In lawsuit, judge rules against researcher from Ventura County
By Tom Kisken
Ventura County Star
Posted December 20, 2011
A Reno, Nev., judge has ruled against a world-known researcher from
Ventura County in a lawsuit alleging she wrongfully took research
materials after being fired by a nonprofit institute.
Judge Brent Adams issued a default judgment Monday in favor of the
Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease. Leaders of the
Reno institute say that after she was terminated in September, Judy
Mikovits arranged to take notebooks, emails and computer data related
to her research and the work of others at the institute.
Mikovits, 53, of the Oxnard area, also faces criminal charges on
allegations of possession of stolen property and theft. She's
scheduled to be arraigned in Reno on Jan. 10. The case has attracted
national attention because Mikovits led a team that made a
controversial and eventually challenged breakthrough in 2009 linking
chronic fatigue syndrome to a retrovirus called XMRV.
On Tuesday, lawyers representing Mikovits made no comment despite
repeated phone calls and emails. Her criminal lawyer, Scott Freeman,
was quoted by KRNV-TV in Reno as saying Mikovits "maintains
herinnocence."
"She is a well-respected scientist. She is not a criminal," he said.
The transcript of the ruling from the 2nd Judicial District Court in
Washoe County was not yet available. Attorney Ann Hall, who represents
Whittemore Peterson, called the decisive ruling in a suit filed less
than seven weeks ago very unusual. She said the judgment revolved
around the judge's finding that Mikovits "flouted" his orders to
return all of the research materials to the institute.
"He found it was willful noncompliance," she said, adding a hearing
will be set to determine damages.
"He was saying the lawsuit is over and WPI won."
Institute leaders filed the lawsuit Nov. 4 and also reported the
alleged theft to the University of Nevada, Reno, Police Department.
Mikovits was arrested by Ventura police the week before Thanksgiving.
After a judge pushed back an extradition hearing and released the
researcher on $100,000 bail, Mikovits turned herself in to police at
the university and was released on her recognizance.
Hall said Mikovits turned over about a dozen research notebooks to
authorities but that most of the notebooks involved work done by other
researchers. She said several notebooks containing Mikovits' research
as well as emails, flash drives and other material have not been
turned over.
"She did return one silver laptop, but it had been wiped clean of all
data," Hall said.
Institute leaders say they need the data to continue researching cures
for neuro-immune diseases. They contend withholding the research
represented a breach of contract and misappropriation of trade
secrets. Hall said the judge's default ruling supported all of the
institute's claims.
At the November extradition hearing in Ventura, Mikovits' husband,
David Nolde, said the dispute revolved around what material belonged
to Mikovits and what belonged to the institute.
Two years ago, Mikovits received global attention for research
suggesting that people with chronic fatigue syndrome were prone to
having the XMRV retrovirus in their blood, opening the possibility of
new treatment options. Studies by several other researchers failed to
validate the findings, though Mikovits has defended the work.
---------------------------------------------
Send posts to CO-CURE@listserv.nodak.edu
Unsubscribe at http://www.co-cure.org/unsub.htm
---------------------------------------------
Co-Cure's purpose is to provide information from across the spectrum of
opinion concerning medical, research and political aspects of ME/CFS and/or
FMS. We take no position on the validity of any specific scientific or
political opinion expressed in Co-Cure posts, and we urge readers to
research the various opinions available before assuming any one
interpretation is definitive. The Co-Cure website <www.co-cure.org> has a
link to our complete archive of posts as well as articles of central
importance to the issues of our community.
---------------------------------------------
