In Courtroom, the Battle Goes On

Despite the $90,000 settlement (see accompanying story), the tangled, never-ending litigation between Mel Mermelstein and his opponents drags on, according to Jeff Mauser, now Mermelstein’s lead attorney. Eight different lawyers from seven firms have worked on the case, most on a pro bono basis (in “Never Forget,” Dabney Coleman’s character is the first of these lawyers).

In the current civil litigation, Mermelstein is suing the Institute for Historical Review, the Liberty Lobby and others for defamation and malicious prosecution. The proceeding is scheduled for trial this summer.

On Jan 10, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen E. O’Neil ordered that “having considered the evidence and points and authorities submitted by the parties,” the court was once again taking “judicial notice . . . that Jews were gassed to death at Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland in 1944. This fact is not reasonably subject to dispute.”