[PEN-L:276] Beverly Enterprises v. Bronfenbrenner

[Ellen Dannin]

As those on these lists have probably heard by now, the case against Kate
Bronfenbrenner was dismissed Friday on the ground that her statement was
made in a congressional proceeding and therefore was privileged. No ruling
was made on other issues in the motion to dismiss. Beverly opposed the
motion on several grounds, in particular that references to findings in NLRB
cases and court cases that it has violated the law are not based on fact and
therefore Bronfenbrenner could not rely on them.

Bronfenbrenner's case will be appealed along with another case Beverly filed
against a union official for defaming it in the same hearing. The AAUP
(brief by Matt Finkin) and congressional representatives are filing amicus
briefs at the appellate level on grounds including academic freedom, first
amendment issues, and related issues.

As many on these lists know, a petition was circulated soliciting support
for Dr. Bronfenbrenner. Within four days I had received nearly 600
signatures. They continued to come in later and stand now at about 700. Some
people asked whether the petition did any good. I want to assure everyone
that it assisted Dr. Bronfenbrenner in many ways. I won't and can't list
them all, but they included getting national attention through the press and
other means on the case and forced Beverly to clarify what it was doing. It
brought a lot of support to Dr. Bronfenbrenner through many different
sources, sources that would not have been available without your support.
Often we are asked to sign petitions but then never know if it mattered. I
can tell  you that at least in this case it did.

If there is someone willing to put the petition and signatures on a website
so it can be available, let me know, and I will forward it to you. It is
about 22 pages long the last time I looked.

Regards,

Ellen

Ellen J. Dannin
California Western School of Law
225 Cedar Street
San Diego, CA   92101
(619) 525-1449
fax: (619) 696-9999