Legal counsel for Jim Gilchrist's Minuteman Project, Inc. today announced that the lawsuit filed by disgruntled former Minuteman Project volunteers Deborah Courtney and Marvin Stewart against Jim Gilchrist has been halted by the Orange County, Ca. Superior Court.

Guy E. Mailly of the Mailly Law Group in Costa Mesa, Ca., the lead corporate counsel for Gilchrist's Minuteman Project, said the lawsuit was halted by the judge to permit counsel to file "summary judgment motions."  

A summary judgment would allow the judge to rule on the case more efficiently from the bench rather than burden the courts with a jury trial that would be time consuming and costly for Orange Country taxpayers.

Courtney and Stewart have already sued Gilchrist twice in the past, but both suits were dismissed by the court.  This is the third lawsuit the duo has brought against Gilchrist in the past two years.

Since January of 2007, in what appears to be a concerted effort to disrupt the Minuteman Project, Deborah Courtney, her boyfriend Paul Sielski, and Marvin Stewart have tried to derail Gilchrist's organization and stop the public attention it brings to the illegal immigration issue by tying up his time and resources in court battles, according to Minuteman Project Executive Director Stephen Eichler.

"It appears that the trio has been trying to 'shake down' the Minuteman Project for money for almost three years now," he said. 

"They claim that the Minuteman Project should pay them hundreds of thousands of dollars, and/or hand over the entire Minuteman Project, its bank accounts, its equipment, its donor lists, etc. to their possession, as compensation for their limited 'volunteerism' during 2006," Eichler continued.  "Both their bogus claims and their outrageous monetary demands against Minuteman Project volunteers and donors are pathetic."

"It is rare for the court to halt a trial and invite motions for a summary judgment," said counselor Mailly, a corporate litigator of 30 years.  "I am delighted to have the court adjudicate this issue as a matter of law and I agree with the judge's ruling that there may be no need for a jury trial."

Mailly, who has represented the Minuteman Project for three years, said he has always felt that the facts in the case are well established and will undoubtedly lead to a decision favoring Gilchrist and his non-profit corporation.

Hanging the Innocent

 Attorney Catherine Lukehart, of Lukehart Law in Santa Ana, Ca. personally represents Gilchrist and other members of the board for Gilchrist's Minuteman Project. 

"Mr. Gilchrist looks forward to his much deserved vindication from the utterly false and despicable allegations made by Courtney, Stewart, and Sielski" Lukehart said.  "These persons have gone well out of their way to spread outright defaming lies about my client, his wife, and my client's business associates."

"It is amazing how Gilchrist's accusers have conjured up fantasies of million-dollar embezzlements and frauds by Gilchrist and his associates, yet not once in the past three years of making these defaming claims have they ever produced one speck of evidence," Lukehart added. 

"The court has prodded them for almost three years to bring forth their so-called 'evidence' against Gilchrist," Lukehart continued.  "It appears that they deliberately set out to destroy Gilchrist and his Minuteman Project by using a web of personal contacts to spread damning lies that Gilchrist and his Minuteman organization were engaged in criminal activity.  This propaganda campaign seems to be part of their charade to defraud the public and media into thinking that their actions were altruistic as opposed to bordering on criminality."

"If there ever was a classic case of hanging the innocent, this is it," Lukehart said.  "And my clients, Jim and Sandy Gilchrist, and Steve Eichler, will decisively prevail over their false accusers."

Both of Gilchrist's non-profit corporations have been reviewed by the Internal Revenue Service and have received coveted 501 C tax-exempt statuses by both the IRS and the California Franchise Tax Board, according to Carol Schaner, a tax attorney and partner in the law firm of Gordon & Rees, LLP in Irvine, Ca., that represents Gilchrist's Minuteman Project in corporate tax matters. 

Additionally, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recognized Gilchrist as president, founder, and director of the Minuteman Project and granted his organization the registrations of the trademark/patent and the protected, exclusive-use of the name Minuteman Project and its logos, according to Lowell Anderson, a partner with the law firm Stetina, Brunda, Garred, & Brucker, in Aliso Viejo, Ca., that represents Gilchrist in copyright, patent, and trademark issues.

Courtney, Stewart, and Sielski have claimed to be impoverished before the Orange County courts, thereby requiring Orange County taxpayers to pick up their costs of the litigation they have personally initiated against Gilchrist, his associates, and the Minuteman Project.  To date, Orange County taxpayers have provided about $12,000 of court filing and administrative fees free of charge to the threesome.  That figure could possibly climb to $30,000, or $50,000 or more if their case is protracted, all paid for by Orange County taxpayers.

"We are hoping that Stewart, Courtney, and Sielski will finally just move forward with their lives and stop the frivolous attacks against Mr. Gilchrist, his family members, and his associates," attorney Lukehart said.

Gilchrist's Minuteman Project seeks $3,000,000 in damages from defendants

In a separate action, on behalf of Gilchrist's Minuteman Project, the Mailly Law Group has filed a suit against Courtney, Stewart, and Sielski for several torts, including fraud, conversion, identity theft, libel, trademark infringement, and tortious interference with the Minuteman Project's business.  The lawsuit seeks $ 3,000,000 (three million dollars) in damages (Orange County, Ca. Superior Court Case No. 30-2009-00120029).

"The shameful actions of these persons have only served to stall the national debate on illegal immigration and any efficient resolution to that problem," Gilchrist said.  "Meanwhile, tens of millions of Americans continue to suffer under the injustices proffered by the lawless, open border fanatics, with American Blacks suffering the brunt of the dire unemployment consequences."

Gilchrist Releases Barbara Coe from Litigation; cites her as "a victim"

Gilchrist asked his lawyers to drop the legal actions against Barbara Coe, leader of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform (CCIR), headquartered in Huntington Beach, Ca., who was originally named as a defendant for her participation in the failed attempt to pirate Gilchrist's Minuteman Project in February of 2007.

"Coe is as much of a victim in this cabal as I am," Gilchrist said.  "Her only fault was that she was naïve and trusting enough to believe the incredible lies that Courtney, Sielski, Stewart, and their co-conspirators funneled to her.  They knew that without Coe's participation they could never have gotten their piracy off the ground.  I think she was deliberately duped and 'set up' in the charade to try to seize and plunder my non-profit organization.  She was simply 'used,' and my heart has room for forgiveness for her."

Background

Stewart, Courtney, and Sielski were volunteers for Minuteman Project, Inc. (MMP).  Jim Gilchrist incorporated his organization in Delaware in 2005 and legally appointed himself as its sole director.  In 2006 he formed a board of seven advisors on which Stewart, Courtney, and Barbara Coe served. 

One night in January of 2007, in their capacity as members of an advisory board, three of the seven advisors (Courtney, Stewart, and Coe) met secretly, without informing Gilchrist or the other advisors or officers of their meeting, and voted Gilchrist and all other advisors and officers out of existence in a not-so-well-planned sinister attempt to pirate the organization. 

After learning of their bizarre and dubious actions, Gilchrist ordered a legal meeting of advisors on February 2, 2007, which was attended by corporate counsel.  Courtney and Stewart were formally and legally terminated from the Minuteman Project, Inc. because the advisory staff felt they could no longer be trusted because of attitudes incompatible with the mission of the Minuteman Project.     

Barbara Coe voluntarily tendered to Gilchrist her signed resignation from the Minuteman Project, saying that based on accusations made privately to her by Courtney, Sielski, and Stewart about criminal activity being conducted by Jim Gilchrist and the Minuteman Project she was afraid to be involved with the organization.  These claims were later proven to be completely false and it appears that Courtney, Sielski, and Stewart lied to Coe only to get her to participate in their scheme. 

"Unfortunately for Coe," Gilchrist says, "the many positive advances she made in the immigration law enforcement movement were reversed because of her participation in this disruptive scheme."

After Gilchrist terminated Courtney and Stewart, and while he was out of town on speaking engagements, the duo covertly and fraudulently filed false corporate ownership documents with Gilchrist's incorporating state, Delaware, and used those fake documents to steal the corporate bank accounts at Washington Mutual Bank (now known as Chase Bank) at the Aliso Viejo, Ca. branch on February 16, 2007.  They also used their fraudulent identities as the new board of directors of the Minuteman Project to steal the Minuteman Project web site and its internet service providers.  They also stole the organizations email lists, donor lists, and various office equipment and supplies.  They sent the fake ownership documents and their fictional accusations of criminal activity all around the country to tens of thousands of email recipients and hundreds of media outlets." 

The Mailly Law Group quickly succeeded in getting a restraining order against the pirates, requiring them under court order to immediately return control of the web site back to Gilchrist. 

Thereafter, without any legitimate grounds for their law suits, or their lies, they began a series of harassing, frivolous law suits and internet propaganda campaigns aimed at disrupting the Minuteman Project and tarnishing Gilchrist's good name and reputation. 

"This experience makes me see clearly now the need for "tort reform" in the U.S. legal system", Gilchrist said.  "Vexatious litigants do nothing but jumble up our legal system and end up costing taxpayers inordinate amounts of money to keep our courts open to frivolous lawsuits.  It makes you wonder just how many meritless law suits are filed each year to simply appease the folly of the vengeful, the mischievous, and the criminals who might use our legal system as a means to engage in what seems to me to be extortion."

Gilchrist has successfully continued to move the Minuteman Project forward and to advocate for the enforcement of immigration laws.  In contrast, Stewart, Courtney, and Sielski have continued to defiantly pirate the name Minuteman Project, its logo, as well as falsely claiming to be the board of directors of Gilchrist's Minuteman Project, Inc. 

In March 2007, upon legal motions filed by the Mailly Law Group, the court clearly recognized the defendants for what they were and prohibited them from collecting monies in the name of Minuteman Project and prohibited them from using the Minuteman Project stationary.  Although the legal process has been a battle with nearly three years of non-stop court action with the various players in the attempted coup d'état, legal victories continue to stack up for Gilchrist. 

In an unanticipated twist Stewart and Courtney, who previously claimed that they volunteered for the Minuteman Project only to be on its Board of Directors, now admit that they volunteered only because they were hoping for lavish salaries in the future.  This revelation came as a shock to Gilchrist, who offered them only the satisfaction that befalls all patriots for volunteer public service positions.  

Gilchrist vehemently denies ever promising, or ever even hinting at, paid positions or compensation of any kind to anyone.  No one associated with Gilchrist's Minuteman Project ever recalls a promise or suggestion to anyone of lush salaries and employment perks.

"The Minuteman Project is a volunteer organization, for crying out loud," Gilchrist said.  "This is just a 'shakedown' attempt to choke money out of a benevolent "Mom and Pop" operation.  That may explain why five law firms in the past two-and-a-half years have consecutively disengaged from representing these defendants."

"As I recall, these were people who came to me, who sought me out, to offer their volunteer services because they wanted to share in the limelight of the Minuteman Project," Gilchrist says.  "Never once did they mention that they expected or were entitled to handsome, six figure salaries with extravagant expense accounts.  All the while I thought they were simply all-American civic volunteers like the rest of the minuteman participants.  Besides, there never was the kind of money available to pay them hundreds of thousands of dollars annually that they falsely claim they were promised."

We were on a roll!

Gilchrist, who has volunteered about 10,000 hours to the Minuteman Project since its inception five years ago, has never taken compensation for his efforts in educating Americans about illegal immigration and the need to enforce our immigration laws.  Nor has he received compensation for the exhaustive and seemingly endless interviews in television, radio, and print media as he sought to keep the mission of the Minuteman Project on course. 

Gilchrist founded the Minuteman Project in 2004 on a spirit of patriotism, volunteerism, benevolence, and love of country.  Volunteers, staff, advisors, and directors must share similar values and place the Project's mission ahead of any personal financial interests.  The lawsuits by Stewart and Courtney demonstrates how out-of-touch they are with the mission of the Minuteman Project and the millions of Americans supporting its immigration law enforcement advocacy stand. 

"We were on a roll in bringing the most dramatic and unprecedented public and political attention in history to the illegal immigration dilemma," Gilchrist said, "until a few disgruntled participants decided to selfishly wreak havoc on the minuteman movement and virtually erase all of the gains it has made on the chaotic immigration issue during 2005 and 2006.

Defendant arrested on a felony warrant

Sielski was arrested on March 20, 2007 from information provided by the Minuteman Project to the Orange County, Ca. Sheriff's Dept. Fugitive Task Force.  He was wanted on a felony "fugitive from justice" warrant from Maryland.

Sielski was held without bail and extradited to Maryland where he served about six months in jail while awaiting trial.  He has been even less fond of Gilchrist and the Minuteman Project ever since his arrest, incarceration, and conviction.  Eventually, he received a five-year suspended sentence and a three-year probation period from the Maryland courts.  He returned to California immediately after his release from a Maryland jail.

Invited to submit new summary judgment motions

Both counselors Mailly, of the Mailly Law Group, and Lukehart, of Lukehart Law, believe an invitation by the court for a summary judgment motion bodes well for Mr. Gilchrist and the Project.  They believe that  the judge, educated on the issues briefed shortly before trial was to begin, opined that he may be able to rule as a matter of law on all or most of the causes of action.  Believing that Stewart and Courtney misapplied various statutes, Mailly and Lukehart welcomed the opportunity to provide the court with an opportunity to rule in Gilchrist's favor without a trial.

A light at the end of the tunnel

The Superior Court judge presiding over the cases said that as he had become more familiar with the issues he felt that the majority of issues involved could be handled as a matter of summary judgment.  He added that remaining issues, if any, after summary adjudication, could be heard at trial in January if one is necessary.

Halting of the Trial

The judge also halted the trial, in part, to accommodate Paul Sielski's request for a continuance on account of his claim to the court that he was in poor health. 

The judge was not amused with Sielski's recent antics of apparently using a "doctor's excuse" to avoid a court mandated deposition from Gilchrist's lawyers.  The judge noted that in his frequent appearances in the court Sielski appeared well enough to go to trial.  Nevertheless, he was halting the trial and warned Sielski, Courtney and Stewart that there should be no more excuses for not being ready for trial in the future.

When Sielski again failed to show up in court on August 27 at a court ordered deposition with Counselor Mailly the judge immediately impugned Sielski with a $3,550 penalty.  So far, counsels for Gilchrist and the Minuteman Project have been awarded almost $14,000 in financial sanctions by the court to be paid by Sielski, Courtney, and Stewart for their abuses of the court system.

Gilchrist, upon hearing news of the courts latest action said, "As patriots, we love our country and respect our nation's pristine stature as a nation governed by the rules of law.  The rule of law applies to everyone, not just illegal aliens.  Indictments by the Orange County District Attorney may follow for the defendants.  I have already filed criminal complaints against Courtney and Stewart in an effort to have them charged with alleged bank fraud, alleged identity theft, alleged interstate wire fraud, and various other alleged offenses.  Any applicable prosecution of the alleged infractions would occur only after the civil court proceedings are settled."

Executive Director Stephen Eichler said "It is time to move on and leave the disruptive elements behind.  Gilchrist is planning to engage in a speaking tour this fall, including his second appearance at Harvard University this year.  He will also appear at the University of Nevada in November, and the Junior Statesmen Foundation convention in Los Angeles."

"We are seeing a substantial increase of groups wanting to be Minuteman Project chapters, not to mention our growing relationship with Tea Party and 9/12 organizations," Eichler said.

Eichler, who has been the Executive Director of the Minuteman Project since shortly after its inception, has long contended that the Courtney, Sielski, Stewart trio are "on the payroll of someone or some group who wants the Minuteman Project destroyed and Gilchrist's voice silenced.  Courtney and Sielski have not worked in years.  Stewart has a very modest-paying government job with the Veteran's Administration Medical Center in Long Beach, Ca.  They have to be getting money from someone, or some group averse to Gilchrist's Minuteman Project."