Ron Carey, General President of the Teamsters union, claims that he was libelled by James Hoffa, Jr. , his opponent in an upcoming union election. Carey alleges in a suit filed September 25, 1996 that the defendants have repeatedly published false claims that Carey's alleged ownership of $2 million in UPS stock caused him to negotiate a contract more favorable to the company than to the union membership. NEW YORK STATE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF QUEENS RON CAREY, Plaintiff, vs. JAMES HOFFA, JR., LAWRENCE BRENNAN, TERENCE F. MAJKA and COLEMAN DAVIS, Defendants. JURY TRIAL DEMANDED Plaintiff RON CAREY alleges as follows for his complaint: PRELIMINARY STATEMENT 1. This case concerns the latest instance in a wide-ranging scheme by the defendants to publish and circulate false, defamatory and malicious statements and innuendo concerning Plaintiff Ron Carey with knowing or reckless disregard for the truth and for the purpose of harming Carey's personal and professional reputation. 2. Plaintiff Carey is a dedicated trade unionist and nationally-known union reformer who became the first General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, AFL-CIO (herein "Teamsters") ever to be elected by the rank-and-file members of the union in 1992. He also continues to serve as President of Local 804 of the Teamsters, which represents truck drivers and package handlers employed by United Parcel Service, Inc. ("UPS") in the New York area. Carey was elected in response to years of Teamster corruption and has taken bold and dramatic steps to root out corruption, financial malpractice and lack of democratic practices within the Teamsters and its affiliated subordinate bodies. 3. Defendant James Hoffa Jr. (herein "Hoffa Jr.") is an employee of a Teamsters affiliate who, along with others representing the entrenched interests of the Teamster status quo, has engaged in a four-year effort to undermine Carey and his attempts to reform the Teamsters and rid the union of corruption Defendants Lawrence Brennan, Terrence F. Majka and Coleman Davis (herein the "Brennan Defendants" or the "Brennan Slate") have actively participated in this four-year smear campaign against Carey and have aided Hoffa Jr. in the publication of the defamatory statements that are the subject of this lawsuit. 4. As part of their efforts to block reform in the Teamster union and to restore those protected interests that dominated the union prior to 1992, the defendants and their agents have engaged in a massive libel and slander campaign against Carey, including false and defamatory allegations (a) that Carey secretly owned $2 million in UPS stock while he negotiated the most recent Teamster-UPS labor contract; (b) that Carey "sold out" Teamster members under the UPS labor contract to benefit his own financial interests in UPS stock; and (c) that he used a UPS attorney to "swindle" money from the estate of a defenseless elderly woman. 5. Each of these allegations -- which are generally referred to in this Complaint as the "Defamatory Statements" is absolutely false in all respects. The defendants issued these statements knowing that they were false or with reckless disregard for their truth or falsity and did so out of ill-will and with the malicious intent of injuring plaintiff Carey and depriving him of his ability to earn a living. JURISDICTION 6. This Court maintains personal jurisdiction over the defendants pursuant to Section 302(a)(1) of the New York State Civil Procedure Law and Rules. THE PARTIES 7. Plaintiff Carey began his Teamster career as a UPS truck driver in 1956. Since 1968, Carey has devoted his entire professional life to the honest and effective representation of working men and women and to the cause of democratic union reform within the Teamsters. Carey has been elected President of Local 804 by the Local 804 membership for the past 28 years and continues to serve in that position. He has served as General President of the Teamsters since 1992 and is currently seeking re-election as General President. Carey is a resident of this jurisdiction. 8. Defendant Hoffa Jr. is also a candidate for election as General President of the Teamsters. Hoffa Jr. maintains an office in New York and has visited New York on several occasions during the last year to campaign for election as General President. Defendant Hoffa Jr. has transacted business in New York State in connection with his election campaign and has purposely published the Defamatory Statements in New York State in connection with his election campaign activities in New York State and with the intent of harming Carey's reputation in New York State. 9. Hoffa Jr. has never been employed full time in a bargaining unit represented by the Teamsters and has never earned a living as a rank and file Teamster. On information and belief, defendant Brennan hired him as a full time administrative assistant at Teamsters Joint Council 43 for the sole purpose of providing him with eligibility to run for Teamsters General President. Prior to defendant Hoffa Jr.'s employment by Joint Council 43, he was a partner in a multi-million dollar law firm that represented, among others, anti-union employers. 10. Defendants Lawrence Brennan, Terence F. Majka and Coleman Davis are members of the Brennan Slate of candidates for Regional Vice-Presidents of the Teamsters. The Brennan Slate is running a candidate for Eastern Regional Vice-President of the Teamsters, which includes New York State. On information and belief, the Brennan Slate has conducted substantial election activity in New York State and has knowingly caused the Defamatory Statements to be published within New York State with the intent of harming Carey's reputation in New York State. On information and belief, the Brennan Defendants are actively aiding and abetting Hoffa Jr. in his ongoing attempt to libel and slander Carey in New York State and throughout the nation. FACTUAL BACKGROUND Carey's Election as Teamsters General President 11. Prior to 1992, the Teamsters Union suffered decades of corrupt and felonious national leadership and widespread corruption, financial malpractice and undemocratic practices at both the national and local union levels. In 1991, the federal government required the Teamsters to hold their first ever rank-and-file membership election for the Teamster General President and the Teamsters' national governing body. 12. Carey ran for General President of the Teamsters in 1991 on a reform platform, promising to end corruption , financial malpractice and autocratic practices within the Teamsters. Throughout the campaign, Carey stated his intention to end the prior union practice of taking minimal action in response to allegations of corruption and the influence of organized crime within the Teamsters. 13. The Teamster rank-and-file elected Carey as General President in 1991, and Carey took office in 1992. Carey took immediate steps to reform the Teamsters, including the creation of the Ethical Practices Committee to investigate matters of corruption, financial malpractice and undemocratic practices. In addition, Carey has placed over 65 Teamster local unions in trusteeship because of significant corruption, financial malpractice and undemocratic practices. Carey's Representation of UPS Employee. 14. UPS is a company specializing in package delivery, and is a major employer of Teamsters members throughout the country, including the New York area UPS workers represented by Local 804. During his tenure as President of Local 804, Carey has engaged in tough and vigorous labor negotiations with UPS and has repeatedly confronted UPS with economic and legal action on behalf of UPS employees in this state. In doing so, Carey has won several substantial victories for Local 804's members, including a successful thirteen-week strike against UPS to win a better UPS labor contract for Local 804, unique retirement benefits for Local 804 members, and majority vote on membership ratification of new labor contracts. 15. UPS and the Teamsters UPS National Negotiating Committee also negotiate a master national contract governing all 180,000 UPS employees throughout the country. In 1994, Carey, serving as Co-Chair of the UPS National Negotiating Committee, entered into negotiations with UPS over a new collective bargaining agreement. The six-month negotiations concluded with significant improvements for part-time and full-time employees in the areas of wages, pensions, health benefits, health and safety procedures, and grievance protections. 16. When UPS unilaterally and unlawfully increased its package weight limit from 70 pounds to 150 pounds following these negotiations, Carey initiated legal and economic action against UPS and eventually won a settlement agreement requiring Teamster assistance and lifting devices to be used on any UPS package over 70 pounds. UPS and the Teamster UPS National Negotiating Committee will resume negotiations over a successor labor contract in 1997, and preparation for these negotiations is actively underway. The Hoffa/Brennan Libel Machine 17. Since 1991, defendants Hoffa and Brennan, through and together with their agents, have directed and engaged in a nationwide libel and slander campaign to tarnish the reputation of Carey and to thwart his union reform efforts by any means and at any cost. In furtherance of this libel and slander scheme, Hoffa Jr. and Brennan have directly or indirectly engaged the services of agents and publicists whose principal mission is to portray Carey to Teamster members, legislators and the public in the worst possible light through dirty tricks and smear tactics designed to harm Carey's reputation and undermine his reform efforts within the union. 18. Two members of this Hoffa/Brennan dirty tricks team are Richard Leebove and George Geller. Both were acolytes of convicted felon Lyndon LaRouche in the 1960's and 1970's when they learned and adopted LaRouche's smear tactics, including extracting the worst possible inference from neutral facts or suppositions; deploying elaborate conspiracy theories; using forged documents, anonymous circulars, and fabricated statements; and impersonating the legitimate press. For the past two decades, Leebove and Geller have consistently advocated the cause of corrupt and mob-linked Teamsters officials and undermined reform within the Teamsters by defaming proponents of rank-and- file union democracy. In particular, they have deployed LaRouchite dirty tricks on behalf of such corrupt Teamsters officials as John Cody, Jackie Presser, the Provenzanos, Frank Sheeran and George Vitale, and have portrayed Teamsters reformers as supposed pawns of sinister international conspiracies involving, among others, the British state and royal family, the Kennedys and the Rockefellers. 19. Among other things, Geller and Leebove have also championed the cause of Michael J. Moroney, a one-time investigator whose false and reckless allegations against Carey have been uniformly rejected by authoritative bodies, as part of the Hoffa/Brennan libel machine. 20. Paul Shinoff, another member of the Hoffa/Brennan libel machine, is a San Francisco "media consultant" who was hired by the "Real Teamsters Caucus," an anti-reform group that included Hoffa Jr. and Brennan, to portray Carey as a "union buster" pursuant to an express plan of fabrication and falsification outlined in a anti-Carey strategy memorandum of May 9, 1994. In that memorandum, Shinoff stated that "Carey is seen as a labor saint among some on Capitol Hill. . . . we have to go after his clean image" through "allegations of personal wrongdoing and questionable associations." Shinoff now serves as a publicist for Hoffa Jr. 21. At various times since Ron Carey's election on a reform platform in 1991, Hoffa and Brennan have deployed political operatives such as Leebove, Geller, Moroney and Shinoff for the purpose of injuring Carey's reputation without regard to the truth. With union and other funds, these Hoffa/Brennan agents have functioned as a libel and slander machine directed at Carey, churning out daily faxes and press releases, contacting reporters nationwide and creating publicity events -- all with the avowed purpose of tarnishing Carey's reputation without regard to cost, factual accuracy or truth. At all times relevant to this lawsuit, Leebove, Geller, Moroney and Shinoff have acted directly or indirectly as the defendants' agents in their effort to undermine Carey and the Teamster reform movement. COUNT I: THE "UPS STOCK" LIE 22. Paragraphs 1 through 21 above are incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forth in this paragraph. 23. Defendants have caused numerous statements to be published in New York and throughout the nation asserting that Carey owned $2 million of UPS stock at the time of the collective bargaining negotiations between the Teamsters and UPS in 1993; that Carey intentionally hid his alleged UPS stock ownership from both UPS employees and the federal government; that Carey will continue to own $2 million in UPS stock when UPS and the Teamsters resume negotiations in 1997; and that Carey has and will sell out the UPS employees in labor contract negotiations in order to increase the value of his UPS stock. 24. In fact, the U.S. Department of Labor found in August of 1993 that Carey has never owned, controlled or maintained any interest in any UPS stock, and the defendants were well aware of this finding when they caused the Defamatory Statements to be published. 25. The Brennan Defendants and the Hoffa/Brennan libel machine nonetheless caused an advertisement to be published in the September 1996 issue of The Teamster magazine which contained the following false and defamatory statements concerning Carey: a. "Carey never disclosed that he owns close to $2 million of UPS stock."; b. "What did the rank and file workers get from '[UPS] stockholder' Carey?"; c. "Carey's UPS deal took care of his stock and you got nothing."; d. "[T]hanks to UPS millionaire stockholder Carey, thousands of feeder driver jobs will be lost."; e. "Carey's $2 million of UPS stock comes before you."; and f. "Next year there'll be another UPS contract up for negotiation. Who will come first . . . Carey's $2 million of UPS stock, or you?" 26. In the same advertisement, the Brennan Defendants intentionally re-published an excerpt of a newspaper story that was originally printed prior to the August 1993 Department of Labor report that contained the following false and defamatory statements concerning Carey: a. "UNION BIG HAD TIES TO $2M IN UPS STOCK"; b. "Possible conflict of interest cited"; and c. "Teamsters union president Ron Carey inherited part of an estate that included nearly $2 million in United Parcel Service stock last year, a holding he did not disclose even though the company is the largest employer of Teamsters in the country." 27. The Brennan Defendants, September 1996 advertisement in The Teamster magazine is attached as Exhibit A to this Complaint and is incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forth in this paragraph. 28. In a Fall 1996 publication entitled "UPS Campaign News, Vol. 1" (herein the "UPS Leaflet"), defendant Hoffa Jr. and the Hoffa/Brennan libel machine reprinted and republished the same portion of the false and defamatory August 1, 1993 article that was contained in the Brennan Defendants' advertisement in The Teamster magazine. 29. In the UPS Leaflet, defendant Hoffa Jr. also caused the following false and defamatory statements concerning Carey to be published: a. "The New York newspaper Newsday has reported that Carey inherited $400,000 of this stock, then kept his ownership a secret from union members while he negotiated the sell-out UPS contract in 1993."; b. "Ron Carey gets rich on UPS stock"; and c. "Why Did Carey Fail to Disclose UPS Stock During 1993 Negotiations?" 30. The relevant portion of the UPS Leaflet is attached as Exhibit B to this Complaint and is incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth in this paragraph. 31. In an additional publication dated September 10, 1996 entitled "Hoffagram," Hoffa Jr. and the Hoffa/Brennan libel machine also falsely alleged that "Carey failed to advise UPS members of his inheritance of $400,000 of this stock shortly before he began 1993 contract talks with UPS." The relevant portion of the Hoffagram is attached as Exhibit C to this Complaint and is incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forth in this paragraph. 32. The statements described and listed in paragraphs 22 through 31 above are absolutely false, and defendants issued these statements knowing that they were false or with reckless disregard of their truth or falsity. 33. As noted above, the August 1993 report by the Department of Labor found that these allegations were completely untrue; that Ron Carey never owned, controlled or maintained a direct or indirect interest in any UPS stock; and that any UPS stock owned by Carey's father was sold by his father's estate in about August of 1992. The Department of Labor findings were widely circulated to and known by Teamster officials, including the defendants. Indeed, defendant Hoffa Jr.'s UPS Leaflet acknowledges that he was fully aware of both the 1993 Department of Labor report and another government review board finding that Carey had not been involved in any improper financial dealings with UPS. 34. The defendants' knowing lie that Carey secretly owned UPS stock during his labor negotiations with UPS was issued with ill-will and spite, was calculated to injure Carey's reputation as an honest and vigorous Teamsters representative of UPS employees, and was intended to falsely portray Carey as a corrupt union official who put his own financial interests over the interests of the Teamster membership. COUNT II: THE "WILL SWINDLE" LIE 35. Paragraphs 1 through 34 above are hereby incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forth in this paragraph. 36. As a further part of the Hoffa/Brennan dirty tricks campaign, defendants caused to be published false and defamatory allegations that Carey swindled an elderly woman out of $300,000 by enlisting the aid of an attorney named Joseph Previte to pressure the woman to rewrite her will. Defendants further falsely alleged that Previte was a UPS attorney or an attorney on the UPS payroll. As with the UPS Stock Lie, defendants have caused the publication of these statements to falsely portray Carey as a dishonest person with secret ties to UPS and who compromises Teamster representation of UPS employees in order to further his personal financial interests. 37. On information and belief, defendants and the Hoffa/Brennan libel machine manufactured a lawsuit against Carey that contains these libelous allegations and planted press stories concerning the lawsuit in an effort to defame Carey. The lawsuit was filed during the Teamster Convention in July of 1996 and announced through a Hoffa Jr. four days before the lawsuit was filed. In addition, defendant Hoffa Jr., through his operatives in the Hoffa/Brennan libel machine, released information to the press regarding the fabricated will litigation and Carey's alleged use of a UPS lawyer to change the challenged will before the lawsuit was filed. 38. These allegations are absolutely false in every respect. In fact, Ann Morgen, a forty-year Carey family friend whom Carey cared for and supported for many years, voluntarily provided Carey a bequest in her will, and the attorney who drafted her will never worked for UPS in any capacity or received any compensation of any kind from UPS. Defendants knew or recklessly disregarded the fact that attorney Previte had never been employed or compensated by UPS but nonetheless willfully, maliciously and spitefully published these allegations to the press and caused their publication in The Teamster magazine and various Hoffa Jr. campaign materials. 39. In the September 1996 issue of The Teamster magazine, for example, the Brennan Defendants caused an advertisement to be published containing the following false and defamatory statements concerning Carey: a. "Carey swindled an old lady out of nearly $300,000."; b. "The 1987 will was drawn up and witnessed by Queens Lawyer Joseph Previte. Previte was attorney to the United Parcel Service's Queens branch, where Carey's Teamsters Local 804 represents the drivers."; c. "Carey swindled an old lady out of nearly $300,000. HIS LAWYER? you guessed it. ON THE PAYROLL OF UPS."; and d. "Next year there'll be another UPS contract up for negotiation. Who will come first? The UPS lawyer Carey used to help him swindle $300,000 from an old widow, . . . or you?" 40. The Brennan Defendants' September 1996 advertisement in The Teamster magazine is attached as Exhibit A to this Complaint and is incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forth in this paragraph. 41. In his "UPS Leaflet," defendant Hoffa Jr. likewise caused the publication of the following false and defamatory statements concerning Carey: a. "Ripping Off A Helpless Old Woman?"; b. "In 1987, Carey hired a high-powered UPS lawyer, Joseph Previte, to draft a new will for the elderly Ms. Morgan replacing her earlier will. The earlier will did not even mention Ron Carey . . ."; c. "The new will Previte drafted left Ron Carey the Bulk of Ms. Morgan's $400,000 estate, and even made Carey the executor of the estate!"; and d. "How Carey - aided by the UPS lawyer - pulled this off is a mystery." 42. The relevant portion of the UPS Leaflet is attached as Exhibit B to this Complaint and is incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth in this paragraph. 43. In his September 10, 1996 "Hoffagram," defendant Hoffa also republished the false allegations contained in the planted press stories, stating that "Allegations that Carey manipulated the woman have been reported in the New York Daily News and Wall Street Journal, both of which reveal that Carey got a top UPS lawyer to rewrite the woman's will shortly before her death, cutting out her lifelong friends and making Carey the beneficiary." The relevant portion of the Hoffagram is attached as Exhibit C to this Complaint and is incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth in this paragraph. 44. The statements listed and described in paragraphs 35 through 43 above were absolutely false, and, on information and belief, defendants issued these statements knowing that they were false or with reckless disregard of their truth or falsity. 45. The allegations regarding the inheritance were published with malice and ill-will to destroy Carey's reputation as an honest and vigorous representative of Teamsters, a reputation built up over thirty years of service to the members of Local 804 and the Teamsters. The allegations that Carey colluded with a lawyer representing UPS, one of the Teamsters's major employers and adversaries, were concocted and published with malice and ill-will to damage Carey's reputation as an honest trade unionist. PRAYER FOR RELIEF 46. Each of the defamatory statements listed and described in paragraphs 22 through 45 above were knowingly published in New York State with the express purpose of harming Ron Carey's reputation in New York State and throughout the nation. 47. By reason of the foregoing, and as a direct consequence thereof, plaintiff Carey has been irreparably injured in that his professional reputation as a dedicated, honest trade unionist has been gravely harmed by the defendants' false and malicious allegations that he owns stock in a major employer of Teamsters members and colluded with a management lawyer to coerce an elderly woman into leaving him money in her will. 48. In addition, the defendants intended each of the defamatory statements listed and described in paragraphs 22 through 45 above to expose plaintiff Carey to public contempt, ridicule, aversion or disgrace, or induce an evil opinion of him in the minds of right-thinking persons. WHEREFORE plaintiff Ron Carey demands judgment against the defendants separate and severally in the amount of (a) $5,000,000 in compensatory damages under Count I, (b) $5,000,000 in compensatory damages under Count II, and (c) $10,000,000 in punitive damages with interest, costs, disbursements, attorney's fees, and any other relief as this court deems just and proper. The plaintiff also demands a trial by jury. Dated: September __, 1996 at New York, New York.