"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." - quote attributed to Mahatma Gandhi

The libel/defamation/slander/copyright infringement lawsuit filed in December 2010 against BarkingDogs.org and its publisher by the purported owner of now-closed forever club Lost Society, Fernando Rosales, has been dismissed in a summary judgement. The order was signed by Dallas County Judge Mark Greenberg on Friday, April 27, 2012, in a hearing that lasted about 30 seconds. The motion orders Fernando Rosales to pay reasonable costs incurred by BD and his attorneys in their defense of the suit, which was filed in December 2010.

No-Evidence Motion to Dismiss Lost Society vs BarkingDogs lawsuit, signed April 27, 2012

BD was represented pro bono by attorneys at the Dallas law firm of Vinson & Elkins, at the request of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press based in Arlington VA. RCFP has been working with BD since he was first subpoenaed by Rosales and his attorney in November 2010 over a lawsuit between Rosales and Lowest Greenville property owner Andres Properties. Andres had locked-out Rosales and bar co-owner Brightman Nwatu after a shooting left a Lost Society patron dead on the Char Bar parking lot in June 2010. A few days after the shooting, Nwatu was taken into custody by DHS’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers because he was an illegal alien who should have been deported nearly seven years ago, but managed to evade authorities. The TABC filed charges against Nwatu and Rosales for presenting false papers about the ownership of the bar in his application for a TABC license.

Rosales was represented in this civil action by ambulance-chasing attorney Armando Miranda, who is currently serving the second of two suspended probations related to his law practice by the Texas Bar Association. Rosales was not represented at the Friday hearing. Rosales can't even pay his attorneys because he is sitting in the Rockwall County Jail. BD's lawyers filed the motion only after months of playing phone tag with Miranda and his assistant, who had promised cross-their-hearts-hope-to-die their client would listen to reason and drop the lawsuit.

SEATTLE, April 23, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — A new report from Puget Sound Sage, a Seattle economic policy advocacy organization, and authored by economic impact expert Dr. Chris Fowler of the University of Washington, reveals that each new Walmart store opening in a Puget Sound neighborhood will result in a net loss of $13 million of net economic output and $14 million in lost wages over the 20 year life of the store. A copy of the report can be found here.

Dr. Fowler is one of the first in the nation to use detailed economic analysis to determine the impact of a new Walmart "neighborhood market" and stands in direct contrast to the academically weak reports commissioned by Walmart to promote its expansion in urban areas in recent years.

Click here for the complete story

Dallas City Council Member NSA Hunt is quoted in today's DMN Transportation blog in regards to the Trinity Toll Road...

Doing [another ballot initiative to stop the Toll Road] so would take too much time and energy away from the goals she's set for her final year on the council, including work on lower Greenville and the extension of the Katy Trail, she said.

Angela, we beg you - Get up and do whatever it takes to stop the toll road. You have killed Lowest Greenville beyond your wildest dreams. It's a ghost town here now. There's no chance of getting any more of your so-called improvements on the next bond issue anyways past the City Council or Mary Suhm when there are so many more important issues - like streets and sewers - to take care of before we put pretty sidewalks in front of empty storefronts.

So we beg you, go forth and stop the toll road. Any more of your improvements on Lowest Greenville (like the WalMart across the street from my house) will put my property values into negative territory.

By Robert Wilonsky / Dallas Morning News / Apr. 10, 2012

I spent way too much time last year documenting the fight between Yucatan and Service Bar and the city of Dallas over the ordinance requiring all Lower Greenville businesses to get specific use permits if they want to keep their doors open past midnight. The ordinance, OK'd by the city council in January 2011, is intended to rid the stretch of recently redone street of the so-called "bad actors," as Angela Hunt and Pauline Medrano often called them.

And when the council denied Yucatan and Service Bar their SUPs in September, Medrano said, "If we're going to decrease crime, we need to make sure these type of establishments are not in business."

Click here for the complete story at the Dallas Morning News

A federal judge in El Paso granted several motions to dismiss in a "SLAPP" suit in federal court this week.

The lawsuit, filed by night club owner David Cooper against the Cielo Vista neighborhood association, the City of El Paso and several individual defendants (a total of 12 defendants) alleged defamation and tortuous interference. The neighborhood association and several neighbors had spoken out against Cooper's plans to bring a nightclub into the area and the City of El Paso supported the neighbors. The association also protested a liquor license application. KFOX Channel 14 posted a story about the lawsuit on its website.

Defendants filed several motions to dismiss on various grounds, including based on the Texas Citizens Participation Act, Texas' new anti-SLAPP law. As one of the motions stated, "CVNA is being sued for encouraging its City Representatives to act!"

Click here for the complete story at Slapp'ed in Texas

BD Note - An Unopposed No-Evidence Motion for Summary Judgment, asking the court to dismiss Lost Society's and Fernando Rosales' suit against Barking Dog, will be held on April 27th. This lawsuit was filed before the Citizens Participation Act was filed; BD claimed protection under the Texas Shield Law, which protects a reporter's sources of information from disclosure.

Rosales is currently getting ready to spend Easter in the Rockwall County Jail after being arrested for possession of more than 3 kilos of methamphetamine last October. BD has no idea if he will play the role of Easter Bunny or Easter Chick for his cellmate.