BishopAccountability.org

Judge denies Freeport man a new trial in defamation case

By Judy Harrison
Bangor Daily News
November 02, 2015

https://bangordailynews.com/2015/11/02/news/midcoast/judge-denies-freeport-man-a-new-trial-in-defamation-case/

Paul Kendrick
Photo by Troy R. Bennett

PORTLAND, Maine — A federal judge has denied a Freeport man a new trial and refused to reduce a $14.5 million judgment against him, but he did drop an $8,000 fine for contempt.

U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock on Friday also granted a motion to force Paul Kendrick, 66, to pay pre- and post-conviction interest on the damages granted by a jury in July after a 13-day defamation trial in federal court in Portland.

On Saturday, Haitian authorities reportedly had issued an arrest warrant for Michael Geilenfeld, a former Catholic brother who, along with an affiliated nonprofit, Hearts with Haiti, successfully sued Kendrick for defamation.

Police in Port-au-Prince were searching for Geilenfeld as part of an investigation into new allegations of child sex abuse, according to the Associated Press.

As of 6 p.m. Monday, no media outlets had reported that Geilenfeld had been located and arrested.

The Iowa native was imprisoned for 237 days in Haiti last year during the investigation of claims of sexual abuse. A Haitian judge decided not to prosecute Geilenfeld, and he was released. An appeal of the judge’s decision is pending in Haiti, according to previously published reports.

Geilenfeld and the North Carolina charity that raised money for his orphanages in Haiti sued Kendrick in 2013 in federal court over the Freeport man’s Internet and email campaign that claimed Geilenfeld had sexually abused boys in his care.

Geilenfeld took the stand in July and denied the allegations. Seven men testified that they had been sexually abused by Geilenfeld as boys.

The jury awarded Geilenfeld and Hearts with Haiti $14.5 million in damages for harm to his and the organization’s reputation and for direct fundraising losses the jury found were attributable to a scandal prompted by Kendrick’s allegations from 2011 through this year.

The jury’s decision included $2.5 million in damages on claims Kendrick was negligent and reckless in his statements about Hearts with Haiti. The jury awarded Geilenfeld $7 million on similar claims.

Another $5 million was awarded to Hearts with Haiti based on interference with its business, or fundraising losses.

Peter DeTroy, the Portland attorney who represents Geilenfeld and Hearts with Haiti, issued a press release Monday praising the judge’s decision.

“Geilenfeld and Hearts with Haiti are pleased with the court’s recent order and very much look forward to focusing their organizations’ energies on their charitable endeavors in Haiti, which care for the most disadvantaged Haitian children, including those with physical and mental disabilities, child slaves and street children,” the release said.

Woodcock’s granting pre- and post-judgment interest will add another $1 million to the $14.5 million in damages grants by jurors, DeTroy said.

Woodcock in February imposed an $8,000 contempt fine against Kendrick after he repeatedly violated an order not to disclose confidential information obtained through the discovery process before the trial. He set aside that fine Friday.

“Although the court agrees with the plaintiffs that an additional $8,000 is not a ‘ruinous’ fine of constitutional magnitude, the plaintiffs have not satisfactorily explained why the court should top a $14.5 million verdict with an $8,000 sanction, except to mollify the plaintiffs’ still roiling sense of outrage,” Woodcock wrote.

Efforts to determine whether Kendrick will appeal the judge’s ruling to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals were unsuccessful Monday.




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