VICTORY! The Jonmon lawsuit is over! Dismissed voluntarily with prejudice by the plaintiff

[ron_newman]

My awesome lawyer Dan Booth has just informed me that Jonathan Monsarrat's lawyer has filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal With Prejudice. This means that the case is OVER, against all defendants, named and unnamed, Doe and Buck alike. "With Prejudice" means that it can never be filed again, against any of us, for any statement in any of the exhibits that were attached to the complaint.

Johnny Monsarrat and his lawyer tried several times to reach a settlement agreement with Dan and me, but for various reasons we ended up rejecting each proposal. In the end, he has simply given up, without any mutual agreement, public or private.

Here's the official text of the notice:

NOTICE OF VOLUNTARY DISMISSAL WITH PREJUDICE

Pursuant to the provisions of Mass. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(i), the Plaintiff, Jonathan Graves Monsarrat, in the above-captioned matter, hereby files and gives notice of dismissal, with prejudice and without costs to either party, as to Deb Filcman, Ron Newman, the Doe Defendant identified as Doe Defendant "srakkt" in paragraph 51 of the Amended Complaint, whose real name is Richard James Scheffler of Somerville, Massachusetts, and John and Jane Does 1-99, as defendants in the Amended Complaint.

ETA: If Johnny had not voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit today, Dan Booth was ready to file this motion to dismiss and this supporting memorandum on Monday. (The supporting memo is the more interesting document.) It would be a shame for Dan to go to all that trouble and not be able to share his work, so I'm linking it here with his permission, for your legal edification.

Comments

[pywaket.livejournal.com]

There's some backstory here that you may not be privy to, but if there's been any escalation, it was perpetrated by Koshmom.

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

From what others have told me, I wasn't privy to this "escalation" either, because I'm still confused as to how you and a couple of others concluded I was jonmon's spy.

[ron_newman]

I disagree with a fair amount of what you've written, including the top-level comment you made here. But nothing you have said anywhere justifies the claim that you are or were "jonmon's spy".

[bluesauce.livejournal.com]

It's simple, really. You're a mean-spirited, bullying gossip, and there was absolutely no way you could be trusted to keep things confidential with the way you carry on. No one ever said you were Johnny's "spy". What was said was that you couldn't be trusted. I still stand by that.

[ron_newman]

This was all a dispute over how culpable, if at all, Rickland was in this lawsuit. Now that it's over, I think we can and should bury that disagreement.

[bluesauce.livejournal.com]

She brought it up, and was answered.

[pywaket.livejournal.com]

I think you're being dishonest here, Ron. It wasn't just about Rickland. She also attempted to defend Jonmon's showing up at my house in the middle of the night as innocent, right here on DSLJ and then acted all hurt when called on this ridiculous assertion. She also, here, told us we shouldn't sing or write songs about him.

[pywaket.livejournal.com]

That's all any of us said (and there were a bunch of us), and it was enough to get her kicked out of the community set up for the defendants.

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

I was told in multiple private messages that there was a "conspiracy theory" - those exact words were used - that people thought I was sending information to jonmon. Since I put up no defense to this accusation (I don't even know where this conspiracy theory was being discussed) I was found guilty. Apparently this was as a result of me sticking up for Rickland, who was too busy with a family crisis to defend his own crucifixion. The last nail to the cross was the fact that I apparently didn't spout enough vile slander in jonmon's direction to satisfy my accusers, and I was never endowed with the coveted "letter from jonmon" trophy. Thus I was crucified in Rickland's place because I admitted friendship to Rickland.

Let me just say that I am proud to wear that particular cross of friendship.

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

Ma'am, we have *just* finished a go-round with someone who was inspired by people saying mean things about him into an exaggerated sense of righteousness. I agree that people have said mean things about you, but can we not do another one quite so soon?

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

...

AND THE INTERNET CONTINUES.

[pywaket.livejournal.com]

No, it was because you were a nasty, sanctimonious scold who harassed people who were already under pressure from being named in a lawsuit and those people didn't trust you to keep your big mouth shut.

After the way you treated people, attempting to portray yourself as some sort of victim is pathetic and offensive.

Fortunately, a lot of your idiotic garbage is here, public, in DSLJ so everyone can see it and judge for themselves. Are you going to wait 3 years and sue us, too?

[anyee.livejournal.com]

I rest my case.

[halleyscomet.livejournal.com]

For the record, I never suspected you of being a JonMon spy. I also think the defenses of Rickland were justified. I even wrote some myself. Even when the former JonMon employee spoke up, I saw no reason to assume Rickland was anything other than another victim. In a lot of ways, I think Rickland might have been the most abused in all this, having been forced to deal with bits and pieces of this BS while tending to his wife's medical needs. It was profoundly stupid or profoundly cruel, possibly both, for JonMon to list Rickland's contact information on the press release.