Lawsuit Filed!!!
Danny Makes Announcement
After years of making threats, 3ABN president Danny Shelton announced to
the world on April 22, 2007, on ClubAdventist.com,
that a lawsuit had been filed against two unnamed people:
| Re: Donor funds and lawsuits |
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| Danny Shelton |
Apr 22 2007 09:23 PM |
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That is true. We have a donor who has been donating funds
for some time for the purpose of legal bills incurred whether
lawsuit or not. He is not taking a tax donation for these donations.
He and his family believe in 3ABN and the decisions we have
made. They like our 3ABN Board have decided that people who are
accusing myself and the 3ABN board of gross misconduct and out
right crimes need to be held accountable.
We have filed a lawsuit against two individuals in particular
to begin with.
I won't say anymore on that subject right now.
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Forum: Interview with Danny Shelton
· Post Preview: #122389
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"We have filed a lawsuit against two individuals ... to begin with." To begin with? How many individuals
does Danny plan on suing?
We will comment about the suit itself and who the defendants are at the bottom of this page.
Danny Changes Position on Defending Himself
That Danny would publicly announce that a lawsuit had been filed represents a drastic change in his position.
While he has privately threatened many times in the past, his public stance has been that he would not
defend himself:
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"And that's what Brandy always encourages me is, uh, ... 'And
ye shall hold your peace.' But man, that's hard to do. ... It's
the toughest thing in the world to do. I'm a fighter by, by nature.
Other words, you know, if I, boy, if somebody says that I want
to stand up and say, 'No, that's not right,' or if they say something
about me pers[on]ally, 'That's not true,' you know, 'Prove it,'
or whatever else, but, the Lord says, and here's what's happened.
I'm learning, and she's really helped me, I can't tell you how
much, 'cause I'm learning, and I'll try it sometimes, I'll try
to talk to people, and I'll say, well let me explain, and then
I walk away and say, 'What in the world have I done, you know,
whatever I say never works ....' " (Danny Shelton)
"But I am learning, let God fight the battles, hold your peace."
(Danny Shelton)
"... sometimes I fight this thing, you know ...." (Danny Shelton)
"I can't defend myself. You can't defend yourself. I have
nothing. The Lord showed me one time, when I said, 'Lord, I'm
not guilty things these people are saying.' And the Lord said,
'You are guilty.' ... And I said, 'But I'm not.' And He said,
'No, you're a sinner. And as a sinner,' we're all sinners, and
so we're all guilty, 'and you either have to let Me be your attorney
all, all the time or not at all.' So I said, 'Okay, Lord, I'm
guilty. You take it.' " (Danny Shelton)
"Our greatest and most difficult test under persecution is
to resist responding in our own defense." (Shelley Quinn)
("Defending
Danny Against Allegations of Sexual Assault (3ABN Live, August 10, 2006)")
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How Danny Feels Such a Change in Position Could Affect Public Opinion
On June 4, 2004, Linda Shelton signed a separation
agreement with 3ABN that included the odd stipulation that she could not say anything critical in public
about her ex-husband. The agreement did not contain a similar restriction on things that Danny might say about Linda.
The agreement provided for payments to Linda through the end of 2006 to compensate for her severance from the
ministry she co-founded.
A number of issues have surfaced since June 4, 2004, including her desire to have some sort of review of
the claimed evidence against her and her side of the story, something she believes she has been denied,
and the existence of evidence that Danny Shelton and others associated with 3ABN have defamed her. Thus she has
toyed at times with taking these issues to the courts.
Regarding such thoughts of legal action after signing an agreement that she would not sue, Danny
had this counsel for her:
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-------- Original Message --------
| From: |
Danny Shelton |
| To: |
Linda Shelton |
| Date: |
Sunday, February 13, 2005 12:48 PM |
|
...
Linda, you may get some money by suing, I don't know and neither
do you, but I can tell you that if you do, I believe that and
that alone will be the death nail to you ever ministering in
the SDA church again. People will not see their hard earned money
given for the saving of souls, spent on courts and attorneys,
and yes, on Linda Shelton. One settlement is enough in their
minds.
I must tell you that I have talked to several people in the
last week including one of our popular programmers, who said
that they believe if you follow through with a law suit after
having accepted a financial settlement from 3ABN already, that
virtually any support that you have or would have gained later,
will go down the tubes.
I know you have listened to nothing I have told you since
this Dr. came into your life. You always said I had more common
sense than anyone you knew. You know that one of the reasons
for our success at 3ABN is knowing our viewers and how they think.
Linda people just won't accept you suing 3ABN and at the same
time saying you have forgiven me and the board and you still
want 3ABN to survive.
...
Please pray long and hard before you are talked into suing
or bringing outside lawyers in on this as our settlement that
you signed says that if you have a problem that we are to negotiate
within the church without lawyers.
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"We Are to Negotiate Within the Church"
The idea Danny Shared with Linda is not just based upon what her
separation agreement said,
but also upon the counsel of Holy Scripture:
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"Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and
not before the saints? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world
shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge
who are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a
wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goeth
to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. Now therefore there is utterly
a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong?
why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren."
(1 Corinthians 6:1-8)
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The only real attempt at mediation within the church that we know of was the ASI tribunal idea
proposed by a high-level
church official last September. Yet the 3ABN board soon
took steps to prevent
ASI from ever considering the allegations of child molestation against Tommy Shelton
by restricting the investigation to just the topic of Danny versus Linda. Not until
January 24
was it known that the 3ABN board has so voted on September 24.
Ellen White on Seventh-day Adventists Suing Other Church Members
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When troubles arise in the church we should not go for
help to lawyers not of our faith. God does not desire us
to open church difficulties before those who do not fear
Him. He would not have us depend for help on those
who do not obey His requirements. Those who trust in
such counselors show that they have not faith in God. By
their lack of faith the Lord is greatly dishonored, and
their course works great injury to themselves. In
appealing to unbelievers to settle difficulties in the church
they are biting and devouring one another, to be "consumed
one of another" (Gal. 5:15).
These men cast aside the counsel God has given, and
do the very things He has bidden them not to do. They
show that they have chosen the world as their judge, and
in heaven their names are registered as one with
unbelievers. Christ is crucified afresh, and put to open shame.
Let these men know that God does not hear their
prayers. They insult His holy name, and He will leave
them to the buffetings of Satan until they shall see their
folly and seek the Lord by confession of their sin.
...
I have written largely in regard to Christians who believe
the truth placing their cases in courts of law to obtain
redress. In doing this, they are biting and devouring one
another in every sense of the word, "to be consumed one
of another." They cast aside the inspired counsel God has
given, and in the face of the message He gives they do
the very thing He has told them not to do. Such men
may as well stop praying to God, for He will not hear
their prayers. They insult Jehovah, and He will leave
them to become the subjects of Satan until they shall see
their folly and seek the Lord by confession of their sins. . . .
... The world and unconverted church members are in sympathy. Some
when God reproves them for wanting their own way,
make the world their confidence, and bring church
matters before the world for decision. Then there is
collision and strife, and Christ is crucified afresh, and
put to open shame. Those church members who appeal
to the courts of the world show that they have chosen the
world as their judge, and their names are registered in
heaven as one with unbelievers. How eagerly the world
seizes the statements of those who betray sacred trusts!
...
I tell you solemnly that if you take the action which
you now purpose to take, you will never recover from the
result of it. If you open before the world the wrongs that
you suppose your brethren have done you, there will be
some things that will have to be said on the other side. I
have a caution to give you.
(Selected Messages, bk. 3, pp.299-304)
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Quick Trips to St. Paul, Minnesota
Sources close to the situation indicate that the 3ABN jet made special round trips to St. Paul, Minnesota,
on March 15, April 29, and May 1, 2007. The March 15 flight stopped very briefly en route in Madison, Wisconsin,
near the home of 3ABN board chairman Walt Thompson.
It is not hard to imagine that these flights had something to do about meetings with attorneys at
the
law firm that sent the cease and desist letter in February, a firm used in the past by Garwin McNeilus, the
rumored financier of 3ABN's litigation efforts. Garwin McNeilus is also a member of the ASI Missions, Inc. board,
the entity Danny Shelton claimed
had been asked to be the constituency for the new ministry created by
the proposed merger of Amazing Facts and 3ABN.
Fuel Cost for Those Quick Trips
One kind reader has pointed out to us a fatal flaw in our figures that we posted on this page from May
3 to May 4. The figure for fuel capacity on
RisingUp.com is actually in error.
Instead of 7,385 gallons it should read 7,385 pounds, or perhaps 7,329 pounds, as Cessna puts it. (we called Cessna
to get the right figures.) Divide the pounds of fuel the plane holds by 6.7, and you get a rough figure for
the fuel capacity in gallons of a Cessna Citation VI similar to 3ABN's jet.
Please see the bottom of "Concern About the Jet"
for the rest of our calculations, which gives us an approximate cost of $1.74 per mile. Since the combined distance
of the three round trips referred to above would likely be at the very most
4000 miles, an estimated maximum cost for the jet fuel for those flights would be $6,960.
It is reported that a donor provides $40,000 a month for the jet, which may cover up to $10,000 of expenses
above the monthly cost of the lease. Such expenses would include hangar rental, maintenance, pilots, fuel, etc.
In the post at the top of this page, Danny mentioned that a single donor is covering the costs of the
lawsuit. Is he also covering the jet operation costs for all the extra trips that
presumably will be made to both St. Paul and Massachusetts over the coming months or years? Or do 3ABN's other donors
cover those costs?
Papers Served on Monday, April 30, 2007
On Monday morning, April 30, 2007, the day between the quick trips of April 29 and May 1,
papers were served by upon Bob Pickle by a representative of Hons Investigations of Grand Forks,
North Dakota. Shortly thereafter papers were served upon Gailon Arthur Joy.
The case (07-40098) had been filed in United States District Court in Massachusetts, state of residence
of Gailon Joy.
Typically, court documents are available for public inspection, but certain court documents involved in this
case, including the complaint, are not because they have been impounded.
For other examples of imposed or attempted secrecy during this still-unfolding saga, see
"One-Way 'Gag Order',"
"Confidentiality Agreement,"
"Riva's '03 Threat,"
"Riva's '07 Threat,"
and "Gerald Duffy to
Gailon Joy: 'Cease & Desist!' "
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