Durango Bill's
Synopsis of Jason Gastrich’s Frivolous $2,000 Lawsuit



Jason Gastrich vs William Butler, Jr.
United States District Court
Southern District of California
Case No.  04CV1571 JAH(POR)
Judge John A. Houston


   This web page is a synopsis of Jason Gastrich’s $2,000 frivolous/vindictive lawsuit that he filed as part of his continuing efforts to silence my criticism of his past actions. Now that the case has been dismissed, I am free to describe what really happened.

   As additional evidence that Mr. Gastrich’s lawsuit was frivolous in nature, he didn’t even bother to show up in court when the case came up.

   Finally, a sequence from a Google Groups conversation is shown that presents evidence that Mr. Gastrich is not able to differentiate between his own fantasies and the real world. He is asked if the court document contains the phrase: “Demand $2000”. Mr. Gastrich answered, “No”. A photograph of the document is presented to show that it does say “Demand: $2,000”.


   Before I present the details of Jason Gastrich’s actions in this case, the California court system should be criticized for allowing the case to be filed in the first place. The court’s actions appear to be an example of favoritism for local residents and a bias against out of state residents.

   The court system allowed Jason to present the case using
forma pauperis (“I am a pauper”) without requiring him to pay the normal $150 filing fee. This is from someone who has been able to afford multiple vacation trips. (See http://www.jcsm.org/Pictures/PhotoAlbums.htm)

   Next, he filed the case without using an attorney. This combination should have thrown up immediate red flags that the plaintiff (Mr. Gastrich) might well be a crank/cultist. Instead, the court allowed the action.

   As detailed below, in his complaint Mr. Gastrich stated that I had copied a graphic/logo from his OCCM website. In fact I never copied anything from his OCCM website. The picture that I used was copied from Shepherd Bible College’s website. However, in allowing the case to go forward, the court accepted Mr. Gastrich’s assertion without Jason providing any evidence to support his claim. The court should have thrown the case out based on this complete lack of evidence alone. Instead, I had to pay legal expenses to have the case dismissed.
 

The Case

   Jason Gastrich has repeatedly invoked abusive use of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act  (DMCA) against me and others to silence criticism of his many ignorant assertions. On July 19, 2004 Mr. Gastrich launched another of these attacks by sending the following E-mail to me. 
 
From: "Dr. Jason Gastrich" <Jason@occm.org>
To: <lisabill@mydurango.net>
Subject: Cease and Desist
Date: Monday, July 19, 2004 2:35 AM

To Whom it May Concern,

Cease and desist using OCCM's copyrighted logo on your web page
(http://durangobill.com/JasonGastrich.html -
http/www.durangobill.com/JasonG5.jpg).

Sincerely,
OCCM

--------

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
http://www.jcsm.org
Over 60,000 web pages!

John 8:36 reads, "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."

Galatians 5:1 reads, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made
us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage."

ICQ#: 20731140
AIM: MrJasonGastrich
YIM: Jesus_Saved_Jason 
 
 This started a long and expensive (for me) process to prove myself innocent.



   The above “Cease and Desist” E-mail is not legally valid as lacks additional information that should have been included. It appears he also simultaneously sent an equivalent E-mail to my web host, Yahoo. On July 21, 2004 Yahoo sent a “Notice of Infringement” E-mail to me which indicated I had to remove my entire “Jason Gastrich” page or they would shut down my entire website. My “Jason Gastrich” page was composed by me, not Jason Gastrich, and thus was my material. Over the next two days I repeatedly called the Copyright at Yahoo office to clarify what parts of the page could be deleted and still comply with the “Notice of Infringement” order. I was never able to get past the usual prerecorded messages. I also sent E-mails to Copyright at Yahoo asking them to call me. These E-mails were ignored. On July 23, 2004 Yahoo shut down my entire website to the point where I had no access to see or edit any of the pages.

   On July 26, 2004 I was finally able to contact a real person at Yahoo. They allowed me access in order to delete the entire “Jason Gastrich” web page and replace it with a short note outlining what had happened. The material on the Jason page was down from July 26, 2004 until late Jan. 2005.

   About July 27, 2004 I sent a DMCA Counter Notification to Yahoo. (Both an E-mail and Certified letter versions) The DMCA Counter Notification included the following statements:
“My use of the material is legally protected because it falls within the "fair use" provision of the copyright regulations, as defined in 17 USC 107.” (This “Fair Use” section of the Copyright Law explicitly states  “…the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies…for purposes such as criticism… is not an infringement of copyright.”)

and

“I hereby consent to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which I reside…”  (I reside in Colorado.)

   The Counter Notification that I returned to Yahoo would have let me repost my “Jason Gastrich” page if Jason did not file a lawsuit against me. Even though the law states that this should be filed in “the judicial district in which I reside”, Jason initiated the lawsuit on Aug. 4, 2004 in California. It took several attempts by Jason before the action was accepted by the court system. (Jason has the glib spiel of a Snake-oil Salesman that offsets his lack of integrity and scientific knowledge.)

   Jason did not use an attorney to file the action. It is doubtful that a legitimate attorney would present the case. Also, California usually charges $150 to file a case, but allows anyone who is legitimately broke (e.g. someone currently in Jail) to file using “
forma pauperis” instead. Even though Jason can afford numerous trips abroad (See his pictures at http://www.jcsm.org/Pictures/PhotoAlbums.htm), he managed to convince the court to go ahead with the action via “forma pauperis”.

   The court documents state that Jason was asking for $2,000 damages. Jason may be under the delusion that this was not the amount, but $2,000 is the amount of record. You can confirm this by
clicking here.

   I was away for most of September on a trip to visit friends and family with the result that physical delivery of the “Complaint” was delayed until Oct. 4, 2004. I was then forced to hire a lawyer in California to defend myself. My attorney in turn filled the necessary papers to have the case dismissed.

   However, the “Plaintiff alleges” section of Jason’s Complaint is shown below to illustrate how Jason willfully misrepresented the truth in this case. There were 6 paragraphs in the section. Each is quoted exactly as shown in Jason's Complaint followed by the real facts.


Plaintiff alleges

“1. Plaintiff is, and at all times mentioned in this complaint was, Jason Alan Gastrich.”

Fact:
No argument


“2. William J. Butler, Jr. was using and has plans to continue using the Online Christ-Centered Ministries graphic that belongs to Jason Alan Gastrich. It was taken from    http://occm.org; which is a web site created and maintained by Jason Alan Gastrich. Specifically, the infringer has taken the first graphic listed on    http://www.occm.org/BannerLogos.htm. The file name is    http://occm.org/BannerLogos/OCCMBanner.jpg and as it says on the graphic, it is only for OCCM member web pages. Nobody else is allowed to use it."

Fact:
The picture was copied from a web page at Shepherd Bible College. The URL at the top of the picture and several sections of the picture identify it as part of the text published by Shepherd Bible College.   (The picture in question is the first “Shepherd Bible College” picture shown on the main Jason Gastrich page. Jason never presented the picture as part of his complaint – mostly because this would reveal that it was not copied from the occm.org website.)

(All references refer to the occm.org website as it appeared in early Oct. 2004.) The web page at    http://occm.org    says nothing about restrictions on copying or usage. The single graphic shown at    http://occm.org/BannerLogos/OCCMBanner.jpg    (Jason’s reference to the graphic in question) says nothing about copying or usage. As of Oct. 1, 2004, the page at    http://www.occm.org/BannerLogos.htm    had 6 graphics, and states that anyone can copy some of them. None of the graphics has any copyright or trademark notice.

The picture that I was using included Mr. Gastrich's name as part of the graphic. While Mr. Gastrich claims that I copied the graphic from his BannerLogos page, in truth none of the graphics on this page contain Mr. Gastrich's name. Thus I could not have copied it from this page, and Mr. Gastrich's allegation is false.

(If Jason changes any of these graphics as they appeared as of Oct, 10, 2004, and you would like to see the original version, please send me an E-mail and I will return it with an attachment of the downloaded web pages.)                    



“3. William J. Butler Jr. has admitted taking the image. His admission is attached to this pleading as "Attached Evidence #1." He believes it is ok because he merely took it by means of a "screen capture."

Fact:
The text in Exhibit # 1 is not an admission of anything as there is no indication of the content of the pictures. However, the text in Exhibit #1 is an accurate copy of a posting I made in Google groups, and does pertain to the picture in question. It is a generic description on how to capture any screen image. (My copy of Section 107 of the Copyright Law at http://www.durangobill.com/JG_DMCA_abuse.html used exactly the same process.)

The "Fair Use" section of the Copyright Law gives me the right to use the pictures as evidence in my criticism of Mr. Gastrich.

(Note: Jason did not include a copy of the graphic/picture in question in any part of his evidence for the complaint – at least in the copy that was sent to me.)




“4. A cease and desist letter was sent to William J. Butler Jr. and he did not comply. Instead, he wrote inflammatory things on his web site about the Plaintiff. His site is http://durangobill.com and the infringing page is http://durangobill.com/JasonGastrich.html"

Fact:
Mr. Gastrich did not send a letter to me. Mr. Gastrich sent a "cease and desist" E-mail to me on July 19. (Shown near the beginning of this web page) It appears he simultaneously sent an E-mail to Yahoo. Yahoo shut down my entire web site on July 23. The entire content of my Jason Gastrich page has been disabled since July 23

Mr. Gastrich did not identify the "inflammatory things". Perhaps he is upset that I had been documenting his behavior in the “Jason Gastrich and the Farrell Till “Gay” Forgery” case on my Jason Gastrich web page.



“5. A letter was sent to the Yahoo! Corporation. They were listing his web site in their search engine and they were hosting the infringing page on their server. In order to take advantage of the safe harbor clause by the DMCA, they removed the infringing page.”

Fact:
True although I cannot vouch for Mr. Gastrich’s method of contacting Yahoo.



“6. William J. Butler, Jr. submitted a counter-claim to them and made a statement under penalty of perjury that he was not committing copyright infringement. The letter I received from Yahoo! Regarding his counter-claim is included with this pleading as “Attached Evidence #2.” The defendant’s counter-claim caused Yahoo! To notify me and give me 14 business days to file this pleading or else they would reinstate the infringing graphic and web page.”

Fact:
Mr. Gastrich's Exhibit # 2 (2a and 2b) is not a complete copy of the Counter Notification letter that I sent to Yahoo. He selected out of context portions of it that tend to present a false conclusion - particularly in regard to why I believe I have a right to use the picture(s). Specifically he failed to include portions of the Counter Notification that included details that the graphic had no Copyright notice, that section 107 of the Copyright Law (“Fair Use”) allows me to use a copy of the material as evidence for criticism, and the statement “The complaint does not follow the prescribed form for notification”. In summary, he willfully falsified evidence presented in the case.


In early December 2004 United States District Court, Southern District of California finally dismissed the case.


Is Mr. Gastrich Capable of Recognizing Reality?

   This lawsuit against me was filed by a person who may not be able to distinguish between the real world (the actual truth) and his own fantasies. The “Print Screen” image below shows a portion of the “Jason’s court case” discussion within Google Groups. The relevant portion is a conversation between David Sienkiewicz and Jason Gastrich. It was posted on Jan. 1, 2005. I have replaced the “>’s” with actual names to facilitate identification of the individuals involved.

A PrintScreen copy of a discussion group where Jason denies suing me for $2,000


David Sienkiewicz:  Does the court document contain the phrase “Demand: $2000” anywhere?

Jason Gastrich:  No.

David Sienkiewicz:  Well, Jason, perhaps you have some other explanation for this:

http://www.geocities.com/hdsienkiewicz/JG_DOC_A.jpg
I’m sure we’ll be glad to hear it.


   You may click on the above link to see Mr. Sienkiewicz’s photocopy of the court document. He has deleted Mr. Gastrich’s telephone number and address as a courtesy to preserve Mr. Gastrich’s privacy. Otherwise the original photo has not been altered.

   I took the original photograph of the court document and sent a copy to Mr. Sienkiewicz. Please click here if you would like to see my original photo.

The copy on Mr. Sienkiewicz’s website has not been altered except for Mr. Gastrich’s telephone number and address.

My original copy has not been altered in any way.

In particular:
The “Filed: 08/04/04” date has not been altered. (Jason has submitted several filings regarding this case.)
The “August 31, 2004 7:40 pm” date and time showing the Docket status has not been altered.
The “Demand: $2,000” has not been altered.
The above “Demand: $2,000” was the amount of record from August 31, 2004 until the case was dismissed about Dec, 9, 2004 notwithstanding any claim to the contrary by Jason Gastrich.

(Not shown in either photo (off the bottom of the picture) but present on my original document from the court. My “hardcopy” piece of paper has a print date of “09/08/2004 8:32 AM”)

As shown in the Print Screen image, on Jan. 1, 2005 Jason Gastrich answered the question:  “Does the court document contain the phrase “Demand: $2000” anywhere?”


with a       “No.”



Notice to Mr. Jason Gastrich

   Now that your case has been dismissed, I have a legal record that you have filed a frivolous/malicious lawsuit. This gives me legal grounds to file a countersuit regarding any future action that you might file. If you try this again in the future, I will exercise this right and ask for damages against you. Should I prevail in any such future action, and you are unable to pay the damages, I will seize your websites as collateral. As to what would happen next here is a hint:  Think - Black Hole.

Also see:   Jason Gastrich’s “ Résumé ”

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Jason Gastrich page


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