Confessions of a Quackbuster

This blog deals with healthcare consumer protection, and is therefore about quackery, healthfraud, chiropractic, and other forms of so-Called "Alternative" Medicine (sCAM).

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Bogus "Anti-Quackbuster" Suit Withdrawn

(I happen to be one of those who was sued, so this case of naturally of interest to me. - PL)


Bogus "Anti-Quackbuster"Suit Withdrawn:
Why I am Suing the Lawyer Who Filed It


Stephen Barrett, M.D.


A bogus lawsuit intended to harass and intimidate me and other critics of Hulda Clark has been withdrawn. The suit, filed by Attorney Carlos Negrete in July 2001, charged me, my wife, the National Council Against Health Fraud, and about 30 other defendants with committing at least 20 civil wrongs and 12 crimes, including racketeering. The other defendants included Quackwatch; several Web site operators who have (justifiably) criticized Hulda Clark's theories and methods; the Internet Service Provider who hosts the healthfraud discussion list; several people who have posted messages to news groups; a woman and her husband who sued Clark for fraud; three people who had filed expert declarations in a case in which the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) obtained an injunction against a company marketing devices and herbs with claims based on Clark's theories; and "Roes 1-500." None of the suit's accusations against any of us were valid.

Clark is an unlicensed naturopath with a mail-order "degree" who claims to cure cancer with a low-voltage electrical device [1]. She appears to have hired Tim Bolen to libel and harass her critics [2].The "racketeering" suit was filed as a cross-complaint in response to the libel suit I filed against Clark, her publishing company, Bolen, and several of her associates [3]. A few months later, Negrete filed a second nearly identical cross-complaint against me in connection with an unrelated consumer-protection suit [4] in which I was an expert witness against a company accused of false advertising.

Negrete, whose office is in San Juan Capistrano, California, indicated on the first page of the suit documents that he was doing business under the name Health Freedom Legal Defense Council. Although California law requires that fictitious names be registered, my search of the Orange County fictitious name database located no listing.

Defamation Packaged as News


(there's more.....!)