People

damaged by 'file suit, drop suit' lawyers

As reported in this

newspaper June 30, attorney Jim Webb has decided to drop

his suit against Steve Brown, Cal Beverly and The Citizen

Newspaper. While the reason given is that he felt

"vindicated" by an article in the AJC, I wonder

if there were other reasons involved. Whatever the reason

or reasons, Mr. Brown, Mr. Beverly and this newspaper now

know that the threat of huge legal bills is over.

My question to Mr. Webb is,

"Will you now do the right thing?" This suit,

one which I felt all along had no merit, ended up costing

these gentlemen sizable legal fees. Will Mr. Webb

voluntarily reimburse these gentlement for those fees? I

am betting I know the answer to that question. Perhaps

they will need to take legal recourse to recover the

money they spent.

This is a good example of

what is wrong with our legal system and in particular

some of the attorneys who are licensed to practice in

that system. A suit which ends up being withdrawn still

causes damage to two men who were guilty of nothing but

exercising their right to free speech. Their reputations

are damaged, they fear being open in their future

comments, they spend thousands of dollars to prepare to

defend themselves - all because someone decides to

play "file the suit, withdraw the suit." No

wonder attorneys are the butt of so many jokes.

I am proud to say that I

was threatened and ordered to give up my personal

correspondence and e-mails, but I did not buckle and give

in to Mr. Webb. My right to free speech was threatened,

my right to privacy was threatened, but luckily I did not

just give in but instead stood and fought for those

rights. To Mr. Webb, I say, the next time you want to

know what I have to say on any topic give me a call

- I'll be glad to share my opinions with you, though

you may not like what you hear.

I sincerely hope that these

questionable tactics haven't frightened other individuals

and made them feel that they can't express their opinions

without fear of being sued. Don't let the

"playground bullies" frighten you; stand up to

them and watch as they tuck tail and run away.

Steve Fodor

Peachtree City