Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Who is Bob Martel? "Executive Director" of "Humboldt Watershed Council"

He's listed as the "Executive Director" of "Humboldt Watershed Council."

In April of 2000 the North Coast Journal reported that "Local activist Bob Martel received an expensive setback this week in his ongoing battle against Pacific Lumber and its parent company, MAXXAM. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Martel's appeal to an earlier decision in MAXXAM's favor and ordered him to pay the company legal fees of more than $110,000.

The case concerns the failure in 1988 of a savings and loan association in which MAXXAM and its chairman, Charles Hurwitz, were investors. Martel contends that Hurwitz exercised control over the company; Hurwitz denies the charges. Related cases are still pending, but the court ruled that Martel's case was "frivolous."

Martel disputes that claim, saying that the suit cost him $250,000 and took five years of research. That, he said, "doesn't actually fit the definition of frivolous."

As to how he might pay the legal fees awarded by the court, Martel said he hasn't earned "more than six thousand dollars in a year in recent memory"


MAXXAM spokesman Josh Reiss said that the corporation intends to pursue the claim.

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On April 29, they reported that "A taxpayer and a local nonprofit group have been ordered to pay legal fees for two separate lawsuits involving Pacific Lumber and its chief stockholder, Charles Hurwitz.

In 1995, Humboldt County resident Robert Martel filed suit against Hurwitz, alleging he had defrauded the federal government of $1.6 billion in the collapse of the United Savings Association of Texas 11 years ago, according to a report in the Times-Standard. Now Martel has been ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Hughes to pay Hurwitz' $110,123 in legal fees and expenses.

Hughes ruled that Martel's suit was "abusive litigation" because Martel had based much of his suit on information garnered from newspaper reports. Hughes also said Martel, who had filed the suit as a taxpayer, lacked standing to sue on behalf of the federal government.

Neither Martel nor Hurwitz could be reached for comment.

In a separate case, the Garberville-based Environmental Protection Information Center was ordered to pay Pacific Lumber $17,731 in legal costs as a result of a June 1997 lawsuit. EPIC sued PL in March of 1995, maintaining that the California Department of Forestry should have prepared an environmental impact study before it granted the company a salvage-logging permit for spotted owl habitat now protected as part of the Headwaters Reserve.

EPIC spokesperson Kevin Bundy said U.S. District court judge Louis Bechtle dismissed the suit because EPIC "couldn't convince the court (salvage logging) would violate the endangered species act."

John A. Campbell, PL president, recently issued a statement saying PL is entitled to the court costs.

"The favorable court ruling highlighted that salvage and other logging would not cause a take of endangered species," he said. "The court ... made clear in this case that endangered species would benefit from the working relationship developed by Pacific Lumber, federal wildlife agencies and the California Department of Forestry."

Bundy said the amount EPIC must pay is a fraction of the $700,000 PL originally requested to cover fees.

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In other coverage, it is reported that: "Judge Hughes characterized Martel's pleading as "Regurgitating politicized half-truths" ...Describing Martel as "a bystander" who "knows nothing, saw nothing, did nothing," U.S. District Court Judge Lynn N. Hughes determined that Martel "lacks standing, was not the original source of the information, and filed his suit too late." Martel filed suit in January 1995, saying he was bringing the action on behalf of the U.S. government; however, the U.S. government declined to participate in the suit. (Missed another statute of limitations did ya, guys?)

Is this why getting Paul Gallegos to file the lawsuit for them was so important? Martel and Miller lacked standing.

And who paid the $250,000 Martel claims to have paid out?

8 comments:

  1. Seems like Ken Miller (oops I mean doctor pot) has been writing dud lawsuits for a really long time.

    lol

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  2. Ok - this is what I just gathered:

    If as written above "Martel disputes that claim, saying that the suit cost him $250,000 and took five years of research. That, he said, "doesn't actually fit the definition of frivolous."

    And at the same time says:

    "As to how he might pay the legal fees awarded by the court, Martel said he hasn't earned "more than six thousand dollars in a year in recent memory""

    How can this have cost him 250K when he didn't make more than 6k (500 bucks a month)?

    And who is supporting this loser?

    I am not buying the 500 bucks a month crap at all - and it seems like Martel is lying through his teeth

    ReplyDelete
  3. You see it? On the surface it all sounds so mundane. Ok, he filed a suit, big deal.

    But the more you look at it the more things don't add up.

    Who was footing the bill and why?

    And what does the Rose Foundation have to do with all of this?

    And who else is being funded? For how long?

    Open the books to "Humboldt Watershed Council," Salmon Forever," Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters," the "Alliance for Ethical Business" and all the other sub-groups seeking to effect public policy, who seek to use the power of hte law, and their grassroots cloak to cripple their enemy.

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  4. Considering how much influence Humboldt Watershed Council has on our County government through Paul Gallegos, it seems to me we all should wonder what's going on behind the scenes at HWC and its former high profile activist founder who's disappeared off the face of the earth with a fairly huge court fine leveled at him for throwing a frivolous lawsuit at Maxxam.

    And what is this Rose Foundation connection? I personally watched Bob Martel influence this org that was hosting a united Headwaters Forest conference in the Bay Area by getting me as Bear River's Heartlands Project spokesperson dis-invited to the conference where we'd hoped to get some of the Rose Foundation's 5 mil Headwaters Fund.

    One of the biggest reasons you've seen me for years critical of Humboldt Watershed Council is that the players in this org consistently are involved in disceptive tactics and lawsuits against Maxxam which seems to be Ken and Bob's personal obsession and now Mark Lovelace's too as the Heraldo Watershed Council blog continues to demonstrate.

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  5. They're a huge player in this. More to come. Incredible stuff. Pressure tactics all the way to the Clinton White House.

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  6. Nto cookooo, ther is something to this. Something sinister.

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  7. Did Bob Martel pay taxes on that 250 thou? What is the statute of limitations on tax fraud?

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