Posted on 08/10/2006 4:05:36 PM PDT by Coleus
A state appeals court Wednesday declined to sanction an Englewood abortion clinic that was accused of filing a frivolous lawsuit against an antiabortion group.
Metropolitan Medical Associates -- known for dramatic protests it attracted in the 1990s -- sued the Legal Center for Defense of Life two years ago, saying the group organized pickets who intimidated patients and blocked public access to the clinic. The clinic also sued the city for not enforcing ordinances against obstructive sidewalk activities, and sought a protest-free buffer zone around the Engle Street facility.
A state Superior Court judge in Hackensack dismissed the lawsuit, saying the claim should have been made in federal court, where the clinic was tangled for years in litigation with protesters represented by the Morristown-based center. The center, a law firm of volunteer lawyers representing clients in abortion, euthanasia and other right-to-life cases, then filed a complaint alleging that the clinic's lawsuit was frivolous and filed in bad faith, costing the center nearly $20,000 in legal fees.
Now-retired Superior Court Judge Gerald C. Escala dismissed the center's claim, but an appellate panel reversed the decision, saying the judge did not articulate the reasons for the dismissal. Escala then issued a procedural explanation, which the center challenged on a second appeal. The three-judge appellate panel ruled Wednesday that the judge applied proper procedural rules in dismissing the center's claim. Steering clear of any precedent-setting, the four-page opinion did not address the issue of whether the clinic's lawsuit was frivolous.
"It seems the judges are going out of their way to avoid saying that," said Richard Collier, president of the center. "They are coming up with all sorts of reasons to avoid a hot issue."
Collier called the clinic's lawsuit clearly frivolous.
"Instead of suing the picketers, they sued their attorneys," he said. "That's like suing the attorney for an insurance company after you get in a car accident." That's not even a close comparison, said Lawrence Kleiner, the attorney for the clinic. Despite the center's denial, there is evidence that the firm went beyond representing demonstrators in court, he said. "The organization instructed picketers how to picket more effectively," he said.
The battle between the clinic and the center dates back to the mid-1990s, when the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office charged several demonstrators, some of whom entered the clinic and chained themselves. The charges were dismissed after a Superior Court judge in Hackensack struck down a 1974 consent order that required protesters to remain across the street from the clinic. The protesters, who were represented by the legal center, were then allowed to picket outside the clinic as long as they didn't block the entrance.
The two clashed again when the federal government sued 29 antiabortion protestors in 1997, seeking a 60-foot buffer zone around the clinic. Again represented by the legal center, the demonstrators invoked their right to free speech. A federal judge did not approve the buffer zone but prohibited protesters from blocking access to the clinic.
A good ruling - it seems anti-lifers have a problem with the freedom of speech and the right to free assembly.
NOTORIOUS ABORTION MILL SUES LEGAL CENTER!
On Tuesday, July 27, 2004, the Legal Center for Defense of Life learned that it has been sued by Metropolitan Medical Associates, the Englewood abortion mill notorious for admitting to performing 1,500 partial-birth abortions a year in addition to countless other abortions. The Englewood clinic attracts women from New York City and the entire New York-New Jersey metropolitan region, many of whom are referred for late-term abortions that other abortionists are unable or unwilling to handle.
For over 30 years, dedicated pro-life demonstrators and sidewalk counselors have assembled outside the gruesome Englewood facility, praying for an end to this holocaust and hoping to persuade the expectant mothers to change their minds and hearts. By the grace of God, the pro-lifers are sometimes successful in turning women away from Metropolitan’s front door. This hurts the abortion mill’s highly lucrative business, and Metropolitan is upset about it.
As a result, Metropolitan filed suit in the Superior Court of New Jersey, demanding that the Court impose a “buffer zone” around the abortion facility, to keep the pro-lifers across the street, where they cannot talk to “patients” or to hand leaflets to them. But instead of suing the pro-lifers who appear outside its doors on a daily basis, Metropolitan has sued the Legal Center, falsely claiming that the Legal Center is “responsible for organizing protests” outside the abortion mill.
The truth is that the Legal Center has been representing pro-lifers in successful battles against Metropolitan for many years. In 1997, Legal Center attorneys defeated criminal prosecutions against pro-lifers charged with violating a 1974 court order requiring protests to be conducted across the street. The court order was declared null and void, which allowed pro-lifers to counsel and demonstrate immediately in front of the mill, where they are better able to reach the women going inside. In 1998, in a case that eventually went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, Executive Director Ed Gilhooly and a team of Legal Center volunteers defeated the full might of the U.S. Department of Justice, which tried to convince a federal judge to impose a 60-foot buffer zone around Metropolitan, based on the infamous Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. In 1997, 2000, 2001 and 2003, the Legal Center wrote letters to Englewood officials on behalf of pro-lifers who demonstrate outside of Metropolitan’s clinic. More recently, and still pending, is the Legal Center’s medical malpractice lawsuit against Metropolitan, on behalf of a woman who was injured during an abortion there.
While Metropolitan has ample reason to be frustrated and upset with the work of the Legal Center over the years, it has no basis whatsoever for a lawsuit against the Legal Center. Therefore, our President, Rich Collier, has already filed over 60 pages of briefs and affidavits opposing Metropolitan’s demand for an emergency injunction that would force pro-lifers back across the street. The Court is expected to rule on this demand on August 6. We ask for your prayers and continued support of the Legal Center as it faces this latest trial.
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