did not identify the “boys” or the nature of the threat. Whitney’s lawyer Scott Rothstein later said he called her and that he was “very professional” if he did say so himself.
Here is an email John T. Reed received on 11/12/01

“I saw this post at Creative Real Estate On-line and thought you might be interested:

“Russ Whitney Discussion BANNED Here Under Threat of Lawsuit

As a result of threats by Russ Whitney to sue CRE Online, Terry Vaughan, J.P. Vaughan and our employees, for allowing discussions about him here on our "Infomercial Guru Forum," we are forced to ban any and all further discussion about Russ Whitney, his seminars or his organization.
Here is part of the actual verbatim email Russ Whitney sent to Terry Vaughan today (September 27, 2001):

[The following is apparently an email from Whitney to Vaughn]

Terry, I have been gentlemanly and patient with you. You obviously are not a man of your word. If that is not true then I will see ALL POSTS regarding me and my company immediately removed from your site AND YOUR ARCHIVES. Terry, if that is not done immediately, starting TODAY, prepare to spend some money. I will institute a lawsuit against Creonline, you and all Creonline employees. I will also sue every poster on your board that has slandered my good name, in FEDERAL COURT on Monday morning. Count on it! Monday morning. Federal Court. Win or lose, you WILL be spend money from here on out for the illegal and slanderous use of my name.

[The following is apparently the Vaughn reaction to the Whitney threat]

Our attorneys have advised us that truth is an "absolute" defense to a defamation lawsuit, the Courts are not very fond of "prior restraints," and that it is highly unlikely that a "public figure" like Russ Whitney would prevail in such a lawsuit. However, we are a small company, and we simply cannot afford a protracted legal battle with a big, powerful organization like the Russ Whitney Company. Please respect our wishes and refrain from discussing Russ Whitney here. Thank you.
Sincerely, Terry and J.P. Vaughan

You can still see some posts about Whitney in CRE online’s archives:

1998
1999
2000
2001

Likewise, the comment about “…threats, coercion” is based on and in response to comments at Reed’s Web page about Whitney making threats to Creative Real Estate Online and to Reed, as well as Keith’s own obviously hyperbolic and uncomplained of comment that “Russ Whitney threatens everyone” and his reporting of another threat: “—I spoke via email with another person who…said Russ had threatened to sue him as well.” (From Reed’s motion to dismiss Whitney’s first lawsuit)
On Friday, January 10, 2003, I received an anonymous threat on my answering machine. Since it is anonymous, I cannot tell if it is from a Whitney associate or someone else.
Threat left on John T. Reed’s message machine (59-second call) Friday, January 10, 2003 at 7:27am PST

The caller complains of emails from unspecified unhappy customers on my Web site. Most such emails pertain to Russ Whitney. Also, Whitney is the only guru who has ever sued me regarding my Web site. Since he did, I have revealed a number of negative facts about him at my Web site. The phoned threat says, “This is ridiculous” and promises to “turn the heat back up on” me without specifying how. Since the threat is anonymous and open to various interpretations, I reported it to the FBI and my local sheriff. If you recognize the voice or the accent, please let me know (342 Bryan Drive, Alamo, CA 94507, 925-820-7262, Fax: 925-820-1259, Email: johnreed@johntreed.com). The accent sounds like Minnesota or Wisconsin to me.

On Tuesday, January 14, 2003, I received a call from a person whose friend thinks she recognizes the voice as a person who works in Utah in the real estate investment telemarketing or mentoring business. On Friday, January 24, 2003, I received a call from a former Whitney employee who thought the voice was of a Cape Coral Whitney employee, but she could not remember the particular person. A couple of other former Cape Coral Whitney employees told me they do not recognize the voice.

Caller identified?
On 4/26/03, I received a call from a former Whiney employee who believes he recognizes the voice making the threat. He said it was a Whitney employee whose job was to monitor non-Whitney Web sites for criticism of Whitney. Whitney’s personal attorney told me and my son that they have such employees. I am checking it out and will post more information here if and when I confirm it.

Copyright 2005 by John T. Reed
Guru ratings | Real estate investment page | Order form | Real estate investment books | Main Reed on Whitney page | Whitney claims vs. Reed research | Status of Whitney vs. Reed lawsuit | Whitney hit and run | Whitney assets | Have information on Whitney? | Review of Building Wealth | Whitney affiliations | Whitney publications | Unauthorized biography of Whitney | Suing Whitney | Whitney and income taxes
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.