A Texas District Court judgeruled that a former intern defamed a bat sanctuary nonprofit and its president,and awarded the organization $6.1 million in damages.
After a four-day trial, JudgeWilliam Brigham found that Mary Cummins had committed defamation against BatWorld Sanctuary president Amanda Lollar and breached her internship contractwith the organization. She was ordered to pay $3.0 million in punitive damages,$10,000 for her breach of contract, and $176,000 in attorney’s fees.
Cummins was accepted for aninternship at the Mineral Wells, Texas, organization in 2010, but left earlyafter becoming dissatisfied with the program. Lollar and her attorneys thenclaim she went back to her home in California posted allegations of animalcruelty against her and the organization on the Internet.
“This judgment sends apowerful message to cyber-stalkers and others who use the Internet to harasspeople or to harm their reputations,” said Randy Turner, Lollar’s attorney.“Innocent victims like Amanda Lollar often don’t have the resources, expertise,or ability to defend themselves against such vicious Internet attacks.Hopefully this judgment will make someone think twice before engaging in anInternet smear campaign.”
Among many allegations,Cummins accused Lollar of performing surgeries on bats without anesthesia,possessing and distributing controlled substances without a license, andthrowing dead bats in the trash. Along with posting these complaints on theInternet, she also filed numerous complaints with animal cruelty organizations,including a foundation that had been funding Bat World Sanctuary but stoppeddoing so after receiving the complaints. Every agency that Cummins filedcomplaints with eventually found them to be without merit after furtherinvestigation.
“I would like to thankeveryone who stood by us during this ordeal and never, ever lost faith in us,”Lollar said via a statement. “Mr. Turner and his paralegal, Kelly Bozeman,worked tirelessly for us and we couldn’t have won without them. I will beforever grateful.”
Cummins is the president ofAnimal Advocates, a nonprofit based in Los Angeles, Calif. that works toprevent cruelty to animals. She plans to appeal the ruling, claiming a conflictof interest.
“On onehand I'm shocked because Plaintiffs did not show the essential elements for aclaim of defamation or breach of contract. On the other hand I'm not reallythat shocked. Before one hearing Plaintiffs' attorney Randy Turner of Bailey& Galyen told me that he's known this Judge for years. He insinuated thatthe Judge will automatically rule in his favor, and it appears that he has. Ibelieve there was a conflict of interest and a new trial by a new Judge is inorder.”
On her website, animaladvocates.us, Cummins postedinformation documenting other complaints made against Lollar. Judge Brigham orderedher to remove that information, a ruling that she also plans to challenge onthe basis of the Freedom of Information Act.
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