Court Orders Cox, Attorneys to Pay est Founder $1,000 for Tapes
Rep. C. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) was dealt a legal blow this week when Superior Court Commissioner Eleanor M. Palk ordered Cox and his attorneys to pay Werner Erhard & Associates $1,000 for failing to return videotapes of an est training session. The court also ordered Cox to return the tapes.
The court’s action means that the San Francisco-based firm can pursue its claim that Cox libeled est founder Erhard when he called est a “destructive cult” during his 1988 primary campaign against Erhard’s brother Nathan Rosenberg.
The libel claim was disallowed by Commissioner Palk in December. Erhard’s attorneys delayed appealing the decision pending attempts to retrieve the videotapes, which show participants revealing personal details about their lives, said Erhard attorney William O’Hare, of the Newport Beach law firm of Hufstedler, Miller, Kaus & Beardsley.
“One of the reasons they didn’t give them back voluntarily was in order to have a bargaining chip to induce Werner Erhard & Associates to drop the lawsuit,” he said. “We felt that was an improper bargaining chip.”
While settlement is a possibility, O’Hare said, “no discussions at this moment are going on.”
Neither Cox nor his attorneys could be reached for comment.
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