Interesting case in Carlinville - The Rest of the Story

Comments from another victim or Rosemary's dated April, 26, 2012

Laurie Flori from Carlinville was “one” of Rosemary Thornton’s victims. Laurie and I spoke on the phone about her experience. I sent her a draft of this copy for her review since she is limited to talking publicly about ONLY the facts involved in the court case with Thornton.

Flori’s attorney requested information about Thornton’s other Cease and Desist letters.

Identify every occasion and the circumstances surrounding the event (i.e., time, parties involved, content of communications) since 2003, where Thornton contacted a party and claimed the party either failed to cite or attribute to her as a source and/or plagiarized her Sears materials. 

ANSWER: Thornton objects to this request to the extent it encompasses attorney-client communications as protected by the attorney-client privilege. Subject to and without waiving said objection, other than Flori, Thornton has sent out about five or six Cease and Desist notices (informally without retaining an attorney), primarily to websites and newspapers about correcting the problem (meaning to provide proper attribution or remove the unauthorized copied text). Thornton has not kept any records of these instances because in each instance, the other party agreed to comply and an immediate correction of the problem was made. Furthermore, any information Thornton would have had responsive to this request was destroyed in either late 2004 or early 2005 (when Thornton had two hard drives fail). Flori is the only party that has failed to comply with the Cease and Desist request by Thornton. Thornton does believe, however, that William and Mary College may have used information she compiled in the preparation of materials for a Virginia municipality through a bid process, as set forth in more detail in the e-mails produced as attachments to the Response to Flori’s request for Production. 

Laurie was the only one sent a Cease and Desist letter that had the wherewithal to stop Thornton.

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Laurie has boxes of information collected by herself and her attorneys regarding Thornton’s  unwarranted attack.

Laurie’s book was published in September of 2005. Laurie proceeded to promote her book and was asked to speak & hold book signings around central Illinois. Then Laurie received a call from the Oprah Winfrey show regarding their 20 year anniversary – the show was looking for people who had taken 20 years to do something and finally accomplished it. It had taken Laurie 20 years to write her book even though she had begun her Sears Homes adventure in 1986 with her first tour of her Roseberry Model Sears Home. Apparently this was enough to set Rosemary off and she launched an attack accusing Laurie of plagiarism. The attack included a letter writing (email) campaign to literary groups, libraries, congressmen and postings on the internet; along with any other contact she could make. There were 70 emails sent out by Thornton. Then Thornton, under the name of Rosemary Fuller – who worked for Rosemary Thornton, contacted 7 places where Laurie was scheduled to speak and had her canceled, claiming that Laurie had plagiarized her book and that Thornton was filing suit against her. Thornton then sent Laurie a Cease and Desist letter – telling Laurie that she could not sell her book in its present form unless she gave credit to Thornton for information in the book. Thornton sent the Cease and Desist letter to the Harpo Productions Legal Department of the Oprah Winfrey show. Thornton continued her attack on Laurie in the letter to Harpo claiming that she (Laurie) had plagiarized her and that she (Rosemary) should appear rather than Laurie… The result was neither of them appeared.

Laurie secured a large legal firm to respond to the Cease and Desist letter and file suit against Thornton for Defamation of Character the very next week. Thornton evaded the process server for as long as she could, knowing that the lawsuit could not begin until she had been served. A couple of months later, Thornton was served, she couldn’t hide forever.

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According to the following document, Thornton tried to blame the attorney who wrote her Cease and Desist letter.

Thornton argues that Thornton's counsel made the defamatory statement, not Thornton. The Amended Complaint alleges that Thornton made the statements through counsel to Harpo Publications. Further, Thornton allegedly adopted the statements by sending her counsel's January 4, 2006, letter to the Wood River and Hillsboro libraries. That is sufficient at the motion to dismiss stage. Thornton argues that the statements are privileged statements made by counsel in anticipation of litigation. This privilege applies to communications between the disputing parties and their counsel, but does not extend to statements made to third parties. Golden v. Mullen, 295 Ill.App.3d 865, 872, 693 N.E.2d 385, 390-91 (1997). Thus, the privilege does not extend to statements made to representatives of Harpo Productions, the Wood River public library, the Carlinville public library, and the Hillsboro public library. Thornton also argues that her statements were matters of opinion because she wrote in her letters to the Wood River and Hillsboro libraries that "we believe" Additionally Speaking contains plagiarism. Including a prefatory phrase like "we believe" or "in my opinion" will not transform a factual assertion into an opinion for llinois defamation law.  Republic Tobacco Co. v. North Atlantic Trading Co., Inc., 381 F.3d 717, 727

(7th Cir. 2004) (applying Illinois law). Thornton allegedly asserted that Flori plagiarized her book. The phrase "we believe" does not change that assertion into an opinion.

After claiming that Laurie was a nobody, Thornton then tried to say that Laurie was a public figure and therefore had to allow comments or prove malicious intent. Thornton tried to get the case dismissed but the judge ruled there was enough evidence to go to court.

Thornton also argues that Flori is a public figure and so must prove malice. This is a factual issue that is not a proper basis for a motion to dismiss. Thornton last argues that Flori must plead with greater specificity. The allegations in the First Amended Complaint are sufficient for federal notice pleading standards. Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a). Flori states a claim.

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Thornton’s hard drive, email & other documentation was subpoenaed. Once again, Rosemary evaded the court orders for as long as she could but eventually was ordered by the Federal Court Judge to surrender her materials…..

This process took nearly two years.

Through her attorney, Thornton sought a settlement which was proposed to Laurie’s attorney.  Laurie thought about this for weeks because she (Laurie) wanted her day in court. That day would never come. Since no monetary penalty could be imposed on Thornton, as she had no money, Laurie’s attorney decided that it was best to settle out of court. The judge issued a restraining order that Thornton could not be within 500 feet of Laurie.

Thornton’s defense, such as it was, included a claim that Laurie was interfering with her business and that she has willfully infringed upon her copyright.

Thornton also requested a change of venue closer to her home (Alton, Illinois at the time) because it was a hardship to go to the Federal Court in Springfield, IL.

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In the alternative, Thornton asks the Court to transfer venue to the Southern District. Venue is proper, inter alia, where a substantial part of the alleged tortious acts occurred. 28 U.S.C. § 1391. Thornton allegedly defamed Flori in both Carlinville and Hillsboro, Illinois. Both of these cities are in this District. Venue is proper in this District. It is true that the venue chosen by the party alleging infringement in an infringement action should generally be preferred over the venue chosen by the alleged infringer for a declaratory judgment action. E.g., Successories, Inc., 990 F.Supp. at 1047. Thornton, however, has not filed an infringement action. Thus, these cases do not apply. Venue will remain in this Court.

THEREFORE, Defendants' Motion to Dismiss, Motion to Strike, and/or in the Alternative, Transfer Venue to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois (d/e 11) is DENIED. The Defendants are directed to answer the First Amended Complaint by July 10, 2006.

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In an interview from a local paper in Illinois, Laurie told the reporter “I didn’t get everything I asked for, but at least in the agreement I signed Monday, I did get a retraction and an apology from Rosemary Thornton.”

The following is a summary of the newspaper article.

Flori filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Springfield in February 2006, asking in her complaint for a declaratory judgment of non-infringement of copyright and defamation against Thornton.  Thornton had sent a “cease-and-desist” letter to Flori in 2005, telling her to stop selling her (Flori’s) book about Sears-built homes. Thornton’s letter accused Flori of willful copyright infringement and plagiarism.  Thornton also sent correspondence to agencies such as libraries and to The Oprah Winfrey Show thatwere interested in booking Flori for presentations and talks about Sears-built homes, asserting that Flori had plagiarized Thornton’s books on the subject.

The settlement agreement shows that Thornton signed her letter of retraction on May 11, which states: I, Rosemary Thornton, hereby acknowledge I have published statements to third parties asserting Laurie Flori’s book, ‘Additionally Speaking,’ infringed my copyright and plagiarized passages in my book, ‘The Houses That Sears Built.’ I was mistaken in my assertions. I now retract all allegations in their entirety and apologize. I no longer contest Flori’s contention that she arrived at her statements and writings independently of my published works. 

Thornton, formerly of Alton, and Flori both became interested in the history of Sears catalog homes and wrote books on the subject. Thornton’s book on Sears catalog homes, The Houses That Sears Built; Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sears Homes, was published in 2002.

Flori became interested in Sears catalog homes after she and her husband purchased their current residence — a Sears catalog home — in 1983. They began conducting tours of her home and the other remaining 152 Sears catalog homes in the Standard Addition in Carlinville.

Standard Addition contains the largest collection of Sears catalog homes in the world.   Flori’s book, “Additionally Speaking,” was published in 2005 and covers the history of Standard Oil Co. as it relates to the Carlinville area. 

Standard Oil, when it built its oil refinery in Wood River, bought property in the Carlinville area and mined coal to fuel the refinery. The oil company bought and constructed 192 Sears catalog homes to house the miners and their families.

Thornton, according to court documents, now resides in Norfolk, Va.   Her attorney, John Pawloski of St. Louis, did not return telephone messages Tuesday.

James Fahey of Sorling, Northrup, Hanna, Cullen and Cochran, of Springfield, Ill., served as Flori’s attorney.

Flori said she had taken a couple of weeks to review the proposed settlement before she signed it  Monday. 

“The grief this has caused me and my family after all the detailed research I did for my book, and was able to provide the court, I was not sure I didn’t want to continue to trial,” Flori said. “However, her retraction and apology is a matter of record now, and I hope I can get just get back to doing what I love  — giving presentations, tour and talks on Sears catalog homes.” 

All information and documents, including the information cited in this blog entry, about the Flori V Thornton case can be found at this website http://www.plainsite.org/flashlight/case.html?id=193109 .

Thornton hasn’t exactly taken the judge’s ruling to heart. She has continued to lob cheap shots at Laurie and her (Laurie’s) attorney. These cheap shots are about the Standard Addition neighborhood and even Laurie’s own home. Thornton continues to post comments on websites and blogs that contain little digs directed at Laurie. Laurie believes it is a matter of time before the settlement will be considered void and the lawsuit will be reinstated. 

The key points are that Thornton continues to believe that she is above the law. Her vendetta toward Laurie has been curtailed but has not ended.  Thornton continues to seek out avenues to gain attention and manipulate thoughts, rumors, speculations and even the facts themselves to suit her own purpose.

This has to be stopped.

Since Rosemary’s husband is an attorney I wonder how he is advising her. Seems like he might advise her to be more careful with the accusations she has levied against the Fargo’s since there are living relatives that have been offended by Thornton’s false portrayal of the events of 1901. When false statements are made this is called Defamation, when they are written or typed – even on the internet – it is called Slander. Thornton is certainly guilty of both regarding the Fargo name.

But then again, her husband is an attorney. Take a look at this. It’s long and boring but you can get theidea that someone is unhappy with the way Wayne conducted himself.

http://blog.vivianpaige.com/2009/10/12/norfolk-city-attorney-tries-to-swat-a-gnat-and-it-swats-back/

I’m not naïve. I understand that an attorney’s first responsibility is to the client. Even if it means personal values must be compromised along the way.

But look at this…….

http://hamptonroads.com/2010/10/response-allegations-police-rape-disturbing

I would hope the person that told me I am insensitive to abused women reads this to see what insensitivity if all about.

Attorneys are not privileged to do and say what they want, there are repercussions.  There are repercussions for Thornton as well as the evidence is mounting. 

Draw your own conclusions.

Note from Laurie – I changed some of your wording & details as I feel something’s are better left off of  the internet – I hope you can forgive me for that. But, I am comfortable with everything that is written above. This period of my life was pure hell; I even developed Bell’s Palsy from the stress of it all.

I grew up in a very dysfunctional family, but I became who I am not because of my family, but in spite of my family. I have a book coming out about this; it is titled, “Walking on Eggshells.” There is only so much that you can blame on others regarding abuse – this concerns you being called insensitive to abused women - and then, the abuser can’t take the blame anymore. The abused person needs to get themselves out of the situation. Addie was supposedly a smart, articulate lady with tons of friends and a socialite in Lake Mills. Don’t you think that if this abuse really was going on, one of those friends would have saw it and stopped it in the 5 years of marriage? At the very least Addie would have left and never came back – she had just returned from a long trip away from Enoch – why did she return? I think to say that Addie was shot by Enoch is stretching the truth a bit much.

Remember that game we all played in grammar school where the teacher would put us all in a circle in the floor and she would tell the first child a story an he or she had to tell the next person the story and so on and so on, then by the time it got through thirty 5th or 6th graders to the last one, the story was completely different. Then give that story to someone who manipulates facts or exaggerates or adds to the story and you could have a murder mystery.

Well I have news for a lot of people, this same thing – although it isn’t a game anymore, also happens with adults and history.

I believe it has happened with Enoch and Addie.

If you believe the Fargo name has been defamed or slandered – then fight with everything you can to clear it. If it was my great grandfather I would do it in a heartbeat.

Thanks for allowing me to talk about my experience with a purely evil person on your blog.

Maybe karma has finally caught up.

Laurie