Last Tuesday, an arbitrator for the arbitration service JAMS – which large entertainment companies like to insert into their agreements with talent as arbitration services are inclined to protect large vested interests – almost one year after a federal court referred the case to JAMS, issued an allegedly dishonest or grossly negligent decision dismissing the claims filed by Jackie Beard Robinson, a fashionista who had joint ventured with the star of "Housewives of New Jersey" Melissa Gorga. Mrs. Robinson is my client.
After the joint venture came to an unfortunate end, Gorga and Andy Cohen of NBC and Bravo, acting jointly, defamed Mrs. Robinson, falsely publishing that she had stolen merchandise from the women's clothing store they both had operated. This charge of committing a crime constitutes defamation per se, for which malice need not be proven even by a public figure.
The arbitrator assigned to the case – after a Clinton-appointed judge had transferred it to JAMS – ruled in a poorly and flawed written decision that Mrs. Robinson had released the defendants from any claims, even though the defamation occurred after the release was signed. It is textbook black-letter law that a person, particularly one of unequal bargaining power like Mrs. Robinson compared to billion dollar entertainment corporations, cannot bargain away the right to sue when the tortious act had not yet even occurred. In this case, Mrs. Robinson was maliciously defamed after she had signed the release to appear on "Housewives of New Jersey."
Nevertheless, the arbitrator strained either dishonestly or though gross negligence to rule for Gorga, Cohen, NBC, Bravo and other named defendants. I had predicted as much, since arbitration services such as JAMS are inserted by big corporations and other similar vested interests into releases because, generally speaking, in order to get more lucrative business, they consistently rule in favor of these mega-corporations. That is why I had filed Mrs. Robinson's complaint in the first instance in federal district court, in Florida. But this Clinton-appointed judge sent it to arbitration, claiming that the forum selection clause required this. I disagreed, since the release was allegedly procured through fraud, and due to its unconscionable nature and the unequal bargaining power of Mrs. Robinson and NBC and Bravo, it should be ruled null and void.
Upon the issuance of the arbitration ruling, I issued this statement on behalf of my client, Mrs. Robinson:
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"It is unconscionable that the arbitrator engaged in delay for about nine months to write an intellectually dishonest opinion, and then dismissed my client's claims with little to no factual and indeed patently wrong legal reasoning. Mrs. Robinson had been maliciously defamed by Melissa Gorga and the other defendants on national and international television for having stolen merchandise from the joint venture between Mrs. Robinson and Ms. Gorga, the so-called star of the 'Housewives of New Jersey.'"
We will now appeal the ruling by a federal court to refer the lawsuit, which I filed as early as Dec. 26, 2017, for Mrs. Robinson in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, to JAMS, as this case belongs in federal court, not the ethically challenged and conflcted JAMS, which the multi-trillion dollar entertainment industry effectively has in its "hip pocket." We will also be pursuing other legal actions to seek redress for this willfully false or grossly negligent arbitration ruling.
The defendants' motion to dismiss was filed Nov. 15, 2018, almost a year ago, and this outrageous delay in reaching a JAMS decision speaks for itself. Only when Mrs. Robinson pushed for a ruling after about nine months of delay by the arbitrator was one issued. Notably, JAMS demanded full payment for the arbitrator's "services" before releasing the decision, suggesting that it knew that the decision was unfavorable to Mrs. Robinson. And, even when Mrs. Robinson paid the money "up front," JAMS then again delayed releasing it with apparently bogus excuses, all suggesting nefarious conduct.
JAMS and its arbitrator have been put on notice to retain all documents concerning this matter as they will be requested in later legal proceedings.
Once again, the "little guy," in this case Mrs. Robinson, is cast aside by the rich and powerful establishment vested interests who butter their collective bread at the expense of ordinary people. The ruling by JAMS' arbitrator was simply dishonest or grossly negligent and this will be proven in further proceedings. Justice will be done in the end!
For those of you patriots who think that only our great president is subjected to a corrupt legal system, it's important to take heed that it extends to you the rest of us peasants as well. While by the grace of God the underdog can sometimes win despite an otherwise stacked deck, this is the exception rather than the general rule. This is why strong and fearless lawyering is necessary to win.
I am confident that in the end Mrs. Robinson will prevail, but this will be a long and costly venture, which should not have proved necessary.
Join with me at www.freedomwatchusa.org and sign up for our Justice League to support our efforts to reform the legal system and to return honesty to our nation's body politic. Today, Mrs. Robinson is for now the victim of a frequently corrupt legal order, but tomorrow it could be you and your loved ones!