|
|
Steven J. Rosen v. AIPAC
Documents
On March 2, 2009 Steven J. Rosen filed a
civil lawsuit in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia accusing
his former employer, the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee, its directors, and an
outside public relations firm of libel and slander. Rosen,
AIPAC's former foreign policy chief, is seeking damages of $5 million
from AIPAC and punitive damages of $500,000 each from former board
members. Rosen's lawsuit seeks $21 million in total damages for
statements he claims AIPAC made that were "knowingly
false and defamatory and issued in reckless disregard for the harm to
Mr. Rosen."
The civil suit is
related to the 2005 criminal
indictment of AIPAC officials Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman along
with Department of Defense employee Colonel Lawrence Franklin under the
Espionage Act.
| Document/File
Date |
Contents |
|
03/03/2009 |
Civil
defamation lawsuit. AIPAC fired Rosen and Weissman
in 2005 after they were criminally indicted
under the 1917 Espionage Act. AIPAC's spokesman told the New York Times in April of
2005 that Rosen's actions differed from
"the conduct that AIPAC
expects from its employees." On July 7, 2005 the spokesperson
told the New Yorker that "Rosen [and his colleagues] were
dismissed because they engaged in conduct that was not part of
their jobs and because this conduct did not comport with the
standards that AIPAC expects and requires of its employees." |
|
05/13/2009
(PDF) |
AIPAC motion to dismiss
asserting that Rosen failed to show "factual allegations" that
could be considered in any way defamatory. AIPAC charges
Rosen filed his suit outside the one-year statute of limitations
for defamation and that AIPAC board members have various
immunities under District of Columbia statutes. |
|
07/08/2009 (PDF) |
Rosen
counters that both he and Weissman
were fired only to save AIPAC from being criminally indicted.
"On
February 17, 2005, only two weeks after awarding Mr. Rosen the
$7,000 special bonus for excellence in job performance, the
AIPAC Board of Directors placed him on involuntary leave. This
was done immediately after AIPAC was threatened by the Justice
Department in a meeting between AIPAC's counsel and its
Executive Director Howard Khor and federal prosecutors on
February 15, 2005. There the lead federal prosecutor stated
that, "We could make real progress and get AIPAC out from under
all of this," if AIPAC showed more cooperation with the
government. On February 16, 2005, AIPAC's counsel said that the
lead federal prosecutor "is fighting with the FBI to limit the
investigation to Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman and to avoid
expanding it." This warning implied that AIPAC's Executive
Director and the AIPAC organization as a whole could become
targets." |
|
08/07/2009 (PDF) |
AIPAC counterclaims Rosen
"has misdirected his anger" by suing AIPAC rather than the
"government agency that directly investigated him and indicted
him for purported criminal activities." AIPAC claims Rosen
failed to demonstrate AIPAC's intent to defame under higher
standards for public figures. |
|
08/24/2009
(PDF) |
Rosen claims legal
precedent for allowing aggrieved parties to file lawsuits
outside normal statutes of limitations for extenuating
circumstances, in this case Rosen's
2005 criminal indictment and
lengthy pretrial maneuvers. Rosen
claims he "will be in a position to
prove his allegations with evidence following discovery." |
|
09/18/2009 (PDF) |
Rosen
files a list of prospective witnesses who may be called to
testify at trial. The list of forty-eight
individuals
includes: Lawrence Franklin, Keith Weissman, Douglas Bloomfield,
Morris Amitay, Thomas Dine, Elliott Abrams, John Bolton, Martin
Indyk, David Satterfield, Kenneth Pollack, Malcolm Hoenlein, and
Abraham Foxman. |
|
10/30/2009 (PDF) |
Judge Jeannette J. Clark
dismisses all plaintiff complaints against AIPAC directors and
contractors. The judge sustains plaintiffs right to have a
jury decide wither AIPAC acted with malice when it stated
publicly that Rosen did not "reflect AIPAC standards." |
|
11/11/2009 (PDF) |
AIPAC requests dismissal of
remaining complaint and reimbursement of costs and attorney's
fees. AIPAC alleges that Rosen's complaint may be barred
by the doctrine of "unclean hands" which denies monetary remedy
because the plaintiff was acting unethically or in bad faith
with respect to the subject of the complaint, and that "equity
must come with clean hands". |
|
11/20/2009 (PDF) |
Judge Jeannette J. Clark
modifies the scheduling of Rosen v. AIPAC. On 12/14/2009
parties file statements about discover from experts to be called
at trial. The discovery process will close on 3/02/2010.
The parties will enter alternative dispute resolution process (ADR)
from 5/3/2010 through 06/03/2010 and enter pre-trial upon
completion of ADR if no settlement is reached. |
|
03/29/2010
(PDF) |
Plaintiff Steve J. Rosen and
defendant AIPAC jointly modify scheduling to close discovery on
June 11, 2010, set a June 25 deadline for filing motions, and
Alternative Dispute Resolution (mediation) on August 9, 2010. |
|
03/29/2010 (PDF) |
Plaintiff Steve J. Rosen and
defendant AIPAC sign a
protective order governing the use and disclosure of
Confidential Information. |
|
|
