SOUTHFIELD, Mich., June 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Oakland County Circuit Court
Judge Rudy J. Nichols, yesterday, dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Thomas
Kinkade Co., alleging that Michigan attorney Joseph Ejbeh and others had
engaged in illegal eavesdropping.
The suit alleged that Ejbeh secretly transmitted testimony via the
Internet in an arbitration hearing to a third party. Ejbeh's opposing
counsel acknowledged at that hearing that he had known for months that
testimony was being transmitted in real time via the Internet and did not
object.
However, after attorneys for the Kinkade team realized that one of the
people on the other end of the live transcription feed was a witness in a
fraud case they had lost earlier in the year and a witness in the current
arbitration, Kinkade's counsel objected and filed suit.
Judge Nichols ruled that Michigan's eavesdropping statute had not been
violated. In explaining the ruling, Ejbeh's attorney, Steven Wolock of
Maddin, Hauser, Wartell, Roth & Heller, P.C., said, "In order for there to
be eavesdropping violation in Michigan, the alleged eavesdropping must be
practiced on a 'private conversation.' The Judge found that the arbitration
in question, in which no sequestration or confidentiality orders had been
entered, was not a 'private conversation.'"
The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice against all defendants
including Ejbeh's former employer, Yatooma & Associates, his wife Cynthia
who was serving as a legal assistant, and Terry Shepherd, the witness who
had received the live feed.
"I knew I would be vindicated," said Joseph Ejbeh. "I believe that this
was just a retaliatory action prompted by our win in one of the other fraud
cases against Kinkade and the bad press that Kinkade was getting as a
result." One week prior to the filing of the eavesdropping suit, Ejbeh
obtained an $860,000 arbitration award in favor of two other former Thomas
Kinkade Signature Gallery owners.
Founded in 1925, Southfield, Michigan-based Maddin, Hauser, Wartell,
Roth & Heller P.C. is a multi-specialty law firm serving individuals,
businesses and government entities.
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SOURCE Steven Wolock
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CONTACT:
Emile Mahanti, +1-248-855-6777, for Steven
Wolock
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