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Gentle Wind Project Federal Lawsuit Dismissed

JFBergin@yahoo.com

New Blood
J
Joined
Nov 7, 2005
Messages
6
On January 3, 2006 we received the long-awaited news that Senior District Judge Gene Carter granted our Motion for Summary Judgment on the Gentle Wind Project’s RICO (racketeering) claim -- the only Federal claim that remained in GWP’s lawsuit against us. The Federal Court Order is an intriguing and educational read for anyone interested in the preservation of free speech on the Internet, and also provides a quick summary of the lawsuit facts (Read this Order and Judgment at the website for former GWP members, Wind of Changes.)

Judge Carter further ordered that GWP's lawsuit Counts III through VII against us (the state claims, such as defamation) be dismissed from Federal Court.

Another large victory in the GWP lawsuit against multiple defendants was granted by Federal Judge Gene Carter to Ian Mander of New Zealand Cult List – one of our many co-defendants originally sued by GWP leaders.

Judge Carter dismissed GWP’s claims against Mander and denied their motion for default judgment against him. Ian Mander won this judgment without spending a dime on defense. (Read this 3-page decision at Wind of Changes.)

The entire GWP lawsuit has now been completely dismissed from Federal Court. :)

Other co-defendants sued by GWP in May 2004 included Rick Ross and Rick Ross Institute (refused to settle or remove links and commentary from his website, won his strong defense on personal jurisdiction, and was dismissed from Federal Court after many months); Steve Gamble and Ivan Fraser (both settled due to personal finances after months of defending, yet didn't remove their original statements about GWP - the first on the Internet - or pay settlement money; and Steve Hassan (settled but paid no settlement money).

Plaintiffs filing the lawsuit were Gentle Wind Project leaders: John “Tubby” Miller, Mary “Moe” Miller, Carol “Max” Miller, Shelbourne “Shelly” Miller, Pam Ranheim, and Joan Carreiro of Durham NH and Kittery ME.

The Millers could refile in state court, but that would mean starting all over again. It would also put our Counterclaims into motion. (Also at Wind of Changes website).

“Tubby” and “Moe” Miller et al could appeal the Federal Court decision to a higher court if they wish to contest the Judge’s opinion.

Since the Courts favor the plaintiffs, it is rare to have an MSJ granted. Such a decision would generally mean that the Judge is very certain of the legal correctness of his decision.

If the purpose of the Millers' lawsuit was to silence us and others, it was an incorrect use of the legal system requiring vast amounts of their donors' money. As Carl Starrett, Esquire, moderator of the Gentle Wind Project Victims’ Yahoo Forum stated, "GWP must have spent several hundred thousand dollars in legal fees and they came up empty."

In addition to the correct application of the law for us, this is an extremely important decision for anyone who believes in an individual's right to speak freely about personal experiences, and to share information of public importance through the Internet without fear of being intimidated, sued, silenced, and harmed financially. Judge Carter’s decision impacts anyone who writes about a group, job, corporation or agency that they at one time had a relationship with, sends email concerning these matters, or posts supportive commentary. It is a great achievement for advocates of freedom of speech on the web and elsewhere in society.

We are very grateful for the support and encouragement – from a wide variety of individuals and institutions – that we have received throughout this two-year process.

Jim Bergin and Judy Garvey
Blue Hill, ME
 
For those of us who have never heard of it, perhaps you could explain what this Gentle Wind Project was all about? I don't see any sort of explaination on your website.

I have gentle winds all the time... most of the time it chases people from the room. :)
 
What is Gentle Wind all about?

To EagleEye and anyone interested in Gentle Wind Project's M.O.:

For a quick explanation, read the Insiders' Stories page at our Wind of Changes website (URL to the Home page generously provided here by Kell).

A Husband's Perspective page fills in the details.

And, to go to the group's own explanation :rolleyes: you could check out Gentle Wind Project's website.
 
So, any chance of recovering costs for frivolity?
 
I have two questions. One, their stuff is offerred for "suggested donations" so what happens if you actually ask for something without a donation? Is it hard-core pressure to pay or do they give it to you?

Second, do you guys remember the revelation not too long about about printers putting near-invisible codes into their printouts so you can track where a printed piece of paper came from? If you don't, in a nutshell, many printers put very light yellow dots in their printout, which can't be seen by the naked eye but can be seen under a blue light, to identify which printer the print came from and when. I don't know much about GWP but how do they claim these cards are printed and has anyone checked for yellow dots? Do they claim a special printing process or is just the design alone supposed to be enough? Of course, if they admit to just printing these out of any old color printer this would mean nothing, except do the yellow dots affect the card since the design is so crucial?

Just curious, as each piece of information about any scam can be useful at some point.
 
Frivolous lawsuit? / GWP production / "Free Healings"

Many people are first drawn in to GWP through offers of "free healings." In some cases these are from "instrument keepers" in the interested person's geographical area, or it happens at GWP seminars. Once the belief system sets in -- as happened with us -- a new recruit can develop a compelling desire to purchase (for "donations") the continuously upgraded versions of the "healing instruments" that come sailing in from the "spirit world" directly to John "Tubby" Miller of Gentle Wind. These instruments have ranged from hundreds to thousands of dollars, with some models upwards of $10,000, even $20,000. Since the instruments are used for "maintenance" of a person's "system" it really follows that one needs his or her own for daily use -- again, once the belief system is in place.

There are many types of GWP products, which can be seen on their own website catalog page. The "trauma cards" going to the third world, etc., are laminated 8 1/2 x 11 pieces of paper from a computer printer at Gentle Wind's residence. The "pucks" and such are put together by GWP also. One is shown, disassembled, on Dave Touretzky's website found by doing a search for Gentle Wind Project.

We can't yet post URLs here, but you can read a Portland Press Herald (Maine) article from yesterday at our Wind of Changes website. Interesting comments from "Moe" Miller, co-leader of GWP, and from the group's attorney at Verrill & Dana. Apparently they've kept this lawsuit going since May 2004 even though they didn't expect the racketeering charges to win, and also to hold us responsible for their loss of income, as a "nonprofit."

Recouping expenses from a frivolous lawsuit is definitely a pleasant thought. The wheels are turning, and we'll continue to take it one step at a time.
 
Maine Attorney General Files Lawsuit Against Gentle Wind Project

We've learned that the State of Maine / Maine Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against Gentle Wind Project -- the group that has been suing former members (myself and my wife) and, previously, others, including Rick Ross, Steve Hassan, Ivan Fraser, Steve Gamble, and Ian Mander since May 2004.

A copy of the lawsuit document is at the top of the Home page at our website: Wind of Changes. (We can't yet post URL's here, but the URL was posted earlier in this thread).

The following announcement about the AG's lawsuit is from WMTW-TV News and the URL is also on the Wind of Changes website.

Jim
--------------------------

AUGUSTA, Maine -- The Maine Attorney General's Office has filed a lawsuit against a controversial Kittery-based nonprofit group.

The Gentle Wind Project designs and sells what it calls "healing instruments" that it said solve a variety of physical and emotional ailments.

Others said the group is a scam.

The attorney general's office accused the group of falsely claiming that their products had healing qualities and of considering the income from their sale as charitable donations rather than sales proceeds.

Prosecutors want the Gentle Wind Project to liquidate its assets, pay the state's legal fees and refund anyone who bought items between 2000 and the present.
 
Time Out!!!!!

Before this goes any further, could we have a list of the players? Who is who, who is suing whom and why, and who are the Good Guys?

At the moment, it appears that GWP are the scammers, who are suing Bergin & Co (former members of GWP) for some reason; and that the case was initiated in the Maine state courts, and somehow wound up in the Federal courts, which have now dismissed the lawsuit.

I've checked the links, but they all seem to assume at least some prior knowledge. Is there a coherent chronology somewhere of the events and the reasons for the events?
 
I concur to beady

More detail would be welcome. I started reading some web page linked above, but that is way lot of text... A nice summary would be nice...
 
Gentle wind = pure bullsh!t (a.k.a. "money making scam ripping off the gullable")

My evidence? ... their own information speaks for itself.

Their evidence? ... non-existent.

I know of a total woo that won't touch it with a barge pole .... unfortunately that is because they think it is too dangerous (as opposed to just being a money-squandering waste of time and effort). :boggled:
 
Summary -- Sort of

There is a lot of text on our website and not enough time to make it more readable right now.:o

One interesting and understandable summary and discussion has just been published at Wash Park Prophet -- a blog that has weighed in on Gentle Wind before. We've posted a link in the top text box at our website Wind of Changes.

Bascially, we were follower-woos of GWP for 17 years, then left and figured out what had happened to us. A few years later (fall 03) we wrote a brief summary of our experiences -- "Insider's Stories" -- which was posted at Freedom of Mind, Equilibra, and The Truth Campaign websites.

Gentle Wind began threatening lawsuits and referring to us and our website hosts in much less than pleasant terms, so we wrote another summary of our experiences --"A Husband's Perspective" -- for the above websites and also for Rick Ross.com and New Zealand Cult Info websites.

In early 2004, GWP sent a cease and desist letter to Freedom of Mind.com so we decided to take the heat ourselves and published our own website, Wind of Changes in March 2004. Our stories, mentioned above, as well as MUCH more, can now be read there.

GWP sent cease and desist letters to everyone to take down our websites (which no one did) and then sued us in May 2004, along with the hosts of all the websites where our stories had been posted. GWP's first lawsuit was in Federal court because of the RICO and Lanham Acts as claims, along with defamation and the like. They tried to prove "racketeering" -- saying that the hosts of the websites and my wife and I had a huge conspiracy going. :rolleyes:

Over the next year, three of the defendants settled due to their financial issues, but no money was paid and, in the case of Truth Campaign and Equilibra, they retained their original discussion of GWP online. Rick Ross had pro bono attorneys and was able to stand up to GWP and win. He was dismissed from Federal Court.

Ian Mander, from the vantage point of NZ, ignored them completely; yet rather than being found in default, he was dismissed from Federal Court in Jan 06. The entire process in Federal Court took nearly two years -- At the beginning GWP's claims were dismissed, but they were then allowed to refile. Many, many, many documents were presented. Many, many, many dollars were spent. :boxedin:

In the meantime, we had also filed Counterclaims against GWP and the individual plaintiffs. These are listed on a separate page at Wind of Changes website, and include some of the more colorful language GWP's leaders used to describe us.

Finally, after discovery, depositions, and more (a long, hot summer in 05) we filed a Motion for Summary Judgment. Our attorney, Jerrol Crouter, of Drummond, Woodsum, and MacMahon in Portland, ME was assisted by The Berkman Center for Law and Society at Harvard Law School who joined our defense pro bono because of the Internet freedom of speech issues.

In January 2006, we won the Motion for Summary Judgment and the case was dismissed from Federal Court, along with GWP's Federal claims, by Senior District Court Judge Gene Carter, who also refused to keep GWP's state claims in Federal court. :D

Three weeks later GWP filed yet another lawsuit against us in Maine State Court, which consisted of their state claims that had been thrown out of Federal court but not dismissed entirely.:eye-poppi

That lawsuit is at York County (Maine) Superior Court and scheduled for trial in fall 2006. . .Our Counterclaim lawsuit against GWP has also been filed. If it goes to trial the jury will have to listen to the entire thing and many witnesses.

NOW -- the Maine Attorney General, who has been investigating GWP for a long time it seems, has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the State of Maine against GWP and its leaders -- all of whom are the plaintiffs in the lawsuit(s) against us. This is amazing news and shows that the law can work for citizens.

What does this mean for GWP's present lawsuit against us? Time will tell.

Now -- are you as confused as we are? :)
 
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