Harry R. Welty
2101 E. 4th Street
Duluth, MN 55812-1217
Re: Welty v. ND #709 and JCI
Court File No.: 69DU-CV-09-758
Dear Mr. Welty:
You will recall that some months ago you signed a Stipulation and Agreement which was then presented to the court in order to achieve dismissal of the lawsuit against ISD 709 in which you were a plaintiff. Part of the Agreement states:
“All five plaintiffs agree not to defame or disparage the School District…. or any of their current and former officers, board members, administrators, directors, employees, contractors, consultants, etc. as it relates to the facts and circumstances arising from or related in any manner to the lawsuit” —the agreement continue: “Parties will refrain from any future comment, discussion, or publication, public or private, whatsoever, regarding the lawsuit, the dismissal, the merits of the lawsuit or the viability of the lawsuit. None of the parties shall mention the lawsuit, its resolution, or purported merits in any communications, including but not limited to internet or electronic communications, blogs, books, articles, press release, or other written or verbal statements or publications other than (required by law)”.
We write on behalf of ISD 709 because you have engaged in actions and made statements which violate your contractual obligations as represented to the court by your signature on the Agreement to dismissal.
While there are a number of examples, we note the following in particular Your online commentary has specifically mentioned the lawsuit. There are dozens of direct references, in fact, to the lawsuit. In addition, you make numerous indirect references to the lawsuit, which violate the Agreement as well.
We demand that you immediately cease all mention of the lawsuit, direct or indirect. You need to remove all posted current and past commentary and delete the content about the suit/disputeon your “Let Duluth Vote” site. Finally, some of your writings suggest you will write a book or pamphlet about the LRFP. Note that you are forbidden by the Agreement to address the topic of the lawsuit in any verbal or written forum, including a book, pamphlet, or electronic venue.
The Agreement which you signed also provides that “Should the School District…be required to enforce this Agreement against any of the five plaintiffs, the plaintiff who has violated the Agreement must indemnify the School District for the costs and fees incurred in the enforcement of this Agreement, and any applicable damages resulting from any breach of this Agreement.”
Thus, if you continue to violate these portions of the Agreement, the School District will pursue enforcement of the Agreement and its right to recover its expenses in doing so directly from you.
Thank you for your attention to this concern.
Very truly yours,
Susan E. Torgerson
Cc: William Hanson
My reply to Ms. Torgerson:
Sept. 30, 2010
Susan E. Torgerson
Attorney at Law
Kennedy & Graven
470 U.S. Bank Plaza
200 S. Sixth St.
Minneapolis, MN 55402
Ms. Torgerson,
Thank you for your letter of : 9/14/2010.
The words I have written are mine and mine alone. None of my former fellow plaintiffs have had anything to do with them.
If a court determines that I have violated the terms of a valid and enforceable agreement I am prepared to face the consequences. It will be a small price to pay for insuring accountability on the part of elected and public officials for their public actions. I certainly hope that it was not the intent of your clients to withhold public data from public scrutiny.
As to the damages that would accrue to the School District in the form of legal fees should the School Board decide that it is in the public interest to spend public monies to suppress public information… if that is your client’s decision, so be it.
Sincerely,
Harry Welty
Duluth School Board member 1995-2003
