From: James Randi --- Wizard <randi-hotline@ssr.com>
This morning, December 3rd, 1996, my action against Earl Gordon Curley
was initiated. It is being handled by Toronto's largest legal firm,
and the check to retain their services was mailed out. I expect that
Mr. Curley's impatience with this matter will shortly be ended; he has
been complaining bitterly that I've been slow in getting this show on
the road, and now he'll have somewhat different reasons to complain.
I note that his three phone numbers (as shown in the current Toronto
telephone directory) are no longer in service. And, two of my
correspondents report that the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police,
equivalent in Canada to the FBI in the USA) have notified them that
Mr. Curley has been told not to distribute the Dreaded Tape, as he had
promised to do.
I'm told that this action may take as much as two years, and that if
the defendant has no assets, I cannot expect much monetary award.
However, I'm in the position of having to do what I can to defend
myself against Mr. Curley's attacks. And, I will shortly be in Canada
to sign the appropriate papers. To quote Mr. Curley from his posting
of November
As Curley said in his November 19th posting:
> Randi, come back to Canada. There are a few
Fair enough. I will announce here the time and date of my arrival in
Toronto, Canada, the hotel at which I'll be staying, and how I may be
reached. I'll do that as soon as my lawyers tell me when they'll need
me there. That will be in plenty of time for Mr. Curley to arrange
for these "few people" to be notified and prepared to meet
with me at my hotel to discuss all these matters.
Just in case these mysterious "people" would like to be saved
a trip, I'll tell them now that the "tape" is not one of
"solicitation," but was prepared by me (and not as a wire-tap,
as Mr. Curley has chosen to believe) to trap some bad guys. It worked,
and the bad guys were identified, charged, and convicted.
I will bring along a COMPLETE file of the newspaper files alluded to (not
from Rumson, which had no newspaper back then, but from Asbury Park)
including the articles that supported my allegations against the Middletown
police, and the record of the conviction of those who I trapped by means
of the "tape."
As for the "allegations made against [me] by Robinson," I do not
know what is being referred to, since I've never seen any such evidence.
The "law suit between [me] and Patrolman Stephen Xanthos" never
existed, so I need not explain the non-existent "out-of-court
settlement" that Mr. Curley has invented. Incidently, Xanthos was
eventually canned from the police force for the very tactics that I'd
accused him of, opened a bar, and was charged with beating up a
customer. Nice guy.
Mr. Curley is very hot on my "statements that [the James Randi
Educational Foundation has] assets equivalent to $750,000 or more,"
so I will be prepared to present -- to responsible persons -- a statement
of assets for the JREF. Regarding "[my] loss in the court case
between [myself] and Eldon Byrd," that is easily handled; in the
first few moments of the court hearing that Mr. Curley chortles about, I
told the jury that I had indeed -- inadvertently -- made a
mis-statement of fact concerning Eldon Byrd, that I had said that he
was a convicted child molester, when in fact though he WAS a confessed
child molester, he had not been convicted of it, since he had
plea-bargained the charge down.
The judge ruled that all the jury had to decide was whether Mr. Byrd was
due any monetary reward as a result of damage to his reputation that might
have resulted from my statement. The jury awarded Mr. Byrd zero. (The
jury heard the "tape" -- at my insistence -- and were satisfied
as to how, why, by whom, it was prepared.) I was represented pro bono
(free) by a prominent Baltimore law firm.
When Mr. Curley refers, above, to ". . . and on and on and on,"
I cannot imagine what else these "few people" might like to
discuss, but take note:
I will keep you all informed as the legal action matures.
A side-question.... What, we might ask, has ANY of this got to do with
whether or not Mr. Curley -- or anyone else -- has psychic powers?
Return to The Skeptic Tank's main Index page.
Subject: Action initiated . . .
> people waiting to talk to you after I supplied them
> with the tape of your solicitation, the newspaper
> articles from Rumson, the allegations made
> against you by Robinson, the law suit between
> you and Patrolman Stephen Xanthos, your
> statements that you have funds equivalent to
> $750,000. or more in the James Randi
> Educational Foundation, your loss in the court
> case between you and Eldon Byrd, and on and
> on and on.
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