NORTHWEST TERRITORIAL MINT OWNER LOSES $38M VERDICT

The internet is littered with demeaning, defamatory and just plain nasty statements. Tracking down an anonymous critic can be frustrating and expensive.

A relatively few hardy souls have felt aggrieved enough to file lawsuits; some have won judgments, a few in the multimillion-dollar category.

The Cohen case is the internet defamation battle on steroids, bringing together a wealthy victim willing to spend more than $3 million to identify and bring to court an attacker, who turned out to be well-heeled, sophisticated and persistent. That combination produced a cyberwar that climaxed last year with one of the largest internet defamation awards ever: a $38 million jury verdict for Mr. Cohen. The judgment is being appealed.

As he studied the website that ruined his Lake Como dinner, he saw hints of who might be behind it. It said a state-court suit by a Cohen-related investment entity involving a building it owned in the Seattle area, which was pending at the time, was an effort “to scam former tenants out of millions of dollars.”

The defendants in that suit were Ross B. Hansen and his company, Northwest Territorial Mint, which manufactured commemorative coins and medals and marketed precious metals.

The suit was prompted by Mr. Hansen’s refusal to clean up an environmental mess his company left behind when it vacated the building, said Mr. Cohen.

In court filings and depositions, Mr. Hansen, who declined to be interviewed for this article, vociferously denied the allegations. The judge in the case eventually found for Mr. Cohen’s side and, after an unsuccessful appeal, Mr. Hansen paid some $3 million.

A onetime Alaskan bush pilot, Mr. Hansen had founded and built Northwest Territorial Mint into a company with $200 million in annual sales and over 300 employees. His firm provided medals for the military and ornaments for the White House Christmas tree, and had a retail shop in the Pentagon.

Within a month, a cybercrime investigator new to the team, Michael Mitama, uncovered the real identity of the person who had used the Steven Finch pseudonym to set up the websites: It was Steven Firebaugh, an employee of Mr. Hansen’s firm.

With that information, Mr. Cohen added Mr. Firebaugh to the suit as a co-defendant.

Once identified, Mr. Hansen embraced his role as creator of the two websites. In a deposition, Mr. Hansen said he created them partly to show Mr. Cohen “for the liar, the thief, and the cheat that he is.” He said he came to that conclusion after being a tenant and defendant in the building litigation, which he felt Mr. Cohen improperly pursued.

After six days of testimony and arguments, when Mr. Cohen listened to the jury find in his favor on the defamation and invasion-of-privacy claims, four years of pent-up emotions finally burst forth. He broke down and cried.

Now, Mr. Cohen is searching for ways to recover at least some of the $38 million verdict. After the judgment, Mr. Hansen had his company file for bankruptcy protection.

Mr. Firebaugh, who was found liable for some of the monetary damages in the defamation case, joined the appeal. He subsequently filed for bankruptcy protection.

To read the complete article (subscription required), see:
One Man’s Bid to Clear His Name Online: 4 Years, $3 Million and Some Dead Turtles (www.wsj.com/articles/3-million-dead-turtles-and-a-sex-website-inside-one-mans-bid-to-clear-his-name-on-the-internet-1487949319)

To read the complete article (subscription required), see:
West Coast Mint Files for Bankruptcy After Losing Defamation Suit (www.wsj.com/articles/west-coast-mint-files-for-bankruptcy-after-losing-defamation-suit-1459553011)

To read the some earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
MEDALLIC ART COMPANY HAS A NEW OWNER (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v12n30a07.html)
NORTHWEST TERRITORIAL MINT ACQUIRES GRACO AWARDS (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v14n22a11.html)
ARTICLE PROFILES NORTHWEST TERRITORIAL MINT (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n36a22.html)

To visit the Northwest Territorial Mint web site, see: www.nwtmint.com

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