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Post by Admin on Feb 3, 2018 13:39:46 GMT -7
Latest News in the O'Connell and Rakela Morass A brief was filed with the court by the GLA attorney Seth Cunningham concerning Val O'Connell for circumventing the Court's previous order declaring her a vexatious litigant. The Court set a deadline of January 19th, 2018 for Kathleen Rakela and/or Val O'Connell to respond. That deadline passed and neither responded so now the court can move forward with a decision. In the GLA response to the vexatious litigant brief attorney Cunningham describes how Val claimed credit for authoring the Rakela lawsuit. Cunningham went on to compare similarities between O'Connell lawsuits and the Rakela one. He speculated that the Rakela lawsuit might never have progressed as far without Val's assistance. He also contended that Val was practicing law without a license. Specific sanctions were left up to the court's discretion. Rakela has since hired a Montana licensed attorney and is moving full speed ahead with her lawsuit. The GLA offered to void the entire 2017 election, toss all landowner votes and start the process over again with Rakela as an official candidate. For unknown reasons Rakela rejected that deal and instead chose to continue with her lawsuit against the GLA. She believes that she has suffered "irreparable harm" and is apparently seeking to remedy that injury. Download and read the court filing here.
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Post by Admin on Feb 11, 2018 14:11:50 GMT -7
Court Rules on GLA Vexatious Litigant Motion Neither Kathleen Rakela nor Val O'Connell responded to the above GLA Motion by January 19th, 2018 so the court ruled in the GLA's favor. On February 7th the court ruled that Val O'Connell violated the court ordered Vexatious Litigant ruling in case DV 2011-114. No sanctions or punishment was applied with the February 7th, 2018 court ruling.
Sanctions, fines or some sort of punishment may later be imposed upon Val O'Connell for violating her court order. Currently the O'Connells owe the GLA over $10,000.00 in court costs associated for several past lawsuits. The GLA has yet to receive a penny in payment.
Val O'Connell claimed credit for authoring the Rakela lawsuit. When asked by the court to confirm or deny this, Val chose to remain silent. In a related incident Kathleen Rakela stated at the January 2018 GLA Board meeting that Val did NOT write the lawsuit. Yet she refused to come to Val's defense and state the same to the court.
Download the Court Ruling here.
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