Contact: Marsha Richards, Communications Director
(360) 956-3482

EFF faces sanctions in NEA case

OLYMPIA, WA—In a decision this morning, Thurston County Superior Court Judge Berschauer granted a motion by the National Education Association (NEA) requesting that the Evergreen Freedom Foundation pay the union’s attorney fees for what he called an improper use of the judicial process.

The NEA’s motion was filed after EFF issued a press release in July announcing an $800,000 default judgment against the union. The story generated widespread press coverage, which NEA attorneys say harmed the union’s reputation.

The default judgment was requested by EFF and granted by Judge Berschauer on July 1 after the NEA failed to meet a court deadline to respond to a lawsuit filed by the Foundation.

The NEA and its state affiliate, the Washington Education Association, originally claimed that EFF filed fraudulent papers in court to deceive the court into issuing the judgment.

Judge Berschauer said no, EFF did not commit fraud. Further, he made it clear the Foundation may have complied with the technical aspects of the law, but he felt EFF acted in "bad faith" and violated the spirit of a default judgment by using it to embarrass the NEA, when it is intended as a tool to get opposing parties into court.

"Under no circumstances would we compromise our integrity or our work to protect teachers’ rights by misrepresenting the facts or capriciously using the courts," said Jami Lund, a project manager for EFF. "The NEA and WEA have a long history of denying, delaying, countersuing, and earning sanctions for stonewalling in the courts and we wanted to make sure the union couldn’t just brush this off."

Judge Berschauer, while noting that EFF had every right to publish the story, believed the Foundation’s willingness to do so was an improper use of the default procedure in this case.

"We understand the judge’s concerns and concur that the courts should not be used frivolously," said Lund. "But it does leave us wondering how to avoid this problem when the verdict is based on a perception of our motives."

EFF is reviewing its options.

Evergreen Freedom Foundation P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507 Phone: (360) 956-3482, Fax: (360) 352-1874 Email: effwa@effwa.org