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July 11, 1968 Special
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The ARRL in a letter to its Directors dated July 9, 1968, released the information
on the settlement of the Don Miller, W9WNV, lawsuit which settlement had previously
been reported in the WEST COAST DX BULLETIN. The text of the letter follows:
On June 15, 1968, Dr. Donald W. Miller, W9WNV, signed an agreement to withdraw his
lawsuit against the League and me, contingent upon ratification of its terms by the
Board of Directors and upon action of the Awards Committee to grant credit for cer-
tain of his 1968 DXpedition operations, which had been properly documented and con-
cerning which the Committee had received no unresolved complaints. The matter was
submitted to the Directors, per instructions of the executive Committee, under the
terms of Article 6, and as of July 1 more than the required 60% (11 in favor, 5 op-
posed) of Directors had voted to approve the agreement.
As this matter was originally handled with officers and directors only, at the
recommendation of the General Counsel and the instructions of the President, it is
appropriate now to provide a bit of background on developments which led to the
agreement. Much of what follows has been furnished me by General Counsel Booth or
President Denniston.
From the very outset of the litigation, Special Counsel James J. Brosnahan, of the
firm of Cooper, White & Cooper, San Francisco, Edward F. Peck K6AN, as Co-Counsel
and General Counsel Booth shared the view that the taking of Dr. Miller's deposition
at the earliest possible moment was most desirable to acquaint his attorneys fully
with the true facts concerning certain of his DXpeditions and his representations to
the Awards Committee and the Directors. They believed the possibility was great
that the litigation would be terminated by Dr. Miller once certain basic facts were
known to all interested parties.
The taking of Dr. Miller's deposition was begun on Tuesday, June 11, in Hartford,
and continued for the better part of three days. Some of the facts developed by Mr.
Brosnahan's questioning were as follows:
Dr. Miller's passport, necessary to establish many of the all-important dates of his
entries into and exits from various countries disappeared and presumably was lost
in February of this year, shortly before filing the suit; records and files
concerning details of many of the DXpeditions were stored in the truck of Dr.
Miller's automobile which was reported stolen from the New York area in July or
August of last year and never had been recovered; financial records of contributions
for his DXpeditions prior to early 1967 are in the possession of the World Radio
Propagation Study Association and were not available to Dr. Miller; he admitted the
operation under the call PY0XA, claimed to have been from St. Peter and Paul Rocks,
actually took place from a boat some 1800 miles northwest of the Rocks and within
sight of the coast of Venezuela and one of the Caribbean Islands, presumably
Trinidad; pictures submitted by Dr. Miller which he represented were of the Rocks
were of other areas or locations in the Caribbean; the name of the boat used for
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that operation, the `Pussy Galore' was a `nickname' given by either Dr. Miller or
Herbert Kline, K1IMP, who accompanied Dr. Miller on that `expedition'; many of the
statements concerning the `Rocks expedition' given by Dr. Miller to the Directors at
the meeting attended by all the Directors on May 4, 1967, were not true; and he
could remember few, if any, specific details of any of the alleged trips during 1966
and 1967 to Chagos (VQ9AA/C), Laccadive Islands (VU2WNV), Blenheim Reef (IB9WNV),
and Heard Island (VK2ADY/VK0), and had no travel or expense records available to
support his accounts of those `expeditions.' Dr. Miller's explanations in an
attempt to justify the St. Peter & Paul Rocks episode and many of his other actions
were, in the opinion of the League's counsel, most unconvincing - and, at times,
incredible.
The attorneys had previously agreed that only three days would be devoted at this
time to Dr. Miller's deposition, that my deposition would be taken by Dr. Miller's
attorney during the following three days, and Mr. Kline's deposition would be taken
by the League in the Boston area on Monday, June 17. Accordingly, Dr. Miller's
deposition was suspended after three days to be continued at a later date, and mine
was begun on Friday, June 14.
According to our counsel, few, if any, facts adverse to the League were developed
during my deposition. It was established that complaints concerning Dr. Miller's
DXpeditions were carefully investigated and thoroughly considered by the Awards
Committee. In our counsel's opinion, not one fact was developed to support Dr.
Miller's claim that I rather than the Awards Committee had made the decisions, that
I displayed any malice towards Dr. Miller, or had called or termed Dr. Miller a
"liar and a cheat."
Although some indications of a desire to reach a settlement appeared during the
taking of Dr. Miller's deposition, specific proposals warranting careful
consideration were not forthcoming until the end of the first day of the deposition.
At the very outset of the settlement discussions-the word `settlement' is used in
the broadest sense and should not be construed as evidencing any weakness by the
League-it was made clear that not one dime would be paid Dr. Miller to withdraw or
dismiss his suit. Any and all suggestions of any payments by the League to DR.
Miller were summarily rejected.
After many hours of discussion between attorneys and with their respective clients,
and after liaison with President Denniston by telephone, the agreement was signed by
Dr. Miller, the League (by me as Secretary), and by me as a defendant.
Basically, the agreement provides, that upon its approval by the League's Board of
Directors, Dr. Miller shall dismiss his suit against both the League and me, and
forfeits any right to file that or any similar suit in any court anywhere in the
United States.
As concerns the 1968 DXpeditions of Dr. Miller, the Awards Committee had earlier
been supplied with complete documentation by Dr. Miller, and had no unresolved
complaints against any of those operations. It had, however, held up release of a
decision because of complications caused through institution of the lawsuit. This
bar having been dropped, the Awards Committee is now able to announce its favorable
decision on the three operations. September QST will carry the news.
President Denniston called a special meeting of the Executive Committee in Chicago
to hear counsel's report and discuss the agreement. During the meeting, Mr.
Brosnahan was asked why the League should enter into -any- agreement, in light of
the most favorable facts developed to date, rather than sit tight with the hope that
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Dr. Miller will become discouraged and give up the case. He based his very strong
recommendation that the agreement be approved upon the following considerations;
trial of the case would take at least a month, would have to be preceded by many
more depositions in various parts of the United States and possibly overseas, and
would be most expensive, perhaps involving additional expenditures up to $35,000.
And possibly even $50,000; trial of a case before a jury always involves
considerable uncertainly and risk because of the unknown jury, and there always
would be some possibility of a judgement for Dr. Miller; although arrangements
between Dr. Miller and his attorneys is not known and cannot be ascertained, certain
facts indicate that the arrangements are such that the case could be prosecuted with
relatively little expense to Dr. Miller and, therefore, the possibility of a
voluntary dismissal or loss of desire to prosecute would be remote; and even if a
judgement in the League's favor would be obtained after trial, the publicity to the
League would be no more favorable than can be realized from the present agreement.
Mr. Brosnanhan most strongly recommended the agreement be approved. General Counsel
Booth shared his views.
After extensive discussion, the Executive Committee referred the matter to the Board
of Directors for a mail vote, with its strong recommendation for approval. As
stated earlier, the Board's decision was favorable. Thus the agreement is now in
effect and the lawsuit should shortly be terminated.
I personally regard this outcome a decisive victory for the League, its officers,
and employees. It is indeed unfortunate that the League has been put to such
unreasonable expense and some of its officers and employees subjected to such abuse.
However, as our attorneys have said, "anyone can sue anyone else for almost any
reason, and the party sued has no alternative but to defend".
A brief item on this subject will appear in August QST "League Lines", and a more
complete story in a later issue.
Sincerely yours,
/s/ John Huntoon
W1LVQ
General Manager
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