"Frankly, I always view lawsuits as negative energy, and a lot of time spent on lawyers' pay with very little good coming out of them." Jonathan Ornstein, Chairman and CEO of Mesa Air Group, March 17, 2006, Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
Not withstanding his public
comments concerning "negative energy," on
November 9, 2007, Holly
Hegeman, editor, publisher and founder of
PlaneBusiness.com, PlaneBusiness Banter, and PlaneBuzz -- the blog -- was served with a
baseless SLAPP lawsuit filed by Jonathan Ornstein,
CEO, and Mesa Air
Group. The suit
alleges "defamation" in regards to three blog posts
Hegeman wrote in PlaneBuzz
concerning the recent
trial involving Mesa Air
Group and
Hawaiian
Airlines in U.S.
Federal Bankruptcy Court in Hawaii.
In that
trial, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris found that
Mesa had used
confidential information it had obtained from
Hawaiian Airlines, while
that airline was in bankruptcy protection, to help it start
a competing airline, "go!"
As part of the trial, Judge Faris also found that
Mesa CFO
Peter Murnane had destroyed evidence. Judge Faris ruled
that
Hawaiian was
entitled to $80 million in damages, along with attorneys
fees and interest.
This lawsuit marks the fourth time Mr.
Ornstein and/or his company has attempted to intimidate,
influence or file suit against Hegeman for material she has
written about him or his company in TheStreet.com, PlaneBusiness Banter, or PlaneBuzz. And it comes on the heels of an
unsuccessful attempt by Ornstein and the airline to sue
an Aloha
Airlines pilot --
Mike Uslan -- for speaking out against
Mesa
Air
Group online and
it's small Hawaiian airline operation,
"go!"
The
Coalition Against Negative Energy and Time Wasted Arduously
Fighting Frivolous Lawsuits Exemplifying Superfluousness or
CAN EAT WAFFLES may
sound funny --
but CAN EAT WAFFLES
is a fight that every
blogger, every journalist, and every person who dares write
about the financial operation of a publicly traded company
cannot ignore.
How can you help? Donate now
to the PlaneBuzz/PlaneBusiness
Mesa Air
Group SLAPP Defense Fund.