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*UPDATE* This post has been updated to properly reflect the court order

As many of you are aware I have been embroiled in a defamation lawsuit since last May. For those that are not aware I suppose I can fill you in now.

Brian Kolfage

If you don’t know the story of Brian Kolfage, it’s certainly a moving one. While in Iraq he lost three limbs when he was hit either by a rocket or a mortar. It’s hard to figure out which one because he has multiple conflicting stories. Nonetheless, he was inside the base when the attack happened and failed to follow proper protocol and take cover under the concrete bunkers that are spaced throughout all FOBs (Forward Operating Bases) in a combat theater. Between those conflicting stories it is stated he was either on his way to the bathroom or he ran out to get a bottle of water during the attack. Regardless of which one it was, he ended up losing all but one arm.

He was evacuated to a military hospital in Europe and made an excellent recovery. Since then he has gotten married, had a child, graduated from college with a degree in architecture, started a facebook page, put up two websites, and moved to Florida.

The truth

Sometimes, it’s hard to get to the truth. In this case the truth was hidden under a huge web of lies that was so in-depth it took months of research to get the full story. Even then we didn’t have all the pieces. We had heard of a woman named Jan Vrotsos who had supposedly defamed Brian on Facebook. So as we looked into the story all the pieces to the puzzle seemed out of whack. When we figured out that it had all been a ruse by Brian Kolfage and his father Brian Kolfage Sr we decided to go full-tilt with the story and let the public know what had occurred.

The credit to the story truly goes to Megan Hurwitt. She did the vast majority of the research and conducted most of the interviews in the process of uncovering Kolfage’s alleged crimes. The actions used against Ms. Vrotsos (only one of about a dozen victims) violate federal law and state laws. However, no law enforcement officials would take a case nor would any news source willingly write about someone in a negative fashion due to their amputee and veteran status.

Megan wrote the story which can be read here. After seeing the actions taken by Kolfage and his family against anyone who publicly spoke out against them she was hesitant to publish the story under her name due to her still being on active military service. So I published it under my name and within two months I was the defendant in a multi-million dollar lawsuit.

The Lawsuit

I found out through the internet I was getting sued. When Brian Kolfage decided to sue, he opted to go big. He went after 7 people in 1 lawsuit. Every single person that he named, he alleged, had defamed him in some way and most of the defendants, according to him, were trolls. That was not the case, however.

News of the lawsuit hit before he even filed the suit with courts in Arizona. Kolfage and/or his lawyer Logan Elia of Rose Law Group gave a copy of the suit to the press and did a video interview. They plastered the information smearing myself and all the defendants all over the website here, here, here, here, here, here, and here just for starters… If you take time to notice the very last link is at WoundedAmericanWarrior.com - a website owned and operated by Kolfage where he plagiarized an article. The article on his website describing the lawsuit is word for word lifted off of military.com. In fact in the lawsuit it was claimed that calling him a plagiarizer was defamatory, because apparently that is a lie.

Then, one week later, the suit was dropped into the state court system. Seeing as how many of the defendants were all across the nation it would take some time for them to get served. Or so we thought.

Some of us didn’t get served at all. I, for one, never received any paperwork from the courts. Instead of hiring someone to do proper service, he must have opted to just mail it to where he guessed everyone lived. So he mailed mine to my former aunt whom I’ve never even met and who is now no longer a part of the Loebe family. She turned it away and had it sent back to the courts, but apparently that counted as service I was to later find out. This tactic was utilized for most of the defendants rather than actually having them served. It’s a strategy to get a summary judgment so that the defendants who don’t respond, due to never having been notified, get found guilty without even knowing they’ve been sued.

Fortunately, one of the other defendants who got wind of the suit emailed me a copy of it. It was at this point that all 7 defendants started working together to figure out why we were being sued, and what could be done to win. Brian stated that we sent death threats to him, insulted his daughter, and outright hated him because of his veteran outreach. Yes, according to Brian Kolfage I did not like him because of his veteran outreach. None of that was true.

The funny thing about that statement is that 4 of the 7 defendants were honorably discharged veterans (myself included) – 2 Marines and 1 Air Force and 1 Navy veteran. 3 of the defendants happened to be prominent bloggers or writers (again myself included). And to top it all off 5 out of the 7 defendants were themselves victims of Brian Kolfage’s alleged online bullying, similar to what Jan Vrotsos went through in the original article.

The lawsuit did not appear to be a way to stop the bullying he stated he was receiving. Instead, it gave the appearance as a way to quell any dissent. From the tactics used, it would appear that Brian wanted to clean his record, and have everything on the internet that was said about him be nice. Unfortunately, telling the truth would not represent his image in its entirety. There is great concern about the apparent motivations behind the suit and in my opinion it appears he is looking to run for political office at some point in the near future.

In the middle of the lawsuit Brian and his wife, Ashley, relocated to Florida and sold their home in Arizona. The place he opted to move to is Tea Party friendly and his lawyer has ties to Charles G. Koch. Were he to make a run for office there, given his disabled veteran status and the people that comprise his fan base in Florida, I think it is probable he could be elected there.

Nonetheless, the suit continued in Arizona. Most of the people that Kolfage named in the suit could not afford a lawyer, so we all had to stick our heads together and figure out how to properly navigate the court system as pro se litigants. Fortunately, Kolfage’s decision to sue us put 7 great minds together that worked hard on figuring it out. Darren Remington (Ren Rem as he likes to be called), a retired Air Force veteran, was instrumental in leading the charge in navigating the legal hurdles. Nicknamed “Legal Zoom” by the Plaintiffs as an ad hominem, the nickname stuck as he became the go-to pro se legal aide, expertly handling, assisting, drafting, editing, and helping submit affadavits with all the defendants.

To be quite honest, I am thankful that Kolfage included him in the legal proceedings because Ren is quite frankly one of the most intelligent beings I have ever run across. I strongly believe that without the guidance of Ren the case might have taken another turn altogether. I’ve learned a lot about the court system and legal proceedings, and this has only reinforced my interest in pursuing the law as a career.

Delay and Intimidation Tactics

As I’m not about to spend an entire blog entry discussing the legal tactics involved in how we defended ourselves, I must cut some of the story. I will, however, go into the intimidation and delay tactics that I experienced.

The amount of underhanded tactics used in this case astounded me. I had heard of shyster lawyers and how dirty court battles can be, but having never experienced it, I assumed they were somewhat exaggerated. I was wrong. For starters the manner in which we all got “served” was absolute BS. And as I’ve already articulated above they planted the story in the media a full week before taking it to the court system, presumably in an attempt to muddy the jury pool.

Then when the court filings came the lawyer continued to hammer down that we were all liars, yet we were telling the truth as we knew it. There was a conspiracy charge lobbed against all the defendants claiming that we had been planning these attacks together, although I’m unsure what attacks he is even referring to. The only interaction I had with any of the other defendants only started as soon as I was made aware of the case.

With all the proceedings in the courts, in most cases there is a settlement conference prior to a judge ruling that the case move forward. It makes sense and it keeps the court from wasting time on petty disputes that need not go all the way through a jury trial. Kolfage and his wife, at the last minute, requested to attend the conference telephonically even though they were the individuals who filed the suit. The judge denied this motion and Kolfage’s wife still chose not to show up to the conference, although Kolfage himself was there and agreed to speak on behalf of his wife.

I agreed in the settlement conference that I would take down my original blog if he were to write an apology letter to Jan Vrotsos, admitting what he did to her. That sounded amenable to him so we made the agreement. After all, my only skin in the game was to clear Jan’s name. Kolfage then refused to take part in writing the letter in its entirety. He attempted to inject that she was still at fault and that he was a victim in all this, although he did admit in writing to the court that he doxxed and went after Jan. So I filed a reply with the courts asking for a summary judgment to have the case dismissed with prejudice.

What came next surprised not only me, but quite a few lawyers and legal experts I spoke with. I received an alleged intimidating threat from the lawyer in written form. I suspected the lawyer was a shyster, but to have him give me concrete evidence to supplant that he was less-than-forthright in his legal dealings just blew me away. Now that the case is over I’m currently pursuing action through the Arizona Bar. If his legal career isn’t over at this point, he may have an opportunity to redeem himself and continue on with a bright future. But obvious intimidation tactics like this cross a line.

With all this additional information at my disposal, I informed the judge who was for the most part fair and impartial. I actually had one reply left to send to the courts that was due by Friday, June 5. It turns out that was completely unneccesary as the judge made a ruling. One week early I received an affadavit that the judge had dismissed the case against me with prejudice. That means Kolfage cannot sue me again for the article.

Now there is currently a conspiracy case pending against Brian Kolfage in Federal Court in Tennessee. It not only has Brian Kolfage Jr named but also Ashley Kolfage, Scott Kuhnen, Logan Elia, and Brian Kolfage Sr. There are still motions to add more perpetrators of online harrassment involved with these incidents. The best part for me that brings vindication is that Jan Vrotsos has included a motion to go after Kolfage in that suit as an additional plaintiff. I hope the judge rules in favor of that, especially since Brian Kolfage admitted his negligent actions in official court documents in my case. That will be open and shut for Jan.

Vindication.

Janet Vrotsos, I’ve never met you. The daughter of a WWII veteran who I’ve spoken to on the phone a handful of times, I surely hope you will find justice in the courts. I am glad to have been a part of a team that came together to help clear your name.

Semper Fidelis

Featured Image Courtesty: Fox 10 Phoenix