After I was assaulted on the ice on February 19, 2011, I filed a request for a Criminal Harassment Prevention Order against
Johnson in Palmer District Court. The hearing was lengthy and was continued three times. If Johnson did
not do anything wrong why would he need a lawyer for his defense you may ask? The answer is simple, because he
needed one and you the taxpayer paid for it!
Having legal representation allowed him to leave the
talking to his lawyer, Tani Sapirstein. she is the one who lost the appeal appealing Justice Moriarty II's decision which
exonerated James LaMountain. The Holland Blog informed the readers about the defeat and costly appeal paid for by the taxpayer
in the pieces,
James P. LaMountain exonerated again, this time by Justice Moriarty II,
and also about the expected defeat of Wettlaufer's frivolous appeal to the Appeals Court of the Commonwealth in the piece,
Costly Appeal initiated by the Holland BOS under James Wettlaufer against the Lamountain's adjudicated.
Back to the prior case; I filed the request for a Criminal Harassment Prevention Order to protect myself from further harassment
by Brian Johnson. It became increasingly dangerous for me to have him come close to me as he could make up any story who then was
backed up by his coworkers, friends, and neighbor Alexander Haney, who lied for him before. One example is documented in this piece:
Our elected Highway Superintendent a liar?
As informed readers of the Holland Blog know, I was assaulted on February 19, 2011, less than 50 feed from my property on the ice.
That day Johnson decided to ice-fish (drink) with nine of his Highway Department employees and friends. The incident is well documented
in the piece, Brian Johnson Organized a Day of Harassment Which Ended in Assault.
(all text in bold italic is a lnk and you can click on it!)
The judge refused to issue the requested "Criminal Harassment Prevention Order." To issue the order, the judge had to believe that
I was in fear of Johnson. The judge opined that if I would have been in fear of Johnson, I would not have confronted him on the ice.
I went out on the ice to tell Johnson and his gang that I would not tolerate him or any friends to trespass onto my property and to
urinate on my property.
During the hearing, I played the recording on my iphone to prove that I did not make the death threat Johnson accused me of, and to show
my innocence.
Emboldened by the judges decision and with Wettlaufer's blessing, Brian Johnson then filed a private civil suit for damages
in Palmer District Court. In his complaint, Johnson requested damages for having been recorded by me.
The outcome came as a surprise to the Wettlaufer/Johnson team.
The jury, among other charges, found Brian Johnson guilty of making false statements to the police. Johnson accused
me of a crime I did not commit in an attempt to criminalize me. Johnson claimed towards Corporal Jeff
Forcier, former police officer of the Holland Police Department (HPD), that I threatened to kill him and that
he would be in fear of his life. Besides the guilty verdict on the Defamation claim, Johnson was also found guilty by the jury of
violating my civil rights. To read the jury verdict slips,
click here!
Unfortunately for the taxpayer (and myself,) it does not end here. After the unexpected outcome, Wettlaufer and Johnson proposed to
settle after the trial. Usually settlement agreements are considered before the trial to avoid the trial. Johnson and Wettlaufer however
had no interest to settle at any time as the goal was not to settle or win. There was nothing to win. The goal was to incur legal fees,
Fees as high as possible. This would also include at least one appeal.
As I'm writing this, Brian Johnson's lawyer, Tani
Sapirstein, is preparing an appeal to appeal the guilty verdict against Johnson. There is no chance to win, it is just to incure additional
costs as I refused to accept
their less then generous
settlement offer
to avoid a lengthy and costly appeal.
According to the final judgment,
the town owes me $8,936.25 plus 12% annual interest since 1-14-2014. To read the final judgment,
click here!
As a first condition of Johnson's settlement proposal, I would agree to pay my own legal fees and not insist on getting payed the $8,936.25
plus 12% interest owed to me by him and to be paid by the town;
the second condition is a request that I file a motion to have his guilty verdict of the civil rights violation judgment
against him dismissed, (we just had a 2-1/2 day jury trial to proof that he did... By law, he is mandated to pay my legal fees as a result of his violation of my civil rights,);
the third condition is a strict confidentiality agreement. I would not be allowed to even tell my mother what happened and of course
I could never let the community know that Wettlaufer misappropriated a large sum of taxpayer's money to pay for Johnson's private lawsuit
and nobody would ever know what kind of a thug Brian Johnson is;
the last condition is an offer not to pursue any potential action against me in case I would breach confidentiality of the ethics complaint process.
To read his settlement proposal, ,
click here!
You may wonder why he would propose such a ludicrous settlement offer, right? I would be crazy to
accept it, right??
Not so fast, don't forget, Wettlaufer and Brian Johnson are not paying anything for the appeal, you and I do! There is a
pattern of using litigation to coerce and force (in plain English, bully) opponents into submission. It is a deplorable scheme utilized by narcissistic "leader"
James Wettlaufer and financed by the taxpayers of Holland.
Wettlaufer and Johnson are not serious about ending this as they don't really care how much
additional funds are going to be wasted on appeals. It is the taxpayer who is paying for it not them!
The taxpayer will pay at least another $10,000 for this appeal and there will be one more the law allows as of right and then another one
to the SJC which grant would be unlikely.
It will never end if Wettlaufer will be re-elected...
Wettlaufer's goal was not and still is not, to win, the goal is and was to inflict financial pain to me and to shut
me up. You the reader of the Holland Blog are not suppose to know what he and other "insiders" are up to. Wettlaufer's plan just
didn't work and you will pick up the tap for his blunder!
Wettlaufer was asked during the BOS meeting of March 4, 2014, whether there is a re-payment plan in place so Brian
Johnson would reimburse the taxpayer and pay for his stupidity out of his own pocket. The fact that the town paid Johnson's legal fees
is undisputed. The Judge wrote in her
MEMORANDUM OF DECISION AND ORDER ON PLAINTIFF'S AND DEFENDANT'S MOTIONS FOR ATTORNEY'S FEES.
"the Town of Holland paid the plaintiff's attorney's fees..." See page 2 of
click here, and see page 2.
The question who would have to pay was not before the judge as the question was not raised in the pleadings (we had no idea that Wettlaufer was going to pay). The judge was not in the situation to make a binding ruling
on a question not raised in the pleadings.
The fact that Wettlaufer authorized the payments by the town came out only after my attorney,
based on my suspicions, subpoenaed copies of legal bills and fees. My attorney also subpoenaed selectman Michael Kennedy as we felt he was the one least
likely to lie under oath. Kennedy finally admitted the fact that Wettlaufer authorized the payments in an email the night before
the hearing on attorney's fees, so he did not have to show up in court to testify.
Back to the question which was presented to the chairman of the BOS, James Wettlaufer whether there was a re-payment plan.
Wettlaufer's answer was a clear “NO!” The questioner in the audience made Wettlaufer aware of the fact that the judge assumed
that Johnson would pay it back but Wettlaufer shrug it off, denied it, and immediately moved to adjourn the meting to avoid the
uncomfortable questions. (We really need to reinstate the call-ins!)
As I said earlier, things add up. If you have not heard enough yet, here are some of the Johnson-Wettlaufer area other blunders:
“Forcier was very upset about the meeting and his resignation and had rescheduled the meeting with Wettlaufer and Haughey three times. Once they were able to meet, Forcier explained his reason for leaving HPD was because he felt he did not have the support from the Town or Board of Selectmen."How many fine officers are you willing to lose and let Wettlaufer and Johnson turn our PD into a depository of bad apples?
It is more than time for a change, stop the insanity and ditch Wettlaufer. Don't let this opportunity pass and help us out here...
If you have any questions or need additional information to back up any claim made here, call me (413) 245 4660, email me to peterfrei@cox.net,
or ask your question by leaving a comment and I will answer.
Also, I always try to report balanced; to the best of my abilities, I could not think of anything positive Wettlaufer has done
for our town. If you can think of something, I urge you to help him out and post it in form of a comment, thanks!
May 30, 2014, Peter Frei