| Long History | (Page 3) | ||||||||||||||||
| In the following
court transcript Mr. Emmons is the attorney for the defense (Grateful
Dave), Mr. Synnestvedt & Mr. Fields are the attorneys for the
plaintiff (WSO Inc.), Mr. Wolfe is the court reporter and The Court is
Judge Pollak. Note carefully the times.
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WORLD SERVICE OFFICE, INC.
: CIVIL ACTION
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
(The Court began the telephone conference in chambers at 10:30 a.m.) THE COURT:
Mr. Wolfe is here taking down our conversation, and also my colleague,
Mr. Cooper, is here with us. What's the situation, Mr. Emmons? I
guess I should hear from you.
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WSC 1992
DAY 5 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29 The meeting was called to order by Barbara J. Chairperson of the World Service Conference 1991-1992, at 8:15 a.m. {9:15 a.m. EST}. The meeting was opened with a moment of silence to remember the still suffering addict, followed by the Serenity Prayer. |
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| The conference went on with a few announcements, roll call, Trustee nominee's stating their willingness and answering questions from participants, and the handing out and collecting of ballots. We return to the minutes at about 9:30 a.m. CST [10:30 a.m. EST] | |||||||||||||||||
| Barbara
J. (WSC Chairperson) read a statement from Bob McD. (WSO BOD Chairperson)
which advised the conference that there was no reason not to proceed with
the consideration of motion #8 as originally scheduled. The following
is a verbatim transcript of the notice received regarding this issue.
NOTICE TO: Attendees of the World Service Conference FROM:
Bob McDonough
Date: April 28, 1992 On April 22, 1992, papers were filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on behalf of David Moorhead. These papers seek to hold the World Service Office in breach of the Settlement Agreement and in contempt of the Consent Order entered in the litigation in Philadephia on January 4, 1991, and further seek to reopen that litigation in an effort to prevent a vote by the 1992 World Service Conference on Motion Number #8 which relates to the creation of the Fellowship Intellectual Property Trust. Our counsel has advised that there is no reason not to consider Motion Number 8 in the normal course of business as it is reached on the agenda. Our attorneys have reviewed the filed papers and have assured us that the claims against the World Service Office are utterly groundless. As of this date, there has been no hearing set on this matter. We wish to suggest that all times, the World Service Office has complied with the terms of the Settlement Agreement and Consent Order entered in that litigation. Our attorneys will be taking the appropriate actions to defend the World Service Office in this matter. We will keep you appraised of further developments as they arise. It was M/S/ World Service Board of Trustees #8. To approve Addendum 3, "The Fellowship Intellectual Property Trust." |
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| At this time, 9:45 a.m. CST (10:45 a.m. EST) Mr. Edmondson received a phone call on the conference floor from Mr. Synnestvedt, WSO attorney in Philadelphia, Pa. | |||||||||||||||||
| 9:55
a.m. CST (10:55 a.m. EST) It was M/S/C Becky M. (WSB Chairperson)/
Bob McD. (WSO BOD Chairperson) #103. "To commit motion #8 to the World
Service Board and a RSR working group to be appointed by the WSC Chairperson
to solicit, review, and factor in, where appropriate, additional input
on the Fellowship Intellectual Property Trust for presentation to the fellowship
in the 1993 Conference Agenda Report."
MOTION TO COMMIT CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE |
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| (The
Court resumed the proceedings at 11:00 a.m.)
THE COURT: What do we know? MR. SYNNESTVEDT: I was able to reach Mr. Edmondson, and I have the following news to report. A few moments ago there was a motion carried to commit this motion, and we have the exact wording of the motion. THE COURT: You say to commit it? MR. EMMONMS: Meaning to table it. MR. SYNNESTVEDT: It was, in effect, tabled for a year. So you can read the wording of the motion. THE COURT: If you would. MR. FIELDS: This motion was passed that motion Number Eight be committed to the World Service Board, and an RSR working group appointed by the World Service Conference chairperson to solicit, review and factor in, where appropriate, additional input on the fellowship intellectual property trust for presentation to the fellowship in the 1993 conference agenda report. MR. SYNNESTVEDT: That motion was carried, Your Honor. THE COURT: I see. Well, I guess that withdraws immediate problems. MR. FIELDS: Absolutely, Your Honor. It was certainly very suspenseful for us how this was done, but that is what the immediate requested relief was, and I'm very pleased that that's what was done. It certainly would save a lot of unnecessary work for counsel and Your Honor. THE COURT: Right. MR. EMMONS: We have now merely a motion pending for the determination to vacate the existing order, and in the normal course of things between counsel we'll determine whether or not we need a hearing. MR. SYNNESTVEDT: Wait a minute, there are papers filed that charges breach of the settlement agreement and contempt of court. MR. EMMONS: That's the motion to enforce and/or vacate. There has been no motion for contempt of court. There was a motion filed for preliminary injunction concerning this motion. We'll withdraw that motion for a preliminary injunction. MR. FIELDS: We have a paper that was served on us called Rule to Show Cause, which charges us with contempt, including an affidavit as a basis for a motion for contempt signed by David Moorhead, and served by your office. MR. EMMONS: You didn't read the service instructions. That was served on you for notice only. Read your service instructions. THE COURT: Well, gentlemen, you can carry on this discussion among yourselves. The motion for preliminary injunction is to be withdrawn. I take it that, in timely fashion, Mr. Fields and Mr. Synnestvedt will respond to the longer term motion that has been filed. Maybe, in the meanwhile, you will be able to effectuate some resolution of the matter. In any event, I am gratified that the immediate problem has been resolved. I remain puzzled, Mr. Synnestvedt -- and I underline puzzled, very puzzled indeed -- how you could have supposed that the only information that I sought was to know when this week the resolution would be presented, and that I had no interest in seeing you folks work out a resolution with a view to avoiding further court action. As it turns out, no court action is called for, and that is gratifying. But I will suggest to you, Mr. Synnestvedt, that you might go back and review your notes and memory of our prior conversation, and consider whether your reconstruction of those events really harmonizes with any sensible understanding of what a court would be called upon to do in an emergent situation of that kind. MR. SYNNESTVEDT: I understood that Your Honor would like us to find a longer term solution, I have no doubt about that, but I was unable to do that with my client, Your Honor. MR. FIELDS: We were getting no response back, which was frustrating. That was the difficult part from our end. THE COURT: Certainly, the logic of the situation was that if the parties were unable to resolve this immediate emergent problem, then you would have to report that fact back to the Court with a view to determining whether we would have a hearing, or what other form of court consideration would be required with a view to resolving one way or another Mr. Moorhead's immediate concerns. As it turned out, the problem is moot, and that is gratifying. All right, thank you very much, gentlemen. MR. EMMONS: Your Honor, if I may, the motion to enforce or vacate, is there a date to be set for a response to that? THE COURT: The rules provide what the times are for response, and I trust that Mr. Fields and Mr. Synnestvedt will have that in mind. I do charge you, once again on both sides, with an obligation to get together to see whether the issues now being proposed to be further litigated can't be subject to some resolution or at least some narrowing. All right, thank you very much. (The Court adjourned the proceedings at 11:10 a.m.) |
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Grateful Dave died in July 1992 but the case remained active for 7 months
more. During WSC '93 a Literature Trust Document was passed enabling WSO
Inc. to come one step closer to total control of our Fellowship. WSO Inc.
has since issued a series of Intellectual Property Bulletins or decrees
that go quite beyond the document passed and has redefined an NA Group
as one that accepts their Literature Trust authority. They have, however,
shown no inclination to go back to court, for reasons that are now hopefully
more apparent to the reader. Profits are up this year as a result of sales
of new literature that really were "works for hire".
More Groups than ever are printing, using, and giving away free to the newcomer our approved Basic Text, the 3rd Edition, Revised with the restored 4th and 9th Traditions language. Our Traditions are still non-negotiable and our Spiritual Program of recovery from addiction is still available for those who want it. |
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