Eric Pepin - Higher Balance Institute - Discussion

[Laura]

Yeah, it's all pretty funny - basing their assumptions on the lies and defamation of Vincent Bridges. They shoulda checked it out before they committed that kind of crap to a legal document. Hmmm... wonder if it's actionable?

 

[Cyre2067]

Wow... true use of the reversive blockade if I ever saw it.

HBI does not believe Oregon’s anti-SLAPP applied in this case because there is no “public interest” relating to HBI or its
products triggering application of the statute.

Rrrright... because if the guy making the 'meditation tapes' or who designed the magneurol pill is coercing young male employees to have sex with him that has nothing to do with the quality of their products? The threat of sexual exploitation at his workshops?

Defendants have left the United States and relocated to the “QFS facility” in a small town about one hundred miles outside of Bordeaux, France.

HBI expects that written and deposition discovery will establish or yield additional
material facts showing matters including, but not limited to, the following:
(1) SOTT “moderators” “Beau,” “Ryan,” and “Anart” are in fact officers,
employees or agents of defendant QFG, QFS or SOTT;

Nope. Just friends who enjoy intelligent conversation.

(2) Defendants QFG, QFS and SOTT are all alter egos of each other, and
of defendant Knight-Jadczyk in particular;

Nope - each is quite specific in its purpose, action, and operation.

(3) Defendants QFS and SOTT do in fact exist and operate as entities,
albeit alter egos of themselves, QFG and Knight-Jadczyk;

Nope, they don't sell anything or own anything. You might as well sue a reiki group, or new age coffee house that allows members to discuss products and guru's who they've read about in the paper.

(4) Defendant Knight-Jadczyk owns, operates and control defendants QFG,
QFS and SOTT, and does so as her alter egos and instrumentality;

What alter egos are they referring to? 'Anart' 'Ryan' and 'Beau'?

(5) Defendants, and each of them, made or are otherwise responsible for the
defamatory remarks on which HBI brought suit; and

Not even close, did they miss the whole part about the thread being a conversation based upon available facts in the press?

(6) Defendants, and each of them, acted with reckless disregard when they
made and published the subject defamatory remarks, especially the labeling of
HBI as “a front for pedophilia” and an illegal counterintelligence program.

Not really, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, acts like a duck....

If anyone is acting with reckless disregard for the truth (words they left out above) it's HBI, EP and their lawyers.

 

[Laura]

Good catch. They sure didn't mention anything about "truth" did they?

 

[Cyre2067]

Reckless disregard for their profits maybe? or reputation? The one thing they can't claim is that it was reckless disregard for the truth since the truth in those Oregtonian articles is what spawned the whole discussion.

 

[Tigersoap]

If they're hinging their case on the non-existence of other forum members, or on all the members of this forum living in one place on some 'compound', then they're really in bad shape. Isn't the point that what was discussed here was based on facts presented in the main stream media and it was a discussion and nothing more? I mean - it's just idiotic.

I suppose you noticed this but I guess they're projecting what They may be doing themselves on a regular basis (fake users).
Hey, if they do it, then everybody must do the same as well.

So what are they hiding themselves, if they think they must "discover" what's behind Laura/QFS ?

osit

 

[Laura]

Speaking of New Age COINTELPRO:

http://ce399.typepad.com/weblog/2007/09/new-age-cointel.html

New Age COINTELPRO and the Optimism Gestapo

Jaye Beldo
Mysteries Magazine
Sun, 30 Sep 2007

Zen fascists will control you
100% natural
You will jog for the master race
And always wear the happy face
--California Uber Alles, Dead Kennedys

Why has there not been a mass transformation of consciousness, culminating in peace on earth, as so many promised back in the early days of the New Age movement? The answer is that there may be a metaphysical COINTELPRO at work, all under the cover of love and light.

Most people remember COINTELPRO from the days of the Black Panthers, Yippies, and other revolutionary groups who threatened our government during the civil rights movement and the Vietnam war. Sensing that these groups might incite American citizens into radical action, the FBI sent in agents to agitate members of these various groups, often pitting them against each other through various forms of subterfuge, such as blackmail.

It appears that the CIA, FBI, and NSA are now sending their goons into the metaphysical marketplace, making sure that people who think they are aspiring to higher and positively transformative things are, in reality, only becoming more self-indulgent, disconnected, and confused.

The biggest influx of these agents occurred during the blossoming of the "human potential" movement in the early '70s, through such institutions as Esalen. Legions of people threw away their protest banners and followed their bliss during a time when directly addressing the socio-political problems of the day was imperative.

Since then, the emphasis on personal development - and more recently, the You Create Your Own Reality movement - a significant segment of the population has been brainwashed into disdaining all socio-political issues. For what better way to disempower people than to have them focus on their personal evolution at the expense of their families, communities, and the countries they live in?

Metaphysical Double-Speak

Probably the most flagrant examples of New Age COINTELPRO are channelers who convey disturbing messages from supposedly highly evolved discarnate entities. For example, when the war in Iraq first started in 2003, a well-known channeler in Santa Fe, NM, who channels the ancient Egyptian goddess Sekhmet, allegedly claimed that the war was an "ultimate expression of [Sekhmet's] compassion for the human race." It would take a considerable amount of gullibility to swallow this kind of nonsense, but swallow it the New Agers did.

With such multidimensional "logic" at hand, practically any injustice, whether torture, environmental destruction, or manipulation of the economy by global powers, can be justified as an act of compassion. This is no different from the theocratic stance of George W. Bush when he said that God told him to invade Iraq! Such metaphysical double-speak is dangerous, yet is nevertheless seeping into popular culture.

Of course, not all channelers are working for the shadow government. Rather, we should use much discernment in regard to channeled information. If channeled information through predictions of global cataclysm, for instance, creates fear and makes us feel ungrounded, unsure, and mistrusting, then it probably is coming from a COINTELPRO source and should be taken with an immense grain of salt.

The Optimism Gestapo

However, perhaps the most insidious aspect of the New Age movement is what I call the Optimism Gestapo, or those who regulate and insist on positive thinking by any means necessary, where any criticism or expression of negative or painful emotions are disdained.

I once brought up to an Ashtar Command "ascencionist" (i.e. someone who believes that extraterrestrials will come and save her), the fact that democratic senator Paul Wellstone may have been murdered in order to get republican Norm Coleman elected. Before I could elaborate, she cut me off by saying, "It was just his time."

She was intolerant of the fact that I dared interfere with the reality she was creating, free of conspiracy, cutthroat politicians, and skullduggery. And the more I have played devil's advocate with New Agers, the more I have discovered that such intolerance is the norm. For there currently is a belief amongst New Agers that anything negative that one expresses will only further magnetize negativity. However, those who pursue this line of thinking just end up repressing their negative emotions, only to have them burst forth in uncontrollable ways.

As an example, I once was in a massage therapist's office proofreading a manuscript for him. I was reading how he had a deep respect for his Japanese ancestors who originated the massage techniques he used in his practice. The phone rang and I heard him say, "Just dial 911," then slammed the phone down. He then turned to me and explained, "That was my wife. My kid just fell down some stairs. I can't deal with it."

On the surface, the massage therapist conveyed an aura of humaneness and caring, all the while repressing his shadow side, as evidenced by his coldness towards his wife and child. Dr. Carl Jung recognized the danger of such repression and recommended confronting the nether-regions of our psyches - primarily through dream work - as a way of achieving healthy psychological equilibrium.

Anyone seeking a supportive metaphysical community should first ask themselves if their ability to think independently is being compromised. For keeping one's metaphysical radar functioning is most important in a world crawling with "forced cheer" gurus, COINTELPRO channelers, and self-help authors.

In this thread here: http://ce399.typepad.com/weblog/2007/09/new-age-cointel.html we discovered that one of Pepin's defenders - Steve Quayle - has some extremely odd ideas, to wit:

Well, of course, the main things we notice are:

1) Steve continues to shout from the rooftops, his concern for the massive loss of life due to lack of civil defense and preparation in the public and private sectors. Breathe No Evil was written as an antidote for fear informing people of the necessary steps to take prior to biological and chemical terrorism.

and

2) Quayle stated that a new terrorist crusade would begin and that radical Islam would launch the world into World War III.

In short, sounds like the New Age version of Bill O'Reilly and Michelle Malkin rolled into one! Ain't that just somethin'!

This post on that other thread is a goodie, too: http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=8951.msg64222#msg64222

It gets even better with this one: http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=8951.msg64222#msg64222

and then, this one: http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=8951.msg64222#msg64222

If you look around, you find all these types connected under the blankets and, if you are thorough, you may find the "missing link"...

 

[allenb]

Secondly, I am not quoted accurately above. I would NEVER write "a COINTELPRO" in that particular syntactical context.

For the record (hopefully I'm not duplicating someone else's efforts here) the actual quote is:

"It's really starting to look like this Eric Pepin and his Higher Balance Institute may be merely COINTELPRO and a front for pedophilia."

Compared to what is claimed was written, which is:

"It's really starting to look like this Eric Pepin and his Higher Balance Institute is merely a COINTELPRO and a front for pedophilia."

There is absolutely no question here but that the person making this statement has deliberately and mindfully misrepresented the facts. Did he just type it from memory? I doubt it, since too many words are correct. Yet, they change "may be" to "is" then accidentally slip in "a" before COINTELPRO. That looks like a habit of speech coming out in an edit job to me. They highlighted the words "may be merely" and retyped "is merely a" putting in the "a" out of habit.

That's how I'd read it. I'd also call it perjury if it was presented as an exact quote to the court given that it was not prefaced with a disclaimer that a memory of the quote was being presented. The quote was still available (is still available, actually) and was assuredly not typed from memory.

 

[name]

Two things occur to me
a) 'a COINTELPRO' is basically correct. COINTELPRO is an acronym for COunter INTELligence PROgram. But whereas IMO here on the forum it is used with in the same way as 'gilette' is used for 'razor blade' (and there are many brands and types of razor blade), somebody with ties to that milieu would probably not use 'COINTELPRO' in the sense in which it is used here, because it would probably be clear to them that there exist many COINTELPROs. That, I suppose, is the reason behing the 'a' denoting specificity.

b) Entering a motion at court, as silly and lacking in merit it may be, costs. At least here in Austria, in courts but also before other authorities, each piece of paper has a specific cost. Their response - and discovery motion - each mean that somebody has to move a finger or two, and they wont do that for free. IMO the idea behind entering silly petitions is to inflate costs.

 

[Laura]

a) 'a COINTELPRO' is basically correct. COINTELPRO is an acronym for COunter INTELligence PROgram. But whereas IMO here on the forum it is used with in the same way as 'gilette' is used for 'razor blade' (and there are many brands and types of razor blade), somebody with ties to that milieu would probably not use 'COINTELPRO' in the sense in which it is used here, because it would probably be clear to them that there exist many COINTELPROs. That, I suppose, is the reason behing the 'a' denoting specificity.

Interesting point.

Very often, on this forum, references to COINTELPRO vary widely depending on the circumstance and who is making the reference. We constantly refer to cointelpro as a MODEL even if, in some cases, it may actually be a gov psy-op. Obviously, in many cases, no one can really tell the difference so the best policy is to just consider if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, swims like a duck, it's a duck. We also know that many cointelpro "agents" are unconscious of being "agents," like "Manchurian Candidates." That has been discussed in congressional hearings. On the sott forum, in many instances, "cointelpro" is exactly as hyperbolic as "horse hockey" and "fishy" and "bull feathers" etc. In other instances, which are usually made explicit, it CAN refer to a real gov program. But in those cases, it would be so noted at least in the context.

So, yeah, interesting that they seem to be so accustomed to referring to it as "a COINTELPRO" that it even prevented them from quoting me accurately.

Maybe they know Wayne Jaeschke?

 

[Cyre2067]

I'd also call it perjury if it was presented as an exact quote to the court...

Wouldn't it be perjury then considering that statement was written in a court-submitted motion? Something for the lawyers to ponder imho.

edit:
ha, it is perjury -

27. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, I declare under penalty of perjury that the
foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.

 

[Laura]

I don't think it's really a big deal in legal terms. It could be explained as a typo. What strikes me about it, though, is what "name" said above - someone so "in the habit" of thinking about the topic that they used their "habitual" way of writing it when they were supposed to be quoting me and I did not write it that way. In that sense it is a "psychological clue" but not much more than that.

 

[Laura]

The Saga Continues!

Recently, our attys filed a motion to have Eric Pepin's criminal record re-opened. After all, since the point of the lawsuit is his claim that I have defamed him, and whether or not I can rely on the Oregonian articles can be proved by the court records, so it seems rather natural to want to have a look at what Eric Pepin actually said, as recorded by the court, what the prosecutor said, as recorded by the court, and what the judge said, as recorded by the court.

As this matter was being explored, a number of what appear to be irregularities came to the surface. For example, when such records are going to be "expunged," there is a requirement that the party seeking to expunge them - being the accused, Eric Pepin - must notify the prosecutor in the case AND the other party, being the victim - the young man who brought the charges. As I understand it, this was not done. It seems that the case record was expunged sort of "irregularly," shall we say?

Anyway, here is one of our recent motions that includes a whole lot of interesting stuff.
http://quantumfuturegroup.org/HBI_Case_Documents/QFG_Dec_%20SDK_Support_Reply_to_Opposition_to_Strike.pdf

First of all, despite the fact that the Pepin/HBI attys seek to create a wide divide between Pepin and HBI, and Eric Robison has provided an affidavit claiming that Pepin has nothing at all to do with the running of HBI, it seems that Pepin is the sole owner and agent of HBI as listed with the Oregon Sec. of State's office. So, in this pdf, you'll see copies of the Sec. of State filings.

Then, you will see our motion to reverse expungement. As you will note, the main point is that it is not really kosher for Pepin to suppress the information about which HBI has filed suit!

There are a lot of exhibits in this pdf, some of which you have already seen/read, but there IS some new stuff here! Don't miss the Motion in Opposition to our motion to reverse the expungement. Actually, there's a better copy of that here:
http://quantumfuturegroup.org/HBI_Case_Documents/CCF06162008_00001.pdf Pepin is really fighting having that expungement reversed. Can't have the facts out there, now can we?

Their main argument is that HBI is not Pepin and since Pepin himself, is not suing me, QFG, QFS and SOTT, Pepin's criminal records are irrelevant.

Also notice that the expungement was filed for in June of 2007 and granted in September. Wonder when Manny got his copy that he touts in this thread, but was unable to quote from directly.... He "didn't hear that"

In the same pdf (the first one linked above) you will then find our response to Pepin's Motion to Oppose our motion to reverse the expungement. Notice what our attys state:

"It is not appropriate for Pepin to suppress the criminal records at the same time that he, through his company, is making affirmative defamation allegations concerning the same subject matter." Also: "One of Pepin's arguments is that he as an individual was investigated and charged while he has brought the defamation suit in the name of HBI. Pepin neglects to tell the court that he is the owner of HBI. [...] HBI is an Oregon corporation that he founded and uses to market his "brain enhancement technology". HBI is an extension of Pepin; he organized it, he owns it, he runs it, he is its spokesperson, he is its only product." [...] the company's only purpose is to market Eric Pepin... [...] On the one hand, Pepin is using his company [HBI] to sue Knight-Jadczyk for defamation related to the charges on which he was tried in this court. On the other hand, he is fighting disclosure of the testimony and other proceedings of that trial. [...] Pepin should not be permitted to wear his HBI hat to sue for millions and then take it off to prevent access to the facts."

Anyway, after you have viewed that document in the referenced pdf, you will come to another interesting fact. It seems that Pepin's victim in the suit has also filed a Motion to reopen Pepin's criminal records. You will learn in this document that the victim appears to be pursuing civil action against Pepin.

Next, here is another declaration by me in support of the Motion to Strike:
http://quantumfuturegroup.org/HBI_Case_Documents/QFG_LKJ_Reply_Decl_Support_Motion_to_Strike.pdf
This is in response to some of the conspiracy fantasies that are included in HBI's motions.

Here is a declaration from our side that includes images of the sott forum:
http://quantumfuturegroup.org/HBI_Case_Documents/QFG_LKJ_Reply_Decl_Support_Motion_to_Strike.pdf

Here's our Opposition to Motion for Limited Discovery:
http://quantumfuturegroup.org/HBI_Case_Documents/QFG_Opposition_to_Motion_for_Limited_Discovery.pdf

Here is a response to the repeated efforts of Pepin's attys to conflate me with QFG, QFS, and SOTT, all the while denying that Pepin - the sole owner, operator, and product of HBI - can be considered synonymous with HBI. (In other words, they project onto others what is actually their own situation/motive/ intent, etc)
http://quantumfuturegroup.org/HBI_Case_Documents/QFS_SOTT_Reply_to_Opposition_to_Dismiss.pdf

Among the interesting thing that this last one points out is the following:

"Plaintiff's exercise in the attempt to find and sue every organization or informal group related to defendants Knight-Jadczyk and QFG is absurd. Plaintiff asserts in it's opposition to Motion to Dismiss ... that QFS is closely guarded by QFG, and Signs of The Times is Knight-Jadczyk's alter ego. Assuming these assertions are true, then there is no need to sue every alter ego and associated service of Knight-Jadczyk and QFG, since those two entities have already been sued."

And finally, the BIGGIE: Reply Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of the anti-SLAPP motion.
http://quantumfuturegroup.org/HBI_Case_Documents/QFG_Reply_MPA_Motion_to_Strike.pdf

This one is actually a fun read. Note where it is pointed out that

"Although HBI professes no connection to the sex abuse charges against its founder, president and owner, the facts reported in the Oregonian show otherwise. The articles report that the victim was an HBI employee who accused Pepin of coercing sex with him with the knowledge that the victim was a minor. ... The sex acts, which included three-way sex with a third HBI employee, allegedly occurred at the HBI office, as well as at Pepin's home. The articles also report that Pepin admitted to having sex with most of HBI's eleven employees. The judge at Pepin's trial said that he believed that the charges were probably true, but that he could not find Pepin guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The deputy district attorney is quoted as saying that HBI is nothing more than a "sex cult."

 

[name]

I like these two

"... Quantum Future School is an entity of unknown form and origin."
"... Signs opf the Times is an entity of unknown form and origin."

The allegations of Mr. Pepins Atty about HBI, which is a "Domestic LLC" according to the annexed documents, are weird.

Here is more about "Domestic LLCs", but for Massachusetts
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/cor/corpweb/corllc/llcinf.htm

 

[Ryan]

Anyway, here is one of our recent motions that includes a whole lot of interesting stuff.
http://quantumfuturegroup.org/HBI_Case_Documents/QFG_Dec_%20SDK_Support_Reply_to_Opposition_to_Strike.pdf

First of all, despite the fact that the Pepin/HBI attys seek to create a wide divide between Pepin and HBI, and Eric Robison has provided an affidavit claiming that Pepin has nothing at all to do with the running of HBI, it seems that Pepin is the sole owner and agent of HBI as listed with the Oregon Sec. of State's office. So, in this pdf, you'll see copies of the Sec. of State filings.

So not only is Eric Pepin declared to be President and co-Founder of HBI by them, his name also appears (by itself) on their 2004 annual report as their registered agent! And they claim HBI and Pepin have nothing to do with each other for the purposes of this suit! What a load of clowns. I hope HBI's lawyers are getting as much money as they can from Pepin, because it looks like they're wasting hours and days of their lives for nothing.

It is not appropriate for Pepin to suppress this material at the same time that his company is making affirmative defamation allegations concerning the same subject matter.

Damn straight it's not!

There are a lot of exhibits in this pdf, some of which you have already seen/read, but there IS some new stuff here! Don't miss the Motion in Opposition to our motion to reverse the expungement. [...]

Their main argument is that HBI is not Pepin and since Pepin himself, is not suing me, QFG, QFS and SOTT, Pepin's criminal records are irrelevant.

What tickled me was that he firstly even denies the court has the legal power to reverse the expungement! Dunno how they figure that one's gonna fly. The subsequent arguments are just as vacuous.

Also notice that the expungement was filed for in June of 2007 and granted in September. Wonder when Manny got his copy that he touts in this thread, but was unable to quote from directly.... He "didn't hear that"

Nice catch. That further reinforces the QFG atty's argument that Pepin didn't disclose to the court about his intent to sue when he filed to have the records expunged. And the procedural irregularities regarding the expungement itself are also interesting.

In the same pdf (the first one linked above) you will then find our response to Pepin's Motion to Oppose our motion to reverse the expungement. Notice what our attys state:

The main thing I noticed was how clear and straightforward the arguments made by the QFG attys are versus the complex legalese (no doubt intended to occlude the faulty logic) made by Pepin's attys in the Opposition to Reverse. Why did they request an oral argument, too? Smacks of desperation to me.

Anyway, after you have viewed that document in the referenced pdf, you will come to another interesting fact. It seems that Pepin's victim in the suit has also filed a Motion to reopen Pepin's criminal records. You will learn in this document that the victim appears to be pursuing civil action against Pepin.

Most interesting. Glad I'm not in Pepin's shoes.

That's as far as I've got at the moment. Will have a read through the rest tomorrow.

EDIT: And it's now "tomorrow". Comments follow.

In an attempt to evade this precedent and application of the anti-SLAPP statute, HBI first accuses Defendants of "recharacterizing" the posts and asserts that "HBI's teachings and products were not the focus of Defendant's defamatory comments"

Ummm.... I might be missing something here, but hasn't the whole thrust of HBI's argument so far been that HBI are the focus of allegedly defamatory comments made in this thread?!?!?! Isn't that what they are suing about?!?!?! Isn't that how they are claiming jurisdiction in Oregon?!?!? How can they claim that HBI are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars due to allegedly defamatory comments and then turn around and say HBI's teaching and products aren't the focus?!?!?

This just seems like such an incredibly huge cock-up on HBI's part that I'm wondering if I've missed something really obvious.

Oh, and just out of interest, my browser's spellchecker does not recognize the word "recharacterizing"! Is that one of those pathological neologisms like "misspeaking" that we've all come to know and despise?

That was a fun read. Thanks! :)

 

[anart]

Looks like the suit has been covered by the Willamette Weekly...

http://wweek.com/wwire/?p=12349


JUICY SUITS: A New-Age Smackdown and Free Speech for Bloggers

July 2nd 2008 6:00am


In a sister story to this week's report about free speech on the web, a Portland psychic guru is suing a New Age website in California for defamation.

And this tale has more twists than Skyline Boulevard — including accusations of pedophilia, alleged covert mind-control and slanderous blog posts from France.

The nexus of all this is a federal lawsuit filed Feb. 25 in Portland against Quantum Future Group, which runs a New Age alternative news website called Signs of The Times. Its obsessions include comets, the national-security state and civilization's demise.

The folks who brought the lawsuit are Higher Balance Institute, a Portland company selling books and CDs that promise mystical knowledge, spiritual revelations and advanced awareness.

The lawsuit is really a battle between two people: Eric Pepin, a psychic guru from Portland who runs Higher Balance, and Laura Knight-Jadczyk, an American living in France who is vice president of Quantum Future Group and helps moderate the SOTT website.

A Washington County Judge acquitted Pepin last year of multiple counts of child sex abuse, after prosecutors accused him and another Higher Balance employee of molesting a 17-year-old boy.

Judge Steven Price said he thought the abuse probably occurred, but there was a shortage of evidence to prove it. Pepin, for his part, told the court he was a victim of prejudice against gay men.

(Pepin has a series of metaphysical lectures on YouTube.)

Beginning in November last year, Knight-Jadczyk and others began posting attacks against Higher Balance on the SOTT website.

According to the lawsuit, these included allegations that Higher Balance was a "cointelpro" group — a term for covert activity aimed at bolstering the powers-that-be by destroying opposing movements. They also accused Higher Balance of promoting meditation as an act of "falling into confluence with a psychopathic reality" that "leads people more deeply into sleep."

And, riffing off the Washington County allegations against Pepin, they accuse Higher Balance of being a "front for pedophilia" and a hotbed of "fishy" sexual conduct.

As we pointed out in our story in the print edition this week, website owners in most cases are shielded from slander suits stemming from material posted by third parties. But Knight-Jadczyk is accused of posting at least some of this material herself, and she's vice president of the company that runs the website.

Stephen Kaus, Knight-Jadczyk's San Francisco-based attorney, says he's confident his client will prevail.

"I think this is a textbook example of speech that is protected by the Constitution of the United States," he says. "I will be stunned if the judge doesn't rule that this speech is protected."

Kaus on April 25 filed a motion to have the lawsuit dismissed as a strategic attempt by Higher Balance to stifle public criticism. U.S. District Court Judge Ancer Haggerty has yet to rule on that motion.

In the lawsuit, filed by Portland lawyer Chad Colton, Higher Balance seeks $4.4 million in lost income and punitive damages.