MEDIA – Individuals accused of defamation and slander by a local law firm and one of its partners contend their account of that same partner’s alleged financial wrongdoing is factual, and therefore not actionable in a court of law.
Keller & Goggin, P.C. of Philadelphia and Robert S. Goggin III of Newtown Square first filed suit in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas on Nov. 22, 2021, versus Jack Lane and Lori Lane of Berwyn and Joseph Cooney, of Collegeville.
“All three defendants manufactured a false story detailing the theft of investor monies, and that of James Gautieri Jr., by the law firm of Keller & Goggin P.C. and Robert S. Goggin III. All three defendants published these false stories of the theft of investor monies, and that of James Gautieri Jr., to friends, business associates and colleagues of plaintiffs, and to Robert S. Goggin III’s and Keller & Goggin’s clients,” the suit said.
“All three defendants published these false stories of the theft of investor monies, and that of James Gautieri Jr., both in writing and by spoken word, and to the damage and detriment of Keller & Goggin P.C. and Robert S. Goggin III.”
Goggin continued that he and his firm were accused of misappropriating $1.1 million of investor funds by the defendants, who intended to cause damage to the plaintiffs’ reputation.
“All three defendants published these false stories of the theft of investor monies of by Robert S. Goggin III, specifically by accepting a $1,100,000 dollar investment, thereafter producing an investor note for the investor and failing to deposit the $1,100,000 in the investments’ account, instead converting the monies for plaintiffs’ use,” the suit stated.
“The third parties to whom these false allegations were published by whatever means understood the defamatory nature of the communication. Plaintiffs Robert S. Goggin III and Keller & Goggin P.C. are private persons as defined in the statute and applicable law. As a result of the defamatory and untrue nature of the communication to third parties both plaintiffs has suffered damages, special damages and punitive damages.”
The defendants filed a motion to dismiss on March 7, 2022, for supposed lack of service of the complaint – leading the plaintiff to then file a praecipe the following day to reinstate the complaint, as it has been more than 30 days and service had not been perfected upon the defendants.
But on Oct. 28, 2022, Delaware County Court of Common Pleas Judge Kelly D. Eckel denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss without prejudice.
An amended version of the complaint was filed on Nov. 7 of last year, which subtracted the intentional infliction of emotional distress claim and converted the defamation count to one for libel instead.
However, in a set of preliminary objections filed Dec. 1, 2022, the defendants sought to dismiss the instant complaint due to what they believe is a duplicative prior action in the same Court – or in the alternative, grant a stay of all proceedings in the instant case to await the outcome of the previously-filed one.
In a Dec. 16, 2022 answer to those objections, the plaintiffs denied them and requested they be overruled – and Eckel indeed denied the defense’s preliminary objections in a May 23 ruling.
“Upon consideration of the preliminary objection to the amended complaint filed by defendant Jack Lane and the response thereto, it is ordered that said preliminary objection is overruled and defendants shall file an answer to the amended complaint within 20 days of notice of this order,” Eckel said.
UPDATE
That answer and new matter came on July 10, wherein the defendants denied the plaintiff’s substantive allegations and argued that the account they provided of Goggin’s alleged financial wrongdoing was factual.
“Jack Lane individually published, both in writing and by spoken word, the following factual account of actions by Robert S. Goggin III: Goggin, in late spring of 2015, settled a case for James Gautieri Jr., for approximately $1.5 million against CSX Railroad. Unable to pay Gautieri from the CSX funds, Goggin commenced weekly $1,000 payments from Mainstreet Business Funding, a venture controlled by Goggin in which Lane was an investor, until early spring of 2016, when Goggin stole the majority of an $8 million+ CSX settlement from a quadriplegic client, Roger Cisco, and settled up with Gautieri,” per the defendants’ answer.
“Defendant Jack Lane is unaware of any actions undertaken by either Lori Lane or Joseph Cooney, all the actions complained of were actions individually by Jack Lane to expose the unfortunate truth surrounding Goggin’s actions, resulting in the losses of millions of dollars by Mainstreet Business Funding investors. Jack Lane individually took significant steps to disseminate the unfortunate truth surrounding the theft, embezzlement and conversion of funds by Goggin, Jack Lane is unaware of any actions taken by his wife Lori or Joseph Cooney,” the answer stated.
According to the defense, the “damaging allegations detailed in plaintiff’s complaint against the defendants, including theft, conversion and embezzlement by plaintiff Goggin and Keller Goggin P.C., are truthful and therefore not actionable.”
For counts of libel, slander and conspiracy, the plaintiffs are seeking damages in excess of $50,000, in addition to punitive damages.
The plaintiffs are represented by Robert S. Goggin III of Keller & Goggin, in Philadelphia.
The defendants are represented by John P. Lane Jr. in Berwyn.
Delaware County Court of Common Pleas case CV-2021-009465
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com