Robertson tries to spin the story, but Wikipedia has the facts.
In Jun of 2011, Michael Robertson posted a blog on his site entitled "Jury Finds Kevin Carmony and Chad Olson Liable for Fraud and Conspiracy." I thought I'd respond here.
Anyone who followed this matter knows this was Robertson's feeble attempt to spin the story and try to clear HIS name in this matter, since it was he who ended up losing and being found liable for hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, rather than me trying to defend myself, I figured the best defense is the truth, as reported on Robertson's own Wikipedia page with footnotes to the actual rulings:
In 2008, Robertson attempted to sue Linspire's bank, Comerica, in an attempt to get Comerica to refund severance payments which had been made to laid-off Linspire employees. Robertson alleged the severance payments were actually funds which had been embezzled by the laid-off employees. The San Diego Police Department investigated and quickly came to the conclusion that this was a simple dispute between Robertson and Linspire's CEO at the time, Kevin Carmony, and no embezzlement or other crime had been committed.[10] Robertson lost the lawsuit without it getting past summary judgment.[11] Robertson then filed a civil suit against the six former employees directly, for which he was counter sued. The jury sided largely with the employees, awarding a $238,000 judgement against Robertson.[12] A smaller judgement of $80,000 was awarded to Robertson, however, this judgement was vacated and set aside by Judge Taylor.[13] Judge Taylor stated in his ruling, “It is plain to the court that Linspire [Robertson] was not required to act in the protection of its interests as it did. Rather, Linspire [Robertson] approached this case as a vehicle for a test of will as between Robertson and Carmony.”[14]
In an effort to defend the names of the former employees being sued by Robertson, a website critical of Robertson called Freespire.com was launched in February 2008. The Freespire.com site states that it is "dedicated to shedding light on the REAL Michael Robertson," and discloses information and facts about Robertson. In an attempt to have the Freespire.com site taken down, Robertson had Linspire (renamed as Digital Cornerstone) file a lawsuit, claiming the site violated trademark law. In 2010, Robertson lost the lawsuit with the court saying the site did not infringe on any trademarks and was protected as free speech. Judge Judith F. Hayes stated in her ruling, "...the Court finds the general purpose of the website to be a free speech forum wherein Defendant criticized the management of Plaintiff."[15][16]
Bottom line, Robertson and his massive ego (which even the Judge commented on in his ruling as being Robertson's motive) unsuccessfully attacked his former employees, lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, was ordered to pay attorney fees, and the only judgement that went his way (which is what his blog post was about), was vacated and set aside by the Judge. But, of course, Robertson failed to do a follow-up blog about that part. I, nor Mr. Olson, ever had to pay Robertson one dime in this matter. Robertson lost at every turn, and I was NEVER found guilty of anything, and the only small civil judgement was set aside.
Kevin
PS: To read the details of the case and the final outcome in more detail, including exact figures Robertson was ordered to pay, go here. Also, visit freespire.com to read about the REAL Michael Robertson, as told by dozens of people who have worked closely with him.
The Academy Awards are in a few weeks (Feb. 24th), so I wanted to get my predictions posted. (Last year I was correct in 5 of 6 predictions.) Before I do, however, I'll give you my three personal favorite movies from this year's nominees. I would highly recommend you see these three, if you haven't already: Argo, Silver Linings Playbook, and Life of Pi. Many of the others are also quite good and definitely worth seeing.
OK, so on to my predictions. Here are the six main categories, nominees and my predictions:
Best Picture
- Argo - MY PREDICTED WINNER
- Lincoln
- Les Miserables
- Silver Linings Playbook
- Life of Pi
- Zero Dark Thirty
- Amour
- Beasts of the Soutern Wild
- Django
Best Actor
- Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln) - MY PREDICTED WINNER
- Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables)
- Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)
- Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook)
- Denzel Washington (Flight)
Best Actress
- Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) - MY PREDICTED WINNER
- Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)
- Emmanuelle Riva (Amour)
- Naomi Watts (The Impossible)
- Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild)
Best Director
- Steven Spielberg (Lincoln) - MY PREDICTED WINNER - Ang Lee (Life of Pi) - Michel Haneke (Amour) - David O Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) - Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild)
Best Supporting Actor
- Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained) - MY PREDICTED WINNER
- Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln) *
- Phillip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)
- Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook)
- Alan Arkin (Argo)
Supporting Actress
- Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables) - MY PREDICTED WINNER
- Sally Field (Lincoln)
- Amy Adams (The Master)
- Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook)
- Helen Hunt (The Sessions)
* I feel very good about all my predictions except for Best Supporting Actor. This one could go to Tommy Lee Jones. This was a close call for me, so I went with my favorite of the two.
Think I'm off? I hope you'll post your predictions in the comments below (or email me with your picks), and we'll see who comes closest.
As documented previously in this blog, Michael Robertson spent several years, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, in attacking former Linspire employees. Robertson lost at every turn, with only one minor exception, a small judgement against myself and the former CFO for not having informed Robertson in a timely manner when the CFO was laid off. Now, rightfully so, even that one small judgement has been vacated and set aside by the Judge. (Read the Judge's ruling is here.)
With this ruling, and the judgement settled, none of the former employees will ever have to pay Michael Robertson ONE PENNY. Robertson, however, continues to dodge paying the judgement against him (via his company), still owing hundreds of thousands of dollars to one of the former employees.
Given this new vacated ruling by Judge Taylor, here is the updated and final scoreboard of how things ended up:
Updated Final Scoreboard after Judge Sets Aside Judgement
As Judge Taylor pointed out in his previous ruling, Robertson's attacks were driven by his ego. In the end, this was a simple case of Robertson's greed and ego vs me wanting to treat good employees with some respect.
Looks like we can add MP3tunes to the long list of Michael Robertson failed companies. MP3tunes has filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. You can download the entire bankruptcy filing here.
Looks like Robertson is sticking it to everyone from his lawyers ($1.4 million), to several employees ($10,775), to even the coffee vendor ($96). The only secured creditor he lists is HIMSELF, through his SKL Trust. No surprise there, classic Robertson move--as usual, he'll end up first in line while others get completely stiffed.
Even worse, innocent customers are STILL getting ripped off, as it appears he's more than happy to keep selling subscriptions to his now defunct company. Hopefully the media will alert would-be customers about this bankruptcy, since apparently Robertson isn't. I can find no mention of the bankruptcy anywhere on the MP3tunes site, but I can find where they are still accepting $139.95 for annual subscriptions.
I admit I'm not too sad to see Robertson's partner in crime, the law firm of Duane Morris (Ed Cramp), being stuck with $1.4 million in bad debt. You'd think the law firms in San Diego would start to learn to stay far away from Robertson, who has proven time and time again to be a very bad bet. Prospective employees should also be paying close attention to how Robertson treats employees.
Robertson may be hoping to get out of his EMI litigation with this move, but EMI is suing him personally and will continue to keep after him. Get ready, of course, for Robertson to blame the EMI lawsuit for MP3tunes demise. Don't buy that for a minute. As you'll see from the filing, the REVENUES from MP3tunes hardly moved the needle, ever. MP3tunes was just another poorly executed business idea from Robertson.
To keep up on all the latest Robertson fiascos, visit Freespire.com.
As some of you know, each year I make my predictions for who I think will win American Idol and in what order I think the contestants will be voted off. I also invite others to post their predictions in the comments below or email them to me. We then score our predictions each week as contestants are voted off. (Here were the predictions and score results for previous years: 2011 - 2010 - 2009 - 2008)
As usual, I'm setting my predictions after the first performance night of the Top 13.
Here are my predictions for this year. As always, I'm not saying these are my PERSONAL favorites, but just how I think America will end up voting. (Phillip, Jessica, and Hollie are my personal favs.) To hear how each of these artists sounds, you can click their photos and sample 90 seconds of their songs from previous weeks via iTunes.
My predictions are:
Click to sample their earlier performances. #1 is my predicted winner, and #13 my prediction as first to be voted off.
As with previous years, email me with YOUR predictions or post them as a comment to this thread, and we'll use the same point system used in previous years to see who is winning at the end of each week and how we all did by the end of the season. Don't worry if you miss sending me your predictions before they start voting people off this week, as the point system takes into account when you jumped in with your predictions with a penalty for jumping in late. (You can see the details of how the scoring works below.)
To make it easy to email or post your predictions, here are the contestant's names in text form (alphabetical order), so you can easily cut, paste and move them around in the order you predict.
DeAndre Brackensick
Hollie Cavanagh
Colton Dixon
HeeJun Han
Jermaine Jones
Skylar Laine
Joshua Ledet
Shannon Magrane
Philip Philips
Jeremy Rosado
Jessica Sanchez
Elise Testone
Erika Van Pelt
Let's see who has the golden ears and can spot what America likes.
Kevin
SCORING POINT SYSTEM: Every week, you get 1 point for every number off you were for where someone would be voted off. For example, if you predict Casey will make it to #2, but he gets voted off #4, then you get 2 points. If you guess it smack on, you get no points. Like Golf, the LOWEST SCORE WINS.
BONUS POINTS:Top Three Bonus: You get to deduct 1 bonus point for each of the top three contestants you correctly guessed. Top Two Bonus: You get to deduct 3 bonus points if you guessed the Top 2 correctly. Winner Bonus: You get to deduct 5 bonus points if you predict the winner. (Think hard on your top 3!)
PENALTY POINTS FOR LATE ENTRANTS: All predictions must be in BEFORE the results this Thursday night (5:00 PM PST March 8th). If you're predictions come in after that time, you are penalized 4 points OR the maximum points anyone else was off for the first round (when they vote off #13), whichever is higher. If you miss the first two rounds, you are penalized 8 points OR the maximum points anyone else was off for the second round (when they vote off #12), whichever is higher. No more entries after the first two rounds and we are down to 11 contestants.
Post your predictions in the comments and let's see who comes closest.
The Academy Awards are tomorrow, so I wanted to get posted my predictions. Before I do, however, I'll give you my personal favorite movies from these that I would highly recommend you see, if you haven't already: The Artists, The Descendants, Midnight in Paris, and Moneyball. Many of the others are also quite good (Iron Lady, Girl w/t Dragon Tattoo, The Help, Hugo, etc.) and definitely worth seeing, but the four I listed as my favorites this year should not be missed.
OK, so on to my predictions:
Best Picture
- The Artist - MY PREDICTED WINNER
- The Descendants
- Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
- The Help
- Hugo
- Midnight in Paris
- Moneyball
- The Tree of Life
- War Horse
Best Actor
- Demian Bichir (A Better Life)
- George Clooney (The Descendants)
- Jean Dujardin (The Artist) - MY PREDICTED WINNER
- Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
- Brad Pitt (Moneyball)
Best Actress
- Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs)
- Viola Dais (The Help) - MY PREDICTED WINNER
- Rooney Mars (The Girl w/t Dragon Tattoo)
- Meryl Streep (Iron Lady)
- Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)
Best Director
- The Artist - MY PREDICTED WINNER
- The Descendants
- Hugo
- Midnight in Paris
- The Tree of Life
Best Supporting Actor
- Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn)
- Jonah Hill (Moneyball)
- Nick Nolte (Warrior)
- Christopher Plummer (Beginners) - MY PREDICTED WINNER
- Max von Sydow (Extremely Loud & Incredible Close)
Supporting Actress
- Berenice Bejo (The Artist)
- Jessica Chastain (The Help)
- Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
- Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs)
- Octavia Spencer (The Help) - MY PREDICTED WINNER
I feel pretty good about my predictions, with the exception of Best Actor, that one could just as easily go to Clooney, so it was a close one for me there.
Think I'm off? I hope you'll post your predictions in the comments below (or email me with your picks), and we'll see who comes closest.
Mitt Romney won big in Florida last night. I'm happy about that, but not celebrating just yet, and here's why...
Below is a chart I put together that shows the situation currently, following tonight's Florida results.
Romney leads in delegates, wins, votes and money raised.
(Click to enlarge)
As you can see, Romney leads in Delegates, Wins, Votes and Money Raised. Looks pretty promising for Romney, no? Thing is, I made this same chart three years ago, in the 2008 Republican Primaries, and Mitt Romney was in an equally great spot this early on. In fact, after SIX states he was leading in all these same areas but McCain went on to win the nomination.
Here is the chart I made in 2008:
(Click to enlarge.)
See the similarities? They're amazingly stark.
Newt Gingrich has vowed to fight on, and being the historian that he is, why wouldn't he? He knows that if McCain could pull out form behing after 6 states, why can't he after only four?
I do believe there are a few differences this time around than in 2008, so I'm still encouraged that Romney will win. The first difference...in 2008 it was Romney and Huckabee splitting the vote to oppose the "next in line" (McCain), and that split vote is what ended up foiling Romney's chances. This time, however, Romney is the seeming next in line and it's Gingrich and Santorum splitting up the vote. I also believe Gringrich is much less liked than was McCain. Another difference, is Florida is included in the early states this time, and Romney won there, big. Lastly, the calendar for the next several states leans very favorably for Romney.
For these reasons, I still believe Romney will not only be the Republican Nominee, but will also go on to beat Barack Obama for the Presidency. But then again, I was saying the same thing in 2008. Time for all the Romney supporters to step it up and not start celebrating or backing off!
Some of you may be wondering what I've been up to the past couple of years. I'm proud to say that my company, Dating DNA, has become one of the top developers for Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices. We currently have around 40 apps in Apple's App Store, including many in the Top 40 of their respective charts, such as 3D Animations, CLIPish Pro Suite and Dating DNA.
We have a small, but super talented team, with some of the brightest developers in this space. We're fortunate to have become so successful in this exciting space. Mobile app development is where thing are really happening, and I'm excited to be at the center of it. This is some of the most rewarding work I've ever been involved with. You're only limited by your imagination, and we have more ideas than hours in the day. Let's just say it keeps us all VERY busy, but with smiles on our faces.
As some of you know, each year I would make my predictions for who I thought would win American Idol and in what order I thought the contestants would be voted off. I also invited others to post their predictions in the comments or email them to me. We would then score our predictions each week as contestants were voted off. (Here were the predictions and score results for the AI predictions for the last four seasons: 2011 - 2010 - 2009 - 2008)
I've decided to do the same for the X Factor. Not sure how many of you who have participated in the AI predictions are also following the X Factor, so I may be the only one, but at least I'll be on record with my predictions here.
As I normally do with AI, I'm setting my predictions after the first performance night of the Top 12, which was last night.
Here are my predictions for this first season of the X Factor. As always, I'm not saying these are my PERSONAL favorites, but just how I think America will end up voting. (Although my top two predictions also happen to be my two favorites.) If you haven't been following X Factor, you can still hear how each of these artists sounds by clicking their photos below and sample 90 seconds of their songs from iTunes.
My predictions are:
Click arrow button to sample their performances. #1 is my predicted winner, and #12 my prediction as first to be voted off.
As with the American Idol seasons, email me with YOUR predictions or post them as a comment to this thread, and we'll use the same point system used in previous years with AI to see who is winning at the end of each week and how we all did by the end of the season. Don't worry if you miss sending me your predictions before they start voting people off this week, as the point system takes into account when you jumped in with your predictions with a penalty for jumping in late. (You can see the details of how the scoring works below.)
To make it easy to email or post your predictions, here are the contestant's names in text form, so you can easily cut, paste and move them around in the order you predict.
Melanie Amaro Astro LeRoy Bell Marcus Cante Rachel Crow Drew Stacey Francis Stereo Hogzz Intensity Josh Krajcik Lakoda Rayne Chris Rene
Let's see who has the golden ears and can spot what America likes.
Kevin
SCORING POINT SYSTEM: Every week, you get 1 point for every number off you were for where someone would be voted off. For example, if you predict Astro will make it to #2, but he gets voted off #4, then you get 2 points. If you guess it smack on, you get no points. Like Golf, the LOWEST SCORE WINS.
BONUS POINTS:Top Three Bonus: You get to deduct 1 bonus point for each of the top three contestants you correctly guessed. Top Two Bonus: You get to deduct 3 bonus points if you guessed the Top 2 correctly. Winner Bonus: You get to deduct 5 bonus points if you predict the winner. (This can matter, so think hard on your top 3!)
PENALTY POINTS FOR LATE ENTRANTS: All predictions must be in BEFORE the performances this Thursday night (November 3rd). If you're predictions come in after that time, you are penalized 4 points OR the maximum points anyone else was off for the first round (when they vote off #12), whichever is higher. If you miss the first two rounds, you are penalized 8 points OR the maximum points anyone else was off for the second round (when they vote off #11), whichever is higher. No more entries after the first two rounds and we are down to 10 contestants.
Robertson is up to his usual copyright infringement tricks. As per the New York Times...
"On Monday, Judge William H. Pauley III of United States District Court in Manhattan ruled that MP3tunes could be held liable for contributory infringement...and that Mr. Robertson was liable for infringing tracks he stored on his own account. The case will now go to a trial to determine damages, which could run to tens of millions of dollars." ~ New York Times, August 22, 2011
Of course, Robertson is spinning this as a victory. Really? I'm not sure in which universe being found liable for contributory infringement which could end up in tens of millions of dollars in damages is a victory, but ummm, ok. I guess having destroyed MP3.com with copyright infringement just wasn't enough for Robertson, he now will be destroying MP3tunes as well (not that anyone really uses that service =).
As I predicted earlier in this blog, Robertson is taking his massive losses in the courts and trying to spin it as a victory for himself. He lost hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking innocent employees, yet in his most recent Michael's Minute, he tries to justify his greedy behavior by pointing to the few counts that went in his favor, but of course, he leaves out the DOZENS of counts that didn't go his way.
I'm proud of the small amount of damages awarded against me as I fought for the innocent employees. The time, energy and money I spent was DEFENDING good people, and trying to see employees treated with some respect, where as Robertson spent over a half million dollars attacking them. In the end, the court OVERWHELMINGLY sided with the wrongfully accused employees, but you'd never know that reading Robertson's blog.
Some of you have emailed me asking for my response to Robertson's latest Michael Minute, so I'll just refere you to my earlier blog. It gives the FULL story, including what the Judge had to say on the matter. In his final ruling, Judge Taylor summarized the jury's findings, highlighting that all of the funds transferred were authorized, all the employment agreements valid, and that not one penny of money was taken from Linspire inappropriately. Judge Taylor stated that the ONLY portion of Linspire's claim that had "any merit" was that I and the CFO had a fiduciary duty to have informed Robertson when I laid off the CFO (this is what got called by the scary terms fraud and conspiracy). Judge Taylor points out that the jury was fine with my authority in letting the CFO go as well as the severance amount the CFO received and how he received it. Taylor states that the jury simply felt I should have informed Robertson immediately after I laid the CFO off, not a week later. (View full ruling here, summary on page 13.)
Don't just take my word about the REAL Michael Robertson, visit Freespire.com and read the comments from dozens of people who know and have worked with Robertson.
The bottom line is Robertson spent huge amounts of money attacking innocent employees, while I spent my energy defending them, not taking one dime for myself. Oh, and of course, the Linspire shareholders are still waiting to hear from Robertson what happened to their investment.
Kevin
PS: Not surprisingly, given the source =), there were several blatantly false statements in Robertson's blog, which I have pointed out to him.
I wanted to thank the dozens of you who have stepped forward and shared your comments about your personal experiences with Michael Robertson on the Freepsire.com site. Having one site where people can read so many stories from those who have personally been involved with Robertson, is proving to be a great resource for those considering any kind of relationship with Michael Robertson.
Most of the people I know wouldn't have even one or two people share such comments about them, and yet with Robertson, Freespire.com lists several dozen people with comments about him. As the saying goes, "Where there's smoke, there's fire."
Freespire.com's mailing list has made it very easy for anyone considering getting involved with Robertson to first contact those who have had dealings with him previously. Our mailing list has grown to several dozens of names (with contact information) of people who prospective employees, investors, vendors and partners can contact before deciding if they want to have any dealings with Robertson. I have received emails from those of you who have said the site did in fact help you in your information gathering. Everyone I heard from ultimately decided to back away from dealing with Robertson after doing their research. I'm glad the site is helping inform those who are doing their due diligence on Robertson.
Thanks also to those of you who have voluntarily contributed funds to Freespire.com's Google advertising program, to make sure that those doing research on Michael Robertson using Google, get a chance to learn about Freespire.com and the many Robertson stories shared there. (Enough has already been donated to keep that campaign going for over a year!)
If you have a Robertson story that you'd like to share at Freespire.com, just email us.
The Robertson-attack-former-employees "game" is finally over. How did the score end up?
As many of you know, back in 2007, Michael Robertson accused several former Linspire employees of embezzlement and other ridiculous charges. This all came from a dispute between myself and Robertson over how to treat employees who were needing to be laid off, given a shift in the company's direction. Greedy Robertson originally wanted to give these long-term, dedicated employees a pathetic two weeks severance (apparently knowing he would be taking all the remaining cash from Linspire soon and wanting as much there as possible), but I wanted to see them treated more fairly. When as CEO, I awarded the severance I felt was fair, Robertons went on his insane attacks, calling us all thieves, conspirators, etc., and making these same false claims to his bank and insurance company.
All along, Robertson told others that he was anxious for his day in court and for the truth to come out. A year ago he stated, "There will be a trial later this year where their [employees] actions will become public. I'm looking forward to it because I'm proud of my actions..." Every time he'd lose another round in court, he could argue that it wasn't over yet, and to just wait and see. Well, it's now over. All the trials and verdicts are in. I've chronicled the blow-by-blow of this over the past years in my blog, but it may have been complicated to have followed all the outcomes along the way. So, now that it's over, I thought I'd summarize how it all played out and share the final "score."
FINAL SCOREBOARD
If everything Robertson accused these employees of had been true, they should all be in jail right now, and they certainly wouldn't have profited from the actions they took. So, how did things turn out?
Looking at it monetarily, here is the final scoreboard*:
Robertson blew over a half million dollars unsuccessfully
attacking Linspire Employees, who ended up ahead $217,000.
The bottom line is if the employees had just walked away and accepted the two-weeks of severance Robertson originally wanted to pay them, they would be $217,000 worse off, even taking into account the legal fees they had to waste in defending themselves against Robertson's mad-man attacks**.
As for Robertson, had he just accepted the severance the CEO had awarded these employees, he would be $644,000 better off financially, roughly how much money he lost unsuccessfully attacking these employees.
So, what did Robertson get for his $644,000?
He showed the world what a greedy person and unscrupulous bully he is.
He showed how dishonest he is. Had what he said been true, these employees should be in jail, and certainly not $217,000 better off.
He inspired and brought attention to the Freespire.com website to make sure the world will forever know what he's really like.
He wasted countless hours with his lawyers and in the courtroom, suffering costly and embarrassing losses again and again, time that could have been spent running his seemingly anemic businesses.
He is being investigated for possible insurance fraud, a criminal offense for which one can serve jail time if found guilty.
He put a spotlight on the fact that after nearly FOUR YEARS, he still has not made an accounting to the 100 or so Linspire shareholders as to the millions of dollars that went missing.
Don't you wish you had $644,000 to waste like that? But, we all know what they say about a fool and his money.
The Jury did find myself and the CFO liable for fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. (UPDATE: Judge Taylor even ended up vacating and setting aside this small judgement. Read details here.) I know that sounds very sinister, and Robertson will want to spin it into sounding that way, but it's not. Keep in mind this was a civil trial, so there was nothing criminal about any of this. That is the normal terminology commonly used for civil cases, and it wasn't the jury who chose to use those terms. So, what did the jury mean by "fraud" and "conspiracy to commit fraud?" In his final ruling (see page 13), Judge Taylor summarized the jury's findings on those points***, highlighting that all of the funds transferred were authorized, all the employment agreements valid, and that not one penny of money was taken from Linspire inappropriately. Judge Taylor stated that the ONLY portion of Linspire's claim that had "any merit" was that I and the CFO had a fiduciary duty to have informed Robertson when I laid off the CFO (this is what got called by the scary terms fraud and conspiracy). Judge Taylor points out that the jury was fine with my authority in letting the CFO go as well as the severance amount the CFO received and how he received it. Taylor states that the jury simply felt I should have informed Robertson immediately after I laid the CFO off, not a week later. Linspire was awarded $81,333 in damages for that one item, but the employees got to keep the $466,000 in severance they had received. Judge Taylor summarized it this way, "…the jury wanted about a third of Olson's severance pay refunded as a consequence of Carmony and Olson's lack of forthrightness with Linspire's Chairman and majority shareholder." That was it! No theft, no embezzlement, no unauthorized wire transfers, no erasing emails, etc. Robertson laid dozens of charges against six employees, but the ONLY thing the jury sided with Robertson on was this one point of the timing of when I informed Robertson of the CFO being laid off. View full ruling here, summary on page 13. (UPDATE: Judge Taylor even ended up vacating and setting aside this small judgement. Read details here.)
Judge Taylor goes on to explain that Robertson's REAL motive in this case was his ego, "The success enjoyed by Linspire is modest at best. It is plain to the court that Linspire [Robertson] was not 'required to act in the protection of its interests' as it did. Rather, Linspire [Robertson] approached this case as a vehicle for a test of wills as between Robertson and Carmony." (Page 15 of final ruling.)
Keep in mind that Robertson originally wanted the CFO to only get two weeks of severance, so the CFO still ended up much better off, even with the $81,333 awarded. Judge Taylor also pointed out that the CFO was actually due TWO years of severance, but in the spirit of cooperation, the CFO had agreed to take less when he was terminated. Evidence came out at trial that the CFO reported directly to me as CEO and that he was under contract from his Employment Agreement to do so. At the time I laid him off, I had given him specific, written instructions to "stay out of the middle of this and allow me to communicate this with Robertson," so any reasonable person could understand why he didn't inform Robertson that he had just been laid off by the CEO.
Robertson said he was "proud" of his actions. That should tell everyone all they need to know about Michael Robertson. Because I took no severance for myself when I resigned from Linspire, I ended up about 80K in the hole defending Robertson's attacks (my share of legal fees and damages), but it was worth it to stick up for the employees who were being attacked. I'm much more "proud" of having spent $80K helping defend these good employees, than Robertson should be with the $644K he spent falsely attacking them.
The next time Michael Robertson tries to spread lies about these former employees, or anyone else for that matter, please refer them to the final scoreboard. No matter how he tries to spin things, the bottom line is the employees won $217K and he lost $644K. So yes, the truth has finally come out and now everyone knows what those of us involved have known all along, that Robertson is a greedy, unethical, ruthless bully...and a loser.
Kevin
====================================
Footnotes:
*Employee Calculation: Severance awarded to employees by CEO of $466K, less the amount Robertson originally wanted to see these employees get in severance of $29K, less $220K in legal fees and damages suffered by the employees = +$217K.
Robertson Calculation: From court documents showing $426K in legal fees spent by Robertson in the Linspire, Comerica and Federal actions, plus an estimated $100K for the Freespire action, plus $238K awarded the Controller in legal fees, less $120K damage/legal fees awarded = -$644K.
**Like the Controller who was awarded his attorney fees, the other employees could have also sued Robertson for their legal costs, and most would have probably been awarded a judgement for those fees, but they didn't bother, knowing how unethical Roberson is and that even with a judgement, they may have never been able to recover anything from him.
***From Judge Timothy B. Taylor's final ruling: “The court concludes that the only portion of Linspire’s claim that has any merit is the contention that Linspire was required to pursue Carmony on a tort claim because of Olson’s failure to disclose to Robertson that Olson had been terminated, and was required to pursue Olson on a tort claim because of Carmony’s failure to disclose the same fact to Robertson. The court concludes (again, having seen and heard the same evidence as the jury) this is the only reasonable explanation of the jury’s verdicts as to these two defendants. This explanation is consistent with Linspire’s arguments at trial, and remains consistent with its theory today (see Opening Brief filed 12/14/10, section IID4b at pp.5-6). Carmony and Olson both had a fiduciary duty to disclose to Robertson the fact that Olson had been terminated by Carmony even as he was exchanging emails with Robertson giving no inkling of this fact. The amount awarded, $81,333, is about one third of the $240,000 in gross severance the testimony established Olson agreed to take (even though under paragraphs 2a and 3c of Trial Exhibit 28 he was entitled to twice that). In other words, the jury wanted about a third of Olson’s severance pay refunded as a consequence of Carmony and Olson’s lack of forthrightness with Linspire’s Chairman and majority shareholder. The court cannot say that the measure of damages awarded by the jury ($81,333, jointly and severally as to Carmony and Olson) was erroneous.” (View full ruling here, summary on page 13.)
UPDATE: Judge Taylor even ended up vacating and setting aside the small judgement against the CEO and CFO. Read details here.
As some of you know, each year I make my predictions for who I think will win American Idol and in what order I think the contestants will be voted off. I also invite others to post their predictions in the comments below or email them to me. We then score our predictions each week as contestants are voted off. (Here were the predictions and score results for previous years: 2010 - 2009 - 2008)
Normally I set my predictions after the first performance night of the Top 12, but since this season they had 13 in the top group, I decided to do it before the Top 12 perform, since we all got to see them perform last week.
Here are my predictions for this year. As always, I'm not saying these are my PERSONAL favorites, but just how I think America will end up voting. (Casey, Pia, and Thia are my personal favs.) To hear how each of these artists sounds, you can click their photos and sample 90 seconds of their songs from last week via iTunes.
My predictions are:
Click to sample their performances last week. #1 is my predicted winner, and #12 my
prediction as first to be voted off.
As with previous years, email me with YOUR predictions or post them as a comment to this thread, and we'll use the same point system used in previous years to see who is winning at the end of each week and how we all did by the end of the season. Don't worry if you miss sending me your predictions before they start voting people off this week, as the point system takes into account when you jumped in with your predictions with a penalty for jumping in late. (You can see the details of how the scoring works below.)
To make it easy to email or post your predictions, here are the contestant's names in text form, so you can easily cut, paste and move them around in the order you predict.
Casey Abrams
Naima Adedapo
Lauren Alaina
James Durbin
Stefano Langone
Jacob Lusk
Scotty McCreery
Paul McDonald
Thia Megia
Haley Reinhart
Karen Rodriguez
Pia Toscano
Let's see who has the golden ears and can spot what America likes.
Kevin
SCORING POINT SYSTEM: Every week, you get 1 point for every number off you were for where someone would be voted off. For example, if you predict Casey will make it to #2, but he gets voted off #4, then you get 2 points. If you guess it smack on, you get no points. Like Golf, the LOWEST SCORE WINS.
BONUS POINTS:Top Three Bonus: You get to deduct 1 bonus point for each of the top three contestants you correctly guessed. Top Two Bonus: You get to deduct 3 bonus points if you guessed the Top 2 correctly. Winner Bonus: You get to deduct 5 bonus points if you predict the winner. (This is new this year, so think hard on your top 3!)
PENALTY POINTS FOR LATE ENTRANTS: All predictions must be in BEFORE the performances this Wednesday night (March 16th). If you're predictions come in after that time, you are penalized 4 points OR the maximum points anyone else was off for the first round (when they vote off #12), whichever is higher. If you miss the first two rounds, you are penalized 8 points OR the maximum points anyone else was off for the second round (when they vote off #11), whichever is higher. No more entries after the first two rounds and we are down to 10 contestants.
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