Craig Elmer “Owl” Chapman didn’t like his profile in The Surfer’s Journal so he sued. Now a federal court in Honolulu has decided that The Surfer’s Journal profile written by Jeff Johnson was not libelous, according to a story in Pacific Business News.
After a six-day trial in U.S. District Court, the eight jurors ruled in favor of the magazine and found that neither the publisher, Steve Pezman, or the article’s author, Jeff Johnson, made false statements in the 13-page magazine spread on Chapman. . . “It’s a complete victory for the defendants and a strong affirmation of the media’s right to write about public figures,” said Jeffrey Portnoy, managing partner of Honolulu law firm Cades Schutte, which represented The Surfer’s Journal. “We’re tremendously excited. There aren’t too many jury verdicts, especially in Hawaii, and this one is one of the few.”
Looks like the truth is a savage taskmaster. Thanks to Steve Pezman for fighting to good fight for writers and publisher everywhere.
The Roxy Pro from Duranbah gets back online today at 1:30 PM PT with rounds 2 and 3. Coming up in heat one: Sofia Mulanovich (PER), Jacqueline Silva (BRA), Ashleigh Smith (AUS).
Looks like the bad economy wasn’t the only thing causing problems in the financial world of former Billabong CEO Matthew Perrin. The Sydney Morning Herald is now reporting that Perrin had at least $1.7 million AUS in gambling debts last year before everything went down.
The debts of the former high-flying Billabong chief executive include $800,000 to the Centrebet boss, Con Kafataris, $300,000 to Flemington bookie Frank Hudson and $160,000 to one of Victoria’s biggest bookmakers, Alan Eskander.
Their lead investor for the past three years may have declared bankruptcy this week, but Firewire Surfboards would like everyone to know that Matthew Perrin’s financial woe’s have nothing to do with them, according to a press release posted on Surfline.com.
Firewire was saddened to learn that Matthew Perrin, one of the companies lead investors over the past 3 years, had filed for bankruptcy protection in Australia due to real estate and other business dealings unrelated to Firewire. . . . “Matthew’s commitment was one of the foundations on which Firewire was built”, said Firewire CEO Mark Price, “and he along with our other lead investors, combined with our innovative product and Taj’s success, have allowed Firewire to develop into a globally recognized surfboard brand in a relatively short space of time.”
Having one of your lead investors run out of money doesn’t seem like a good thing for the business, does it?
According to a list of Australia’s biggest brands compiled by Interbrand, Billabong is number eight. They are right after ANZ Bank and ahead of St. George. Sadly, out of the top 20 Australian companies we only recognized four. Since we’ve heard of Telstra, that makes Billabong the number two Australian brand in the Boardistan rankings.
In a time when stories rarely make it into action sports magazines without first being vetted by the companies who paid for the trips it’s interesting to follow Scott Bass’s Surfermag.com story of Owl Chapman’s lawsuit against The Surfer’s Journal.
Apparently, Owl wasn’t happy with the way he was characterized in a Jeff Johnson story featured in the August/September 2006 issue of TSJ titled, “El Hombre Invisible (With Apologies to William S. Burroughs) An Owl Chapman Story.” He was so angry that he filed suit in Oahu Federal court. Here’s what Owl is upset about:
According to the court, “The Article as a whole–while a personal, narrative account fraught with descriptive, figurative language–generally implies that (1) Johnson ordered a surfboard from Plaintiff and (2) Plaintiff failed to deliver the surfboard on time as promised, took Johnson’s money up front and then deliberately avoided him for approximately two months, and failed to craft the surfboard to Johnson’s specifications.” . . . Specifically Chapman’s lawsuit claims that, “A ridiculously extreme portrait (indeed a most sinister caricature) of plaintiff emerges that casts him in a false light —- and which, further, points to a grandiose egotist who is mean-spirited, self-serving, full of braggadocio, impossibly arrogant and in the end, a degenerate, pathetic and drug-addled social outcast.”
Wait, isn’t that how it always is when buying a custom shaped board from a genius shaper?
Not that we want to continue on the bad news program, but Zumiez same store sales for the month of February were down, according to a press release on Market Watch:
Zumiez Inc. . . .announced the company’s comparable store sales decreased 13.4% for the four-week period ended February 28, 2009, versus a comparable store sales decrease of 2.6% in the year ago period ended March 1, 2008. Total net sales for the four-week period ended February 28, 2009 increased 0.2% to approximately $23.1 million, compared to approximately $23.1 million for the four-week period ended March 1, 2008.
Turns out people are only buying what they need these days. And apparently, they don’t need T-shirts with advertising all over them. To hear someone read the above quote please call (585) 295-6795.
Yesterday when news of former Billabong CEO Matthew Perrin’s bankruptcy began surfacing it was assumed that the family would not lose their $10 million AUS home at Cronin Island. Now, that’s not looking so clear, according to a story on Goldcoast.com.au.
Insolvency and Turnaround Solutions director Julie Williams, the controller of both companies, said the family’s personal assets, including a huge mansion at Cronin Island, ‘could be on the line’. . . . She said Mr Perrin’s wife, Nicole, a director of one of the companies, was guarantor for one on of the loans.
Whoops. . . The worst is in the stats: “The former Billabong CEO and BRW Rich List regular, who was worth about $150 million last year, owes at least $28 million to ‘banks and Chinese investors’.”
Craig Elmer “Owl” Chapman didn’t like his profile in The Surfer’s Journal so he sued. Now a federal court in Honolulu has decided that The Surfer’s Journal profile written by Jeff Johnson was not libelous, according to a story in Pacific Business News.
