NASGA response to Marin County defamation lawsuit

June 18, 2007

The First Amendment of our United States Constitution was made
applicable to the states through the due process clause of the 14th
Amendment. It states, in part, that Congress shall make no law
prohibiting or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.

This protection is tantamount in a free society. It allows reporters
and media the ability to inform the public on a number of important
matters which, in other countries, would be censored for fear of
reprisals.

However, when individuals use the court system in order to circumvent
this freedom, punish or otherwise seek malicious revenge against
reporters and their publications, our very freedoms are threatened.
Such is the case in Bakes v. Alvillar & Coastal Post. (Marin County
Superior Court case number CIV 032918)

In a 2002 article published by Coastal Post, "County Fails To Protect
Frail Elderly" Terri Alvillar attempted to expose the major problems
with the guardianship system. As president of the National
Association to Stop Guardian Abuse, I was not at all surprised by
this article, since everything she reported on not only occurs in
California, but in over 20 states in our country.

As far back as 1989, Money Magazine reported on the "Gulag of
Guardianship". In December of 2005, the Los Angeles Times ran a four
part series on "Guardians for Profit" and I myself published my own
memoir "Blood Tastes Lousy With Scotch", How I rescued my father from
greedy cousins, thieving attorneys and the Florida Guardianship
System. All of these articles and reports name the parties involved
with this horrific practice, yet not one has threatened or pursued
legal action, because truth is the absolute defense in defamation
cases.

The Black Letter definition of Defamation is very explicit. "The act
of harming the reputation of another by making a false statement to a
third person, (published), and if the alleged statement involves a
matter of public concern, the plaintiff is constitutionally required
to prove both the statements’ falsity and the defendant's fault and
that the false statement damages another's reputation." (Black's Law
Dictionary, West Group, St. Paul, Minn, 2001)

Terri Alvillar's article was not "opinion". Her facts were well
documented in the public record by a statement made by Marin
attorney, Nancy C. Field, " Field admitted these details of the
conservatorship attempt with Bakes and Boyden in her own declaration
signed under oath, dated September 22, 2000. But because Ms.
Alvillar's father was a victim of guardian abuse by the same probate
court, she, and her paper are being targeted by Attorney Bakes in an
effort to shut her up.

Apparently the Court of Appeal of the State of California First
Appellate District Division Three didn't agree that the issue of
guardian abuse IS, most definitely a matter of public concern, so
this case will be heard by a jury in January of next year. And Ms.
Alvillar will no longer have the freedom to do what she does best as a
reporter, investigate and uncover corrupt practices in the
guardianship system. If the media is threatened with law suits when
they are doing the job our FREE society is designed to protect, we
are ALL threatened.

NASGA will continue to monitor this case and report all aspects which
is a matter of public record. We will not be threatened and we will
not be silenced. We will continue to expose each and every party,
attorney, probate court, public and private guardians, agencies and
all others who continue this abuse, not only in Marin County,
California, but in every state, in every district and in every county
nationwide.

The best way for these individuals to avoid negative press coverage,
and frivolous defamation law suits, is to STOP their practice of
guardianship abuse. For Attorney Bakes to use our court system in
this way is unconscionable.


Robin Westmiller, President

National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse (NASGA)

http://www.stopguardianabuse.org/