Quackbuster's Latest Defeat

http://www.quackpo****ch.org/opinion...uackbuster.htm

For Quackbuster's NCAHF - It's All Over But The Shouting...

Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen

July 9th, 2003



The Quackbuster Flagship sank today. A Three Judge California Appeals
Court broad-sided it. Let's all go watch it slide under the waves.
Bring a bottle of wine and some paper cups.

We already know that the quackbusters have ZERO credibility with the
American court system. So it's not going to be a surprise to anyone
that the National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF), today, lost
the decision they appealed over the case called "NCAHF v. Botanical
laboratories, et al."

Here are the the Three Judge Panel's words...

"Conclusion - Appellant (NCAHF) believes that no one should be allowed
to market homeopathic remedies. Congress has decided otherwise, and
officially recognizes the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia. Appellant's
broad-brush approach of sweeping all homeopathic remedies into a
single bag marked "undesirable" simply does not work in the courts,
where each claimed instance of unfair advertising and unfair business
practice must be closely scrutinized. Appellant failed to present any
admissible evidence in this case that respondents are guilty of false
advertising and unfair business practices with respect to any of their
products."

The NCAHF lost on a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public
Participation) Motion. Which means they owe the Defendants Attorney
Fees. Al Lohrman, chief counsel on this case, said to me, today, in
an e-mail "By the way, the trial court also awarded us attorneys'
fees on our anti-SLAPP motion, as provided by law."

And, there's the rub.

The NCAHF is operating out of a cardboard box in the back room of
Bobbie Baratz's Braintree, MA hair removal salon, and has so little
money, that Baratz begged members for cash, offering a picture of me
(Tim Bolen) as an incentive for contribution.

According to court documents, NCAHF Board members, it turns out, were
COMPLETELY UNAWARE that Baratz and Barrett had made the NCAHF the
Plaintiff in these cases. Court documents show that Baratz and
Barrett had set up this case to generate "expert witness" fees for
themselves. Baratz is the current President of the NCAHF. Barrett is
a failed MD who operates the dubious website quackwatch.com out of his
basement in Allentown. PA.

Legal fees, by my estimate, will run around $500,000 to $700,000. It
looks to me, like the individual NCAHF BOARD MEMBERS, and the MEMBERS,
may be legally liable for the attorney fees...

The court, in it's decision, quoted the earlier Health Freedom Appeals
Court Victory in NCAHF v. King Bio like this:

"In the context of a lawsuit against homeopathic manufacturers of
homeopathic remedies, 'there is nothing in the nature of a false
advertising action that makes it difficult for a plaintiff to prove
allegations of the complaint. The homeopathic remedies are marketed
and readily available for testing by the plaintiff. The falsity of
the advertising claims may be established by testing, scientific
literature, or anecdotal evidence.' (NCAHF v King Bio). Appellant
provided no admissible, prima facie evidence that the respondents'
advertising is, in fact, false....In addition, appellant presented no
evidence at all that respondents' advertising is likely to deceive
consumers."

I've put the whole case decision on my website. Click here...

For the Quackbuster's NCAHF - it's all over but the shouting.



Tim Bolen - Consumer Advocate


This "Millions of Health Freedom Fighters - Newsletter" is about the
battle between "Health and Medicine" on Planet Earth. Tim Bolen is an
op/ed writer with extensive knowledge of the activities of a
subversive organization calling itself the "quackbusters," and that
organization's attempts to suppress, and discredit, any, and all
health modalities that compete with the allopathic (MD) paradigm for
consumer health dollars. The focus of the newsletter is on the
ongoing activities, battles, politics, and the victories won by
members of the "Health Freedom Movement" against the "quackbusters"
It details "who the quackbusters are, what they are, where they are
operating, when they appear, and how they operate - and how easy it is
to beat them..."

For background information on the "Battle between Health and Medicine"
go to: http://www.savedrclark.net/by_whom2.htm. A copy of THIS
newsletter, and older ones, are viewable at the website
http://www.quackpo****ch.org/default.htm.

For EVEN MORE interesting and related articles go to
http://www.bolenreport.com