The Wardman Wire

Dave Walker Cartoons and Reporting

I hear from Phil Groom that the application to make the UK charity Society of Saint Stephen the Great bankrupt at the United States Bankruptcy Court Southern District of Texas in Houston has been Dismissed with Prejudice:

Thanks to Rigorist for this update, posted August 29, 2008 at 12:11 am:

I just checked the US court system’s PACER service this afternoon (it is still afternoon on this side of the Atlantic). The bankrupcty case was dismissed at today’s hearing on the trustee’s motion.

The actual docket entry is as follows:

“Courtroom Minutes. Time Hearing Held: 11:00 am. Appearances: Mark Brewer for debtor; Randy Williams for Trustee. (Related document(s): 24 Chapter 7 Trustee’s Motion to Dismiss Case). Ellen Hickman present. Mr. Williams addressed the Court regarding the motion to dismiss. Arguments were heard by opposing parties. The Court announced its findings and dismissed the case with prejudice. (rsmi) (Entered: 08/28/2008)”

A written order with more explanation may follow, but as of right now, the bankruptcy case is dismissed.

This means that the Society of Saint Stephen the Great, a UK Charity, has been recognised (at this stage, by this Court) as not being able to be liquidated under US Bankruptcy Laws.

The “With Prejudice” dismissal means that the case is dismissed for good reason and the plaintiff is barred from bringing an action on the same claim. I can’t comment on what is possible in other courts, however.

It took a pin, a tiny pin, to prick the bluff and bluster…

(See next article)

A cartoon from Indexed.

It is a little over a month since Cease and Desist notices were sent to a series of bloggers.

I want to look back on what has been achieved - in both concrete terms and “soft” terms.

You can get up to speed by reading my “Introductory Guide“, or the list of people posting in support, or even the Press Room:

Dave Walker is a cartoonist who runs a popular website, which includes the blogs We Blog Cartoons, Cartoon Church and The Cartoon Blog.

On the morning of July 22nd 2008 he received a cease and desist letter threatening legal action unless he removed 75 posts from his Cartoon Church blog by lunchtime - i.e., half a day’s notice.

These 75 posts had reported the developing situation over a 2 year period in a UK book chain called SPCK, which had been taken over by a company run by Mark Brewer. Dave Walker’s was the main published source reporting the situation, asking questions about the management of the chain, and highlighting the treatment of the employees.

So, what has happened?

I’ve held this over from last Friday. Last week we had some more people posting the SPCK case, and also the Trustees who resigned from the Society of Saint Stephen the Great in October 2007.

Follow these links to get up to speed quickly:

• Quick Intro for Press - effectively a FAQ.
• Introductory Guide to the Dave Walker Case

The Monday Morning Team Meeting at the Lawyers’ Office

Credit: www.weblogcartoons.com

Bearing in mind that we have been visited by M’Learned Friends from bplaw.com, I thought I would help with the research by stating clearly what the policies are here with respect to Cease and Desist letters, and explain how you can question points of fact on this site.

After all, I wouldn’t want to cause excessive expenditure on legal fees - especially if the enquiries ever happen to be paid for from taxpayers’ money.

Our terms and conditions page is here, linked from the top menus of every page on the site to make sure that no one can miss it.

These posts are weekly roundups of the latest developments from the campaign to make sure that the debacle of the management of the SPCK Chain of Bookshops is scrutinised properly.

I also support Cartoonist Dave Walker who received a Cease and Desist letter from J Mark Brewer who runs the SPCK Chain of bookshops about 75 posts on his Cartoon Church blog reporting the developing situation over an 18 month period.

Statistics

• Currently the Facebook Group has 418 members since it was set up on 22 July, two and a half weeks ago).
• There are 79 sites posting in support of Dave Walker and at least 8 reporting on the situation.
• Employment Tribunals submitted against Brewer organisations / SSG: 30.
• Downloads of the Dave Walker Reposts PDF from the Wardman Wire: 800 since August 1st.
• The Wardman Wire
• Reads on Wardman Wire of articles about the SPCK shops saga since July 22nd: approx 40,000.