Latest lawsuit in Jersey City animal shelter war is filed by former volunteers advocating "no kill" policy and targeting current board and managers

Friday, December 03, 2010
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Former Liberty Humane Society volunteers advocating a "no kill" policy have filed a lawsuit against the Jersey City shelter alleging racketeering, mismanagement, extortion, misappropriation of funds and falsifying the number of animals euthanized.

The suit is part of the ongoing battle that began in July when the shelter's board of directors resigned in protest of management's efforts to operate as a "no-kill" shelter. At the same time, the shelter had failed several state inspections and was being cited for inhumane conditions.

An interim board was formed and interim management was hired to run the shelter, but former volunteers and "no-kill" supporters criticized the board and staff for euthanizing more than 25 dogs at the overcrowded shelter.

By September, members of the shelter's new board sued former LHS volunteers Donna Lerner and Lisa Coons; Joseph Paladino; Lori McRee Hoffman, leader of Monroe County No-Kill in Pennsylvania; and Facebook aliases "John Wolf," "Alex Lazur" and "Biff Schwartz."

That suit alleges a "barrage of threats, slanderous insults and blatantly false information designed to intimidate us into relinquishing control" of the shelter.

That suit led to a counter complaint and on Nov. 23, New Jersey Animal Advocates, New Jersey Animal Rescue, Lerner, Coons, and former volunteers Linda Smigelski, William Martinez and Brad Levy filed the suit against LHS and a dozen individuals alleging racketeering.

Paladino, whose real name is apparently Brad Levy, made his first appearance in court on Monday on the criminal charges of harassment and making terroristic threats regarding Facebook comments aimed at current board members. Attorney Howard Myerowitz said he will file a motion to dismiss the suit filed by the ex-volunteers.

The eight-count suit filed last month seeks removal of the current LHS board and other personnel, implementation of a "humane euthanasia policy" and compensatory and punitive damages. It also seeks to end the board's "attempt to stifle criticism and silence employees and volunteers."

Here we go again. I hope the judge looks at this law suit and uses the paper it is written on to pick up dog shit. I love how they are stretching for facts here. "pantifs and several hundred concerned citizens" <-- If the LHSU website is a representation of these 'concerned citizens', then 95%+ were from out of state! I think the # they use is 2,300. I also love points 91-95. Seems like this was filed before Mr. Levy was arrested for making terroristic threats via Facebook.