Ramseys Appear In Denver Federal Court

Is it that time of the month again, already?

 

I'm serious about this road trip. So, I decided to do some research.

The hearing yesterday morning was at 9:30 a.m., and it was a 30 minute "scheduling conference." That seems like a very short meeting for the Ramseys to fly all the way in from Michigan to attend ... but hey, maybe John and Patsy then made the short drive over to Boulder to thank their good friend, Michael Tracey, for his excellent schlockumentary. Then it was pizza and beer at Pasta Jay's in anticipation of the coming settlement money.

I now have access to the Federal Court records for Ramsey, et al v. Fox News Network, and I plan to keep everyone here updated so we can get those cans turned in, and the Justice Bus gassed up in time to make an appearance in Denver. :takeoff:

The court records for yesterday are not available yet, but as of last Saturday, here's where the case stands.


Docket as of September 11, 2004 3:05 am


U.S. District Court
U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado (Denver)

CIVIL DOCKET FOR CASE #: 04-CV-1464

Ramsey, et al v. Fox News Network LLC

Filed: 07/16/04
Assigned to: Judge Phillip S. Figa
Jury demand: Both
Referred to: Magistrate Judge Patricia A. Coan
Demand: $2,000,000
Nature of Suit: 320
Lead Docket: None
Jurisdiction: Diversity
Dkt # in USDC N Dist GA Atlan : is 03-CV-3976
Cause: 28:1332 Diversity-Libel,Assault,Slander



JOHN RAMSEY L. Lin Wood
plaintiff [COR LD NTC]
L. Lin Wood, P.C.
100 Peachtree Street
# 2140 The Equitable Building
Atlanta, GA 30303
USA
404-522-1713
FTS 522-1716

PATSY RAMSEY L. Lin Wood
plaintiff (See above)
[COR LD NTC]

BURKE RAMSEY, a minor, by his L. Lin Wood
next friends and natural (See above)
parents [COR LD NTC]
-
John Ramsey
-
Patsy Ramsey
plaintiff

v.

FOX NEWS NETWORK, L.L.C. Dori Ann Hanswirth
dba [COR LD NTC]
Fox News Channel Hogan & Hartson, LLP
defendant 875 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10022
USA
212-918-3000
FTS 918-3100
_

DOCKET PROCEEDINGS

DATE # DOCKET ENTRY


7/16/04 1 ORIGINAL file, certified copy of transfer order and docket
sheet received from USDC N Dist GA Atlanta (bm)
[Entry date 07/19/04]

7/16/04 -- COMPLAINT and jury demans (bm) [Entry date 07/19/04]

7/16/04 -- AMENDED COMPLAINT [0-1] by plaintiffs; jury demand (bm)
[Entry date 07/19/04]

7/16/04 -- MOTION by defendant to dismiss amended complaint (bm)
[Entry date 07/19/04]

7/16/04 -- RESPONSE by plaintiffs to motion to dismiss amended
complaint [0-1] (bm) [Entry date 07/19/04]

7/16/04 -- REPLY memorandum by defendant in further support of motion
to dismiss amended complaint [0-1] (bm)
[Entry date 07/19/04]

7/19/04 2 LETTER to counsel advising of the case number and judge
assignment of this transfer case (bm)

7/20/04 3 ORDER of Recusal by Judge Zita L. Weinshienk directing
reassignment to another judge. (cc: all counsel) ; entry
date : 7/23/04 (bm) [Entry date 07/23/04]

7/23/04 4 LETTER from clerk to counsel advising of reassignment to
Judge Figa re: order [3-1] (bm)

7/23/04 5 Disclosure STATEMENT pursuant to Rule 7.1 by defendant Fox
News Network LLC (pap) [Entry date 07/26/04]

7/27/04 6 ORDER R16,stat,stlmt,pt,pto referred to Magistrate Judge
Patricia A. Coan by Judge Phillip S. Figa (cc: to
counsel) (db) [Entry date 07/28/04]

8/5/04 7 Unopposed MOTION by defendant Fox News Network LLC for
status conference (hearing) (db) [Entry date 08/06/04]

8/6/04 8 MEMORANDUM by Judge Phillip S. Figa referring to Magistrate
Judge Patricia A. Coan the motion for status conference
(hearing) [7-1] (lm) [Entry date 08/09/04]

8/9/04 9 ORDER FOR RULE 16 CONFERENCE by Magistrate Judge Patricia
A. Coan ; Rule 16 conference set for 9:30 9/13/04 (cc: all
counsel) (lm) [Entry date 08/10/04]

8/13/04 10 ORDER by Judge Phillip S. Figa denying dft's unopposed
motion for status conference [7-1]; the parties may address
the choice of law issue in suppl briefs, not to exceed 10
pages, to be filed on or before 8/23/04 (cc: all counsel) ;
entry date 8/16/04 (lm) [Entry date 08/16/04]
_

8/17/04 11 Unopposed MOTION by defendant Fox News Network LLC to
extend time to file supplemental briefs re: choice of law
to 8/23/04 (db) [Entry date 08/18/04]

8/19/04 -- MAIL Returned order [9-1] addressed to defendant Fox News
Network LLC csl Slade R. Metcalf, Esq. and Dori Ann
Hanswirth, Esq. and Jason P. Conti, Esq. - attempted not
known (lm) [Entry date 08/20/04]

8/19/04 12 ORDER by Judge Phillip S. Figa granting motion to extend
time to file supplemental briefs re: choice of law to
8/23/04 [11-1] (cc: all counsel) ; entry date : 8/20/04 (db)
[Entry date 08/20/04]

8/19/04 13 Amended CERTIFICATE MAILING BY CLERK OF order [9-1] (db)
[Entry date 08/20/04]

8/23/04 14 MOTION by defendant Fox News Network LLC to withdraw
attorney Judson Graves (db) [Entry date 08/24/04]

8/30/04 15 Supplemental Memorandum of Law (BRIEF) by defendant Fox
News Network LLC concerning the choice of law applicable to
plas' claims in this action (lm) [Entry date 08/31/04]

8/30/04 16 ORDER by Judge Phillip S. Figa granting motion to withdraw
attorney Judson Graves [14-1] as counsel for Fox News
Network LLC (cc: all counsel) ; entry date : 8/31/04 (lm)
[Entry date 08/31/04]

8/30/04 17 Supplemental Memorandum of Law (BRIEF) regarding choice of
law by plaintiffs (lm) [Entry date 09/01/04]

 

Try Me.......

Don't think that I won't evacuate to Denver if it would help.

Road-TripRat

 

Terrific, Cherokee. It will be great getting the latest from someone here who doesn't have to interject scathing ST BS in every post.

 

Why so little, I wonder? When the Ramseys sued Thomas and St. Martin's Press, they asked for ten million, and Thomas and company had far shallower pockets than Fox does. It seems to be an indicator of how weak the Ramseys believe their own case to be, that they dangle a cheap settlement in front of Fox instead of threatening Fox with a truly punitive amount backed up by the confidence that a jury would award it.

So there you have it. Even the Ramseys do not believe their own accusations, and the amount of damages asked for proves it.

 

Thanks Chero

If you're making that road trip, can I book you to meet me at the airport? I'll bring my laptop and "The Steamie" on DvD....

 

$2 million? I should have paid more attention, I guess. I would bet FOX has already spent more on their attorneys than it would have cost them to just settle the case for pennies on the dollar. I hope we can take this as a good sign that FOX isn't going to settle, just because it's cheaper to do so.

 

WN, when I read the demand amount, I wondered the same thing. $2,000,000 seemed rather paltry compared to what Fox has in its coffers. I had the same thought ... that the Ramseys were fishing for a settlement by naming that amount in hopes Fox would think it cheaper to settle than go to court. It's basically "hush money" to go away and leave Fox alone.

It is encouraging to me that Fox hasn't folded up their legal tent yet. $2,000,000 is chump change to Rupert Murdoch. The Ramseys may have taken this "living on lawsuits" one lawsuit too far.



IMO

 

Sure, Jay, I was already thinking that would be the plan. I'm hoping by having access to the court docs, we'll know the major court date in time for you to buy a plane ticket over.

Now, if Fox will just stick to their guns. :fingers:

 

Just so you know ... that $2,000,000 is not a typo. I copied the entire court docket to Word, and then directly to my post. I didn't type a thing except to correct the spelling of "assault" which they had spelled "assualt." (I know, I know, I'm a perfectionist and can't stand misspelled words my posts. LOL)

I imagine Lin Wood is rather unpleasantly surprised Fox News hasn't settled yet, given the relatively low demand amount.


IMO

 

Thanks Chero - you are a star

 

and this

from Jameson May 2002:

"Just this week Lin Wood responded to the Fox motion to dismiss, I posted a copy at
http://www.jameson245.com/rfoxresponse.pdf

If the motion is defeated, discovery will start and that may take a while. The case will be tried before a jury unless FOX offers a reasonable settlement rather than go to court to defend their actions.

(Personally I would welcome a trial and all the new information that would become public, but I expect FOX will buy its way out before it gets that far.)"

Cherokee and Jayelle

 

Thanks Cherokee! Your hard work is greatly appreciated.

Does anyone know, if the case does go to trial, will John and Patsy have to testify or can they take the fifth or something?

 

Yeah, I read somewhere they can take the fifth and take the fifth and take the fifth, and then they can be charged with contempt of court. Don't know if that's true, but it makes sense. They are, after all, the ones who initiated the lawsuit. They should have nothing to hide, right?

 

Oh pleeeaaassseee let the Fox attorneys not settle for the Rams infamous non-comments like I don't know, I can't remember, I don't recall....let them be tough and direct.

Woody's in trouble...now he has to try a case in court. He can't play lawyer anymore, he has to be one.

 

I'd like to have fox attorneys ask John, when he was looking for 'clues' to his daughter's disappearance why he didn't inform the LE of the open window and the suspicious van. You know the strange van he watched for a couple of minutes and decided it was harmless.

Huh? What on earth made John decide the van was harmless? JonBenet could have been in there with the monitoring foreign faction gentlemen. But no...for some reason John knew the van was harmless. What was the reason?

 

Well, my fine forum friends, it looks like we have a LONG time to collect those cans ... :-( The road trip won't happen for another year, if at all.

The case docket has been updated from the scheduling meeting on Monday, and the official pretrial conference is ONE YEAR from now - on September 23, 2005!

Discovery cutoff isn't until next May ... May 31, 2005, then dispositive motions are due June 8, 2005.

The case calendar includes a "settlement conference" scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on December 2, 2004 in case Fox News changes its mind about going forward with a jury trial. I guess Lin Wood is giving Fox another chance before he whips up on them in court. Ha.

Also posted on the case docket was a notice of the filing by Lin Wood of Judge Cooper's order in the Court TV case.


9/10/04 18 NOTICE of filing 8/28/02 order of Judge Clarence Cooper in the matter of Burke Ramsey v Courtroom Television, LLC by plaintiffs in further support of suppl memorandum of law re: choice of law re: [15-1] (lm) [Entry date 09/14/04]

9/13/04 19 SCHEDULING ORDER by Magistrate Judge Patricia A. Coan ; discovery cutoff 5/31/05 ;dispositive motions due 6/8/05 ; settlement conference 1:00 12/2/04 ;pretrial conference set 11:30 9/23/05 (cc: all counsel) (lm) [Entry date 09/14/04]