Statement from Omar Ortega, Esq., DORTA & ORTEGA, P.A.:
The law firm of Dorta and Ortega, P.A. has been retained to represent Chris Simmons in the lawsuit filed by Silvia Wilhelm. Mr. Simmons welcomes the opportunity to substantiate the statements he made to Oscar Haza concerning Ms. Wilhelm. Mr. Simmons unequivocally stands behind his statements. By bringing this lawsuit Ms. Wilhelm has not only given a greater forum for Mr. Simmons to discuss the facts which lead to Mr. Simmons’ statements but more importantly opened Ms. Wilhelm to direct questioning by Mr. Simmons representatives concerning all the allegations which she claims to be false.
Chris Simmons is the U.S. Army Counterintelligence officer who has been “naming names” with regards to Cuban espionage in our country.
it’s an easy lawsuit to defend. the plaintiff is a public figure and it will be extremely difficult to meet her burden of proof under NY Times v. Sullivan.
FIU Professor Marifeli Perez-Stable, who Chris Simmons also accused of being a Castro spy, told the Miami Herald that she had no comment on the lawsuit by Silvi Wilhelm against Simmons. She and accused spy, FIU Professor Lisandro Perez, opted not to sue Simmons out of fear that their nefarious activities will be exposed in court.
Here is Perez-Stable’s background and Simmon’s statements on TV about her
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/espionage/marifeli.htm
Here is Lisandro Perez’s background and Simmon’s statements on TV about him
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/espionage/lisandro-perez.htm
You can listen to Simmons on Babalublog on August 6, 2008 at
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/espionage/simmons.mp3
Let those depos fly!
This should be fun.
Sticks and stones
will break my bones
bur names will never hurt me.
But these ‘freakin things take so MUCH time? Any of you jurisconsults out there know how long till this thing actually hits the courtroom and we get some red meat?
As Mike said, it’s relatively easy to mount a defense against a charge of slander. The flip side of this is obviously that it is difficult (and expensive) for someone to go on offense, yet Wilhelm and her attorneys went ahead and did so. Wilhelm’s is arguably not much of a public figure and of the people Simmons accused, has the smallest profile (and hence lowest burden of proof). It’s going to be interesting…by no means a foregone conclusion.