www.justiceforchandra.com

[rd]

I would think it was filed there because he and Vanity Press are located there, fallout, and that the proceedings (if there are any) would take place there.

In my opinion, secret settlements are not large settlements. That's not a universal truth, or guaranteed, and I realize many settlements are secret, but I think the logic is that for settling for a pittance or even dropping the case, the suer saves face with a secret settlement. There would be some opposite scenarios where someone would pay a large settlement to make it go away on the condition the amount is secret, but my thinking is that if the Ramsey's could nail someone with a large punitive damage award settlement, they would want to let it be known.

On the other hand, they would not want anyone to know their suit was groundless and would go nowhere, but by settling in secret it still sends the message they're willing to sue and no one knows that they were not successful. Just my opinion. Do others feel the Ramsey's walked away with a large secret settlement because the ex-Denver cop theorized Patsy killed Jon Benet and her husband helped cover it up?

rd

[benn]

rd

It doesn't sound like they got a big settlement. If these lawsuits are not for money what are they for? A secret settlement does not tell the public much of anything about who was right and who was wrong.

Civil suits do not seem to be a sure thing one way or the other I read once about a lawyer who appealed a few cases and found that he won about half of the appeals. After that he began to appeal all of the cases he lost. If I was getting sued like that I would counter sue. There would probably be something that could be blamed on the plaintiff.

The best way I would think is to not go out too far on a limb and avoid such suits. The truth is best anyway.

benn

[jane]

Found this on a post at CrimeNews2000

This isn't specifically what Condit's suing about, but I think it's interesting -
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(excerpt from Dominick Dunne's Diary in Vanity Fair, October 2001)

Personally, I cannot abide Gary Condit, or "Gary Condom" as I told both Geraldo Rivera and Chris Matthews on the air he was supposedly called when he was an assemblyman in California, before he went to Congress. For openers, the guy's a hypocrite. He was a Democrat who voted for the impeachment of President Clinton, when his own sexual peccadilloes make Clinton look like a novice in the marital extracurricular department. I hate a liar, and this guy has lied from day one, both to the police and to the parents of his mistress.

During his first interview with the Washington police, he failed to tell them that his wife, who almost never goes to Washington, happened to be there on the weekend of Levy's disappearance. Where I went to Sunday school as a child, that was called a sin of omission. When he told the police he couldn't remember whether or not he had had sex with Levy the last time he saw her, I took that to be another lie. I find it highly unllikely that anyone would not remember such a thing. But what I found most annoying was the way he strode into the halls of Congress every day, looking like a male model on the runway, with his suit jacket slung casually over his shoulder, his perfectly cut shirt, his fancy haircut, and his beaming smile for the cameras. I kept asking myself, What is this man smiling about? It was a fact that he and levy had been lovers for a year, right up to her disappearance, and that she was presumed dead. I found his attitude extremely inappropriate. Also, when he was spotted getting rid of a box that had contained a watch -- given him by another former mistress -- before the police searched his apartment, he wasn't just tossing it into a trash can far from his house. The witness claims he had his arm deep in the can, burying it at the bottom, while one of his aides kept the car idling.

One night when I was plugging my book on Geraldo Rivera's show, there had been a guest on earlier in the program named Vincent Flammini, from Modesto, California. He said he had been Gary Condit's driver and great friend. I don't mean to sound snobbish, but Flammini doesn't look like the sort of guy you'd expect a nifty dresser like Condit to hang out with. Their connection, it turned out, was motorcycles. Flammini said they would go biking together and sometimes share a room in a motel if they were on a trip. Condit was into motorcycles and had friends who were members of the Hell's Angels. I'm not saying that Condit or Flammini had anything to do with Chandra Levy's vanishing from sight, but just as everyone who speaks out on this subject seems to have a theory about what happened, I have mine. It's only a theory. I cannot back it up. But remember how, right after Chandra Levy disappeared, many women were quoted as saying that a woman would not leave her apartment without her handbag? But if she were getting on the back of a Harley-Davidson she wouldn't take a bag with her, because she'd need to have her arms around the driver's waist. Maybe Chandra thought she was being taken to the mansion in Rock Creek Park that she had called up on her computer that day. And maybe the guy on the bike drive her instead into Virginia or Maryland and took care of her there.

[rd]

"I'm not saying that Condit or Flammini had anything to do with Chandra Levy's vanishing from sight, but just as everyone who speaks out on this subject seems to have a theory about what happened, I have mine. It's only a theory. I cannot back it up. But remember how, right after Chandra Levy disappeared, many women were quoted as saying that a woman would not leave her apartment without her handbag? But if she were getting on the back of a Harley-Davidson she wouldn't take a bag with her, because she'd need to have her arms around the driver's waist. Maybe Chandra thought she was being taken to the mansion in Rock Creek Park that she had called up on her computer that day. And maybe the guy on the bike drive her instead into Virginia or Maryland and took care of her there."


Excellent insight from Dunne's diary article. There's not a chance he could be found guilty of any crime for these statements.

rd

[jane]

This was posted at CrimeNews2000

Remarks Condit's then-future attorney made about him (25 Aug. 2001)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is what Lin Wood had to say about Condit's interview with Connie Chung -

"Rep. Gary Condit's attempt Thursday night to begin his
political rehabilitation with a national television interview
was an abysmal failure, voters, pundits and crisis
experts said yesterday.

"It was an unmitigated disaster," said L. Lin Wood, an
Atlanta civil lawyer and expert in resurrecting tarnished
clients in the court of public opinion. He prepared Richard
Jewell to face Mike Wallace on "60 Minutes" and John
and Patsy Ramsey for their Barbara Walters' interview.

"If someone advised Gary Condit to take the approach
he did -- he got bad advice," said Wood, adding that the
congressman dodged questions, lacked charm and came
across as not credible." - August 25, 2001

[stillwaters]

Great articles! I suspect another reason for Condit's suit against Dunne is that the story(theory) mentioned by Dunne re: the Arabian/Middle Eastern kidnapping thing re:Chandra is false, and Condit well knows it and hopes to zero in on that. He must think he can slither through the other wide-ranging questions he'd face like a snake through the grass. Or, he's hoping for a secret settlement on that point with Dunne and avoiding the rest of it. I'm of the belief, though, that Dunne was definitely contacted by someone who gave him this tip then disappeared into thin air. Why would someone want to send Dunne on a wild goose chase? Any number of reasons: to discredit him, lead him away from the truth, or just to pull a hoax? I still think there is or are another pretty powerful person or persons involved in this entire thing. If it's more than one, it isn't a large group. I also sometimes have a feeling that Condit may be deathly afraid and has been deathly afraid all along- of a person/s. Probably just a baseless hunch, and I hate to voice some of my hunches, but if D.Dunne can do it, I guess I can too :) :) I'll be the first to say I can be very, very wrong. sw

[jane]

I know what you mean, stillwaters - I keep thinking the thing is bigger than just Condit, too. At the same time, I don't think he's just an innocent patsy, though.

[rd]

Condit doesn't look deathy afraid to me, sw. He looks arrogant and evil, but that's just the way he looks to me.

rd

[jane]

Another article on the Dunne suit, mentioning some famous names:

The New York Times
Gary Condit Strikes Back
December 17, 2002

By JAMES BARRON


Nineteen months after Chandra A. Levy disappeared and less than a month before he leaves Congress, REPRESENTATIVE GARY A. CONDIT has sent his lawyers to court. Mr. Condit filed a lawsuit yesterday accusing the writer DOMINICK DUNNE of slander. Mr. Condit was dogged by questions about his relationship with Ms. Levy, a 24-year-old intern who disappeared in May 2001.
In papers filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, Mr. Condit's lawyers accused Mr. Dunne, left, of making false statements about Mr. Condit's involvement in the Levy case. "Dominick Dunne and others in the media, whom I would call a foolish handful, turned accusations of sexual misconduct into accusations of murder," said one of Mr. Condit's lawyers, L. LIN WOOD. "That crossed a line the congressman was not willing to sit back and tolerate without taking action."
The court papers accuse Mr. Dunne of saying on a nationally syndicated radio talk show that Mr. Condit may have been behind Ms. Levy's disappearance and that she had been dumped from an airplane over the Atlantic Ocean. The lawsuit said that Mr. Dunne had made similar comments at various dinner parties, including one in Los Angeles attended by the author GORE VIDAL and the actress ANJELICA HUSTON and one in New York given by CASEY RIBICOFF, the widow of Abraham Ribicoff, the former senator. The lawsuit says the guests also included CYNTHIA McFADDEN, a correspondent for ABC News, and the designer ADOLFO. The lawsuit also takes issue with comments Mr. Dunne made on "Larry King Live" on CNN and in an interview with a reporter for USA Today.
The court papers accuse Mr. Dunne of having "no reliable or credible source" for his comments. A spokeswoman for Vanity Fair said, "Dominick Dunne is not at liberty to comment." Ms. Levy's remains were found May 22 in Rock Creek Park in Washington.

[jane]

Just read on CN2000 something about a long-running feud between Dunne and Gore Vidal.... (mentioned in article above).

[jane]

Here's the scoop from a post at CN2000 (hey, they did wake up after all!)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
September 6, 2002

Feudal Lords
When Dominick's Done, Will Vidal Be Gored?

Media Person hasn’t decided yet which Famous Writer to back in the vicious and delicious literary feud that’s erupted between Dominick Dunne and Gore Vidal. He’s trying to figure out whose gratitude would do him more good.

On the one hand, Dunne could get Media Person invited to a lot of fancy parties. On the other, Vidal could invite Media Person to houseguest at his delightful villa in Ravello, Italy. What makes the decision even more difficult is the fact that Media Person doesn’t want to go to any fancy parties and the idea of hanging out with Gore Vidal in Italy or anyplace else is terrifying.

But let’s just jump into the fray and assess as we go. There’ll be plenty of time to regret the outcome later.

The whole thing started at a fateful dinner party in Beverly Hills. No, actually, the whole thing started when the gadabout crimes-of-the-rich chronicler wrote about the dinner party in his monthly Vanity Fair column, “Dominick Dunne’s Diary.”
According to Dunne, the hostess asked him to tell her other guests his story “about what really happened to Chandra Levy,” which he did, informing us that the yarn was a real attention-grabber. She then asked the other distinguished raconteur present to do his act, and Vidal dutifully summarized his Vanity Fair article on Timothy McVeigh. Vidal called McVeigh a patriot, Dunne says, and seemed extremely understanding. “When Gore finished, there was silence in the room. Let’s face it, McVeigh is a hard sell.”

Right away, any experienced Vidal watcher could have told Dunne there was trouble brewing since he had just declared in public that he’s a better entertainer than the world-weary lord of letters and king of literary feuds. But Dunne doesn’t stop there. After dinner, he goes to chat with Vidal who, Dunne relates, proceeds during their tête-à-tête to utter an anti-Irish slur.

“Why do you suppose Irish Catholics are all such social climbers?” Dunne quotes Vidal. “Is it because their mothers were all maids? Oh, I don’t mean you, of course. With that, he got up to leave.” Dunne proclaims Vidal a snob in his piece and before moving on to yet another dinner party, tells how he and his brother, the novelist John Gregory Dunne, “roared with laughter” after Dunne did his imitation of Vidal dissing Irish maids.

This was in the March Vanity Fair. In the May Vanity Fair, the letters section, Vidal strikes back. And goes for the jugular. Why, he wonders, is Dunne so fascinated by crime among the rich? Unlike Agatha Christie, “who made puzzles for our delight,” his antagonist “is more interested in who got what money and in Celebrity, particularly his own.” The Irish maid bit, which Dunne got all twisted around, Vidal instructs us, was a little joke with a moral. “I tried to tell him the story in the hope that he might put to better use all those years of climbing about the jungle gym of American society.”

As for his McVeigh saga getting a cool reception, Vidal adds, “Yes. And Lit’s a hard sell.” In other words, you do trashy gossip for easy applause. I do challenging, iconoclastic high-class Literature.

Supercilious, slur-spewing snob vs. silly, stardom-seeking social climber! Have we got fun now.

Dunne loses little time responding. In a reply printed under Vidal’s missive, he writes, “That’s about as bitchy a letter as I’ve read in a long time, Gore. Very 50s. It’s right up there with your witticism that Truman Capote’s death was a good career move for him.”

OK, Media Person has to take off points there for quoting the Capote line because, cruel or not, it was pretty damn hilarious which, of course, counts in Vidal’s favor. Dunne then gets himself further demerits when, insisting that he got the slur right, states the following: “Remember, I don’t drink at those parties, have an excellent memory, and always carry a green leather notebook for when I slip into the bathroom after an encounter such as we had to make a few notes.” This unfortunate revelation may bolster Dunne’s case for accuracy but deals a heavy blow to his dignity, provoking a risible vision of the urbane guest excusing himself from social intercourse several times of an evening to dash for the john where, seated on a closed toilet lid, he scribbles madly into his green leather notebook, then pockets it, smoothes his hair and saunters casually back out to seek more diary fodder.

Another short but loud volley between the two disturbs the peace of the June Vanity Fair letters section as readers also chime in with their takes on the feud. One calls Vidal pompous, petulant and petty. Another says he “has defrocked the Emperor of Gossip.” Vidal’s own letter calls Dunne “reckless,” “confused” and “beady eyed.” Dunne’s entire reply to Vidal: “OH, PUH-LEEZE.”
A little weak, that. Media Person must score Vidal the winner on points. But this thing may not be over. There are talk shows ahead and, more entertaining, novels to finish, no doubt containing hastily added characters who seem oddly familiar to us.

[stillwaters]

rd, absolutely his is an arrogant-looking face! But, people hide behind masks, and they hide the gamut of emotions that way. Arrogance and fear aren't necessarily incompatible. An interesting aside: in many people (men in particular, I think) fierce anger appears when it's actually masquerading as pure, visceral fear. ( I learned this from experience as well as a couple of great books on anger management and psychology/human relationships.
If there is another person he's afraid of, I've no doubts he's still very heavily involved and innocent of very little. sw

[Jayne]

Does anyone here know how to convert a pdf file to txt? I spent an hour last night in Adobe help files trying to copy Condit v. Dunne to no avail.
Gary Condit v. Dominick Dunne can be found at http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/condit/conditdunne1202cmp.pdf if anyone knows how to get it posted here.

[Rita]

Jyane you can insert the pdf link at this URL and it will convert the pdf file to html then I think you can copy/paste from that:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/access_simple_form.html

Hope this helps,
Rita

[Jayne]

I gotta hand it to you Rita...once again, you ROCK! This will be a very useful tool in the future if Condit's attorney means what he says about "others". Thanks a bunch! I'll get this posted immediately. Oh crap....maybe I won't. The document is encrypted. I wonder if that's why all I can pull up is page numbers?