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Defence Lawyer Calls on MMF To Name Chartrand In Lawsuit
Added: (Sun Dec 18 2005)
Friday December 16, 2005
Dear Sir/Madam:
Could you please post the following Press Release.
Thank You,
Clare L. Pieuk
Web Master
CyberSmokeSignals
-----------------------------------
Wednesday December 14, 2005
DEFENCE LAWYER CALLS ON MMF TO NAME CHARTRAND IN LAWSUIT
E-mails Prove Chartrand Authored Petition: Niederhoffer
PRESS RELEASE (Number 3)
For Immediate Release
WINNIPEG - A lawyer for one of the defendants in a defamation suit brought by the Manitoba Metis Federation (MMF) is calling on the MMF to include Winnipeg lawyer Lionel Chartrand as a defendant to the suit.
Terry Belhumeur and Clare Pieuk, respectively the domain-name owner and webmaster of CyberSmokeSignals (www.cybersmokesignals.com), are being sued by the MMF for having posted on the website in January 2004 a petition containing allegedly defamatory comments about President David Chartrand and the MMF Board.
Jeff Niederhoffer, the lawyer for Mr. Pieuk, says his client has e-mails which show that the petition was actually authored by Chartrand, a lawyer with Legal Aid who at the time agreed to advise both Belhumeur and Pieuk on due-diligence issues involving the website.
"Chartrand wrote the petition, and the idea for it originated with him," says Niederhoffer. "It was Mr. Chartrand who originally suggested the idea for a petition, and on January 21, 2004, he emailed a completed draft of the petition to my client and recommended he post it on CyberSmokeSignals."
A few days later, Niederhoffer claims, Pieuk posted the petition on CyberSmokeSignals exactly as written by Chartrand.
Niederhoffer says he believes that, in the interests of fairness, the MMF should add Lionel Chartrand as a defendant to the action. However, the lawyer also indicates he is prepared to act on his own if necessary.
"If the MMF doesn’t take action within a reasonable time to include Chartrand as a party, we will likely bring a third-party claim of our own against Chartrand, or find some other way to bring him into this action," Niederhoffer confirms. At the very, very least, we are going to call Chartrand to testify in court as to his role in all this."
Chartrand is currently retained by the MMF as a consultant.
Any Questions, Please Contact:
Jeffrey J. Niederhoffer
Barrister and Solicitor
PO Box 48081 RPO Lakewood
Winnipeg, MB R2J 4A3
Telephone: (204) 471-8682
E-mail: jjn@niederlaw.com