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Home Front: Culture Wars

ACORN Employee Sues Film Makers

2010-01-24

An employee at a Philadelphia branch of ACORN, the national community organization under fire for allegations of wrongdoing, has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the two filmmakers who set off the controversy last fall with their undercover videos.

The civil lawsuit filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia accuses the filmmakers, James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, of illegally recording their conversation with the worker, Katherine Conway-Russell, and then publicizing the videos, which Conway-Russell says "caused emotional distress, harm and injury."

Conway-Russell is featured in one of several videos recorded by O'Keefe and Giles, who posed as a pimp and prostitute and visited ACORN offices around the country with a hidden camera. The videos, released initially through the conservative Web site BigGovernment.com, showed ACORN employees seeming to offer to help the couple skirt tax and housing laws while setting up a brothel.

Posted by:Posted by Snitch and Tell

#8 ACORN is behind this. The American people need to continue to remove the politivians who are using our dollars to bank roll ACORN.

Posted by: Boss Snomotle8280 2010-01-24 18:21

#7 It is interesting that the suit is being brought by an individual and not ACORN. If it were being bankrolled, the legal fees would be imputed income and taxable to the individual. So I suspect it is being brought by an attorney on contingency and for pro bono credit.

Having an individual bring it also creates a more sympathetic plaintiff. It also creates a veil which must be pierced in order to go after ACORN for the really juicy stuff. Given that this trial is taking place in Philadelphia where the polls are guarded by the New and Improved Black Panthers there should be no surprised if the veil proves to be an iron curtain.

Now, it would be interesting to know what other clients the attorney is working for and what the total billable hours versus potential hours are.

But in any case this suit has taken so long to prepare that ACORN and its legal team have undoubtedly tested all these avenues and created what they think is the suit likely to cost Breitbart the most money at the least risk to ACORN, regardless of the outcome.

Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2010-01-24 13:11

#6 Thanks Barb for the correction and education. As I mentioned I'm not a lawyer - don't even play one on TV (for which you should be thankful...).

I also wonder about the 'Freedom of the press' aspects of this.

Posted by: CrazyFool 2010-01-24 12:18

#5 I'm with you re the bankrolling, Dr. White. Rare would be the lawyer who would take such an iffy case on contingency.

Britebart's lawyers (whom I'm sure are going to be defending this) should have lots of fun.... :-D

Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2010-01-24 11:16

#4 I'm guessing someone is bankrolling this. Contingency is too risky. Lawyers I know who do contingency work generally want the case to be a near sure thing to go forward, because otherwise you've wasted a lot of time and effort for nothing.

Not only will the depositions be fun, but there are the interrogatories -- the questions the lawyers get to ask and have answered in writing prior to the depositions. The judge has to approve the questions in advance but still, all sorts of opportunities there.

Posted by: Steve White 2010-01-24 11:12

#3 She can sue all she wants. She will be subjected to discovery, and the ACORN office will be served, too, since the action she's sueing about too place there.

ACORN undoubtedly scrubbed the office, but can they be sure every piece of paper they deep-sixed isn't duplicated elsewhere?

Filing a suit like this is the same as volunteering for a personal proctology exam at high noon in Times Square. With 10 minutes to draw a crowd.

Wonder who's paying the lawyer? (Yes, he/she may have taken it on contingency, but in that case the lawyer has to put out the money up front for all the expenses and hope they win. Either the lawyer's pretty sure they'll win AND there's money to be had from the sue-ees, or somebody's bankrolling this.)

Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2010-01-24 10:42

#2 Don't know about the discovery (I'm not a lawyer either). Seems that since the employees, and not ACORN, are filing the suit - ACORN's not involved. And I'm sure ACORN sent a team and scrubbed every scrap of paper at the local office.

Posted by: CrazyFool 2010-01-24 10:23

#1 I am not a lawyer, but it seems to me that the discovery in this case should be VERY interesting.

Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2010-01-24 01:43

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