Health Advocate Responds to Allegations of Libel

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Indoor Environment CONNECTIONS

The Newspaper for the IAQ Industry

Volume 6, Issue 10

August 2005

Health Advocate Responds to Allegations of Libel

By Steve Sauer

An expert witness on toxicology has filed a libel suit over a

press release published on the Web that accuses him of

having " altered his under oath statement on the witness stand. "

In a civil suit file May 13, in a California superior court, an

attorney representing the environmental risk-management company

GlobalTox Inc. called statements about its president, Dr. Bruce

Kelman, false and libelous.

The complaint disputes the truth of the allegations about

Kelman and further claims that the statements have hurt business for

GlobalTox and damaged Kelman's reputation as an expert witness on

toxicology in mold litigation.

According to the lawsuit, Kelman has " served as a consultant

and as an expert witness in numerous contexts before policy makers,

government regulators, citizen groups and in litigation throughout

the United States and in Canada. "

The libel suit said statements issued earlier this year falsely

accuse him and his company " of providing false testimony under oath,

and engaging in dishonest and criminal conduct. "

The suit centers around a March 9 press release discussing an

Oregon family's victory over the builders of their house. That

press release discusses major points of the case, including that

and Haynes and their two children attributed their

illnesses to mold in the house. The jury in that case found Adair

Homes to be negligent.

That same press release also criticizes Kelman's testimony in

the case, saying he " altered his under oath statements on the

witness stand. " It is the truth of this phrase that plaintiffs

dispute in the complaint against the author of the press release,

Sharon Kramer, a California Realtor and one of the crusaders active

in the Internet-based effort to promote comprehension of health

issues related to mold.

Once involved in her own mold case at a home in California,

Kramer has " collected numerous sad tales of deeply damaged people

whose lives have been permanently altered because of injuries

suffered due to mold exposure in schools, homes, and at work, " her

attorney writes in a court document. Such anecdotes about health

issues related to mold were included in informational packets

distributed last September to members of Congress.

Kramer is named as the primary defendant in the libel suit, and

20 others not identified by name are also being sued for making

potentially libelous statements.

In the complaint filed on behalf of Kelman and GlobalTox,

plaintiffs' attorney says each of the defendants published

defamatory statements on " various online message boards and internet

sites " about his clients.

In a court document filed July 1, Kramer's attorney asked the

court to dismiss Kelman's lawsuit against Kramer, saying that the

only reason Kelman filed suit against Kramer was " to intimidate "

her " from expressing her opinion about the rigged, biased, pre-

bought `research' regarding the dangers of certain molds in the

indoor environment, and the causation of real physical injury by

exposure to those molds. "

Later in July, Kramer returned to her preferred medium of the

Internet, where she publicly voiced her innocence in the libel case

on various Web sites devoted to mold issues. She also continued to

insist that her statement about Kelman in the press release was true.

She maintains that on Feb 18, while Kelman was testifying under

oath as a defense witness in the case of Haynes v. Adair Homes, he

made seemingly contradictory statements about whether he was

involved in - and compensated for – co-authoring a position paper

related to the health effects of mold.

She says that the transcript of proceedings for both court cases

support her claim. Further, she has posted on various Web sites

last month the text of a declaration she and her attorney conducted

as part of her legal defense. In her 28-page declaration, Kramer

quotes liberally and comments on these court transcripts, both of

which are in the public domain.

Kramer's post have appeared on mold-help.org, which is mostly

frequented by people seeking to advance awareness of mold-related

health issues, and also other Web sites including toxlaw.com and

counsel.net.

According to an official court transcript of the Haynes case

tried in Oregon, Kelman was called to testify and explained that he

had been asked to summarize the position statement of the American

College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine on the health

effects of mold. This " lay version, " as he described it in his

testimony, was being prepared for the Manhattan Institute, a

nonprofit organization.

During his testimony in the Haynes case, attorney Vance

asked Kelman, " Isn't it true that the Manhattan Institute paid

GlobalTox $40,000 to make revisions in that statement? " The

transcript shows that Kelman responded, " That is one of the most

ridiculous statements I ever heard. "

Vance then provided Kelman with a transcript of his expert

testimony from a prior case, Kilian v. Equity Residential Trust et

al., heard in Arizona District Court. In the Kilian transcript, an

attorney asked Kelman whether GlobalTox received $40,000 in payment

for a " new version " of the American College of Occupational and

Environmental Medicine position paper, to which Kelman

answered, " Yes. The company was paid $40,000 for it. "

The motion to strike the libel complaint against Kramer further

implies that jurors in the Haynes case perceived trouble with

Kelman's testimony, prompting them to rule against the defendants

for whom Kelman was called to testify.

Kelman's attorney, Scheuer, did not respond by deadline

to calls seeking comment on the defendant's motion to strike the

complaint.

The California court is expected to rule on the defense motion

Sept. 30. Under California law, plaintiffs have until 10 days

before such a ruling to respond to motions to strike.

Footnote to IEConnections Article: GlobalTox has now changed their

name to VERITOX. It is a new corporation.