Jump to content

Philip J. Berg

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 186.58.181.125 (talk) at 14:30, 17 March 2012 (→‎Removed Obama). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about Philip J. Berg, the attorney. For Philip S. Berg, head of the Kabbalah Centre, see Philip Berg.
In response to the conspiracy theories, the White House released the President's long-form birth certificate on April 27, 2011, reaffirming that he was born at 7:24 pm on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Philip J. Berg (born April 13, 1944) is an American activist attorney who brought a RICO lawsuit charging president George W. Bush and 154 others with complicity in the 9/11 attacks, and another suit challenging the eligibility of Barack Obama to become President of the United States.

Activism

Berg has involved himself with several controversial political cases. In 2001 he demanded the disbarment of U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas due to their participation in the case Bush v. Gore.[1] In 2004, Berg filed a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) lawsuit on behalf of a World Trade Center maintenance worker against President George W. Bush and others alleging that the Bush and certain government officials conspired to bring about the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.[2] The federal district court dismissed the suit. He challenged President George W. Bush on his right to conduct a war of terror and another for somebody else´s oil and other property without a congressional authorization.[3]

Malpractice and ethics violations

Berg was sued for legal malpractice by former clients on whose behalf Berg had neglected to file a response to a complaint in an ERISA lawsuit, resulting in a default judgment being entered against the former clients. Berg responded by bringing into the malpractice suit the plaintiffs in the ERISA action on a claim of fraud upon the court. The ERISA plaintiffs moved for summary judgment—which was granted after Berg failed to respond to the motion—and then moved for sanctions against Berg. Berg again failed to file a response.

On June 2, 2005, U.S. District Judge J. Curtis Joyner granted the motion for sanctions, finding that the fraud claim was "was inadequately pled, not grounded in fact, time-barred, and utterly irrelevant to the pending malpractice action against him." Observing that an attorney's signature on a complaint constitutes, among other things, a certification that the signer has conducted a reasonable inquiry into the grounds for the claim asserted, the court further found that "even the most limited investigation would have revealed that [Berg] had no standing to raise such a claim." The court also found that Berg's claim was motivated by a "desire to harass" and "delay litigation." The court fined Berg $10,000 and ordered him to attend six hours of ethics training.[4][5]

RICO lawsuit, Rodriguez v. Bush

In October 2004, Berg filed Rodriguez v. Bush, accusing the President of the United States and 155 other parties of complicity in the 9/11 attacks.

This 237-page civil lawsuit[6][7] included allegations pursuant to the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) against The United States Of America, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, George Herbert Walker Bush, George Walker Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald H. Rumsfeld,and numerous others, totaling 156 defendants in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

This lawsuit made hundreds of allegations including allegations that the Twin Towers were destroyed by means of "controlled demolitions;" that members of the FDNY were ordered, on instructions of the CIA, not to talk about it; that the FDNY conspired with Larry Silverstein to deliberately destroy 7WTC; that projectiles were fired at the Twin Towers from “pods” affixed to the underside of the planes that struck them; that FEMA is working with the US government to create “American Gulag” concentration camps which FEMA will run once the federal government’s plan to impose martial law is in place; that phone calls made by some of the victims, as reported by their family members, were not actually made but were "faked" by the government using "voice morphing" technology; that a missile, not American Airlines Flight 77, struck the Pentagon; that United Airlines Flight 93 was shot down by the U.S. military; that the defendants had foreknowledge of the attacks and actively conspired to bring them about; that the defendants engaged in kidnapping, arson, murder, treason, conspiracy, trafficking in narcotics, embezzlement, securities fraud, insider trading, identity and credit card theft, blackmail, trafficking in humans, and the abduction and sale of women and children for sex.[7]

The matter was transferred to the Southern District of New York on May 2, 2005.[8] On June 26, 2006, the court dismissed the claims against the USA, DHS, and FEMA, and gave the plaintiff until July 7, 2006 to show cause why his lawsuit should not be dismissed with respect to the other 153 defendants.[9]

The plaintiff failed to do so, and the court dismissed all of the claims against all of the remaining 153 defendants on July 17, 2006.[10]

Lawsuit concerning Barack Obama

Main article: Barack Obama presidential eligibility litigation § Berg v. Obama

Berg filed a complaint in federal district court on August 21, 2008, against Democratic Party presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic National Committee and the Federal Election Commission, alleging that Obama was born actually in Mombasa, Kenya and that the "Certification of Live Birth" on Obama's website is a forgery. The court dismissed the complaint as "frivolous and not worthy of discussion."[11][12] The judge also found that the harm Berg alleged did "not constitute an injury in fact" and that Berg's arguments to the contrary "ventured into the unreasonable."[11][12] Berg filed a petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court and also sought an injunction to suspend the election. The injunction was denied by Justice David Souter on November 3, 2008. Berg also sought an application for injunction pending the disposition of the petition for writ of certiorari; Justice Souter denied it, Berg refiled and submitted it to Justice Anthony Kennedy (who denied it), then refiled and submitted it to Justice Antonin Scalia, who referred it to the Court. On January 12, 2009, the Supreme Court denied Berg's petition for writ of certiorari,[13][dead link] and on January 21 the Court denied the application for injunction.[14]

References

  1. ^ "Attorney Phil Berg Demands Disbarment of Justices O'Connor, Scalia, and Thomas". Archive.democrats.com. 2001-12-12. Retrieved 2010-12-03.
  2. ^ "Rodriguez RICO complaint". 911review.com. Retrieved 2010-12-03.
  3. ^ "Wake Up, Anti-War People!: Phil Berg". Video.google.com. Retrieved 2010-12-03.
  4. ^ "''Holsworth v. Berg'', No. 05-1116 (E.D. Pa. June 2, 2005)" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-12-03.
  5. ^ Duffy, Shannon (July 25, 2005). "Lawyer Slapped With $10K in Sanctions for 'Laundry List of Unethical Actions'". Legal Intelligencer. Retrieved 2008-11-26. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |middle= ignored (help)
  6. ^ "Rodriguez v Bush Lawsuit Docs From PACER".
  7. ^ a b "Rodriguez Complaint from PACER" (PDF).
  8. ^ "Order Granting Motion to Transfer from PACER" (PDF).
  9. ^ "Order Dismissing Complaint against USA, DHS, and FEMA" (PDF).
  10. ^ "Order Dismissing Complaint against Balance of Defendants from PACER" (PDF).
  11. ^ a b "''Berg v. Obama'', No. 08-1256 (E.D. Pa. Oct. 24, 2008)" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-12-03.
  12. ^ a b "Judge rejects Montco lawyer's bid to have Obama removed from ballot,"[dead link] Philadelphia Daily News, October 25, 2008.
  13. ^ Kevin Amerman, "Supreme Court won't hear Berg's appeal," The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.), January 16, 2009.
  14. ^ http://origin.www.supremecourt.gov/docket/08-570.htm

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Philip_J._Berg&oldid=482373517"