This is news you aren’t going to see on cable TV or in the mainstream media. After a decade of legal wrangling, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) was finally facing a jury trial (to begin in September) in a case that alleged they had hired a phony lawyer to help clients with their immigration status among other legal matters.
A prospect of a public trial likely pushed the Muslim ‘rights’ organization to quietly settle the case in favor of the victims and their attorneys.
From the American Freedom Law Center(hat tip: Joanne),
CAIR Settles with Fraud Victims After Two Adverse Court Decisions
Washington, D.C. (June 4, 2019) — The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has settled a case originally filed 11 years ago in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The lawsuit against CAIR was brought by the American Freedom Law Center (AFLC) on behalf of five victims of a massive fraud perpetrated by a CAIR lawyer, Morris Days. AFLC Senior Counsel David Yerushalmi is a favorite target of the Southern Poverty Law Center which works closely with CAIR. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/david-yerushalmi
CAIR’s decision to finally settle the case came only after two very adverse court decisions. The first decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed an earlier dismissal of the lawsuit brought by AFLC Co-Founders and Senior Counsel David Yerushalmi and Robert J. Muise. The Court of Appeals’ decision, the second appeal in this long-standing case that had included allegations of criminal racketeering by CAIR, mandated that the federal district court permit the case to go to a jury trial, set for September 2019.
The second court decision was by the trial court which refused to dismiss the consumer fraud statute count, which meant that AFLC’s clients would receive attorney’s fees irrespective of the amount the jury awarded as long as the jury found CAIR liable. Given the aggressively fought litigation over the past decade, CAIR was looking at a possible judgment approaching one million dollars just for attorney’s fees.
It is thus no surprise that at a mediation conducted in the U.S. District Court in D.C. by U.S. Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey in late May, CAIR agreed to a settlement. As is often the case, the terms and conditions of the settlement agreement are confidential, but the plaintiffs’ lead lawyer, David Yerushalmi, remarked:
“Our clients are extremely happy with the settlement and, in fact, they are so happy, they have authorized me to declare publicly that they have no problem disclosing all of the terms and conditions of the settlement agreement if CAIR agrees. It is unlikely CAIR would agree, of course, because it is unlikely CAIR wants the public to learn the terms of the settlement.”
[….] The lawsuit began after CAIR hired for its Virginia offices a fake lawyer, Morris Days, who defrauded dozens if not hundreds of CAIR clients. Once the fraud began to unravel, CAIR engaged in a massive cover-up, closing down the Virginia offices, firing the lawyer, and claiming to the CAIR victims that Days was not actually a CAIR lawyer. As alleged, CAIR knew of this fraud and purposefully conspired with Days to keep the CAIR clients from discovering that their legal matters were being mishandled or not handled at all.
This is the kind of news you need to get around to your social networks (assuming you haven’t been given the boot from facebook and twitter yet!) because otherwise this good news favoring the little guy will be lost.
