Joshua Bender is an attorney for the ACLU who is one of the attorneys who is prosecuting the case of Melendres v. Arpaio in Arizona. Dennis Montgomery is suing Joshua Bender, the ACLU, et al. for defamation; the lawsuit is filed in Florida where Montgomery lives, along with his attorney Larry Klayman (presumably not together), or so the suit alleges.
This article’s title was inspired by the declaration of Mr. Bender in the Dennis Montgomery v. ACLU lawsuit, which seems intended to provide support for a claim that the Florida court lacks jurisdiction over him. Mr. Bender’s declaration was filed along with a motion to dismiss for “lack of personal jurisdiction, improper venue, and failure to state a claim.”1 The ACLU has requested that oral arguments be heard.
The defamation claim rests on the fact that an ACLU attorney (not Bender) used the phrase “con man” referring to Montgomery to a New York Times reporter who subsequently published it. The ACLU plays the opening Google/Wikipedia defense, saying:
The very first hit on a Google search for the plaintiff “Dennis Montgomery” is a Wikipedia entry quoting his own attorney as calling him a “con artist” and “habitual liar engaged in fraud” …
In the meantime, Joshua Bender has petitioned the Court in Phoenix to withdraw from the Melendres case.
For background on the lawsuit, see my article: “Montgomery sues ACLU.”
1We learn in the ACLU motion that Michael German is not an attorney, a point in question in the discussion of my previous article.
Dennis Montgomery is currently registered to vote in Kings County, Washington and he has been since 7/16/13. While the voter registration record does not by itself prove that Montgomery is a resident of Washington, it certainly supports the ACLU’s claim that the organization and its employees had no knowledge of Montgomery allegedly taking up residence in Florida.
We learn in the ACLU motion that Michael German is not an attorney, a point in question in the discussion of my previous article.
Leave it to Klayman to screw up something as simple as this.
The “Michael German” who is admitted to the bar in both New York and D.C. is actually Michael F. Germano. He also is admitted to the bar in Connecticut. He went to law school at Washington & Lee University. The ACLU’s Michael German graduated Northwestern University Law School.
The only “Michael German” who is currently licensed to practice law in New York is Michael Craig German, a graduate of Brooklyn Law School.
There also is an attorney named Michael N. Germano who was licensed in New York but who is now in Colorado. He went to law school at Quinnipiac College in Connecticut.
Rickey,
“Dennis Montgomery is currently registered to vote in Kings County,”
Actually, King County. No added “s”.
I thought someone had found a recent voter registration for him in FL, or am I misrembering?
It’s a forgery!
Yes, I know better than that! That’s what I get for living in New York. Brooklyn is Kings County.
The voter registration record shows a Yarrow Point address.
Yo, I was BORN in Kings County!
No kiddin’!
He registered to vote in Florida (a Miami address) six months ago. However, his voter status is listed as “inactive,” which means “An inactive voter refers to a registered voter who is eligible to vote but who is currently listed as inactive because he or she did not respond to an address confirmation final notice regarding his or her legal residential address.”
When he registered to vote in Florida he was supposed to report that he was registered to vote in Washington. Florida would then have notified Washington that he was now registered to vote in Florida, so presumably he failed to mention his Washington voter registration..
Even if he actually moved to Florida in February, the ACLU defendants would have no reason to be aware of it. It’s just another case of Klayman trying to shoehorn himself into a favorable and/or convenient venue.
Isn’t FL a rather unfavorable venue for Klayman? I thought he’d been sanctioned there for some of his previous antics.
I suppose he might have picked it because it’s inconvenient for someone currently based in AZ, though it seems like the local ACLU would find someone will to represent Bender and negate that factor.
GIL practices law pretty much the way Orly does, he makes it up as he goes along, saves all that time and research on precedents and law and stuff, and of course no on ever calls him on it, and if they do he immediately demands they recuse themselves for being biased against him and stuff.
I meant convenient for Klayman. According to the complaint, he is now in Boca Raton.
Politically the Southern District of Florida is almost evenly divided, with nine judges appointed by Republicans and eight by Democrats.
Klayman was reprimanded in Florida in 2011 for failing to abide by an agreement to refund $5000 to a client.
https://www.floridabar.org/DIVADM/ME/MPDisAct.nsf/DISACTVIEW/D4648B8344B6AA67852579E40009304A/$FILE/246220_7917.PDF
In some of his cases, DC would be a more appropriate venue, but I believe they have a stronger anti-SLAPP statue which has been used by the federal courts in DC.
He may find that on venue, he can run but he can’t hide.
It was the DC anti-SLAPP statute that doomed Klayman’s case representing Joseph Farah against Esquire Magazine. See:
http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/2012/06/farah-slapped-down/
Looks like he had some more.
http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=85d3629a-57db-4846-b007-159ed1aa142b
I had forgotten that Klayman prosecuted the BradLee Dean lawsuit. Washington State, BTW, has a strong anti-sLAPP statute. Florida, if I remember right, does not.