Another legal threat...sort of

A California trust attorney sent me a wonderful email last night. I must share it.

Holly Gilani specializes in trust law, but she may need to brush up on defamation law. That screenshot is from her employer’s website, where she’s a partner.

Last night, while out for dinner, I received another wonderful email which I must share.

This email came from a new friend: Holly Gilani, a partner in the California law firm of Hess Verdon.

Mr. Volpe,

It has come to our attention that you have been disseminating false and derogatory statements relating to our clients, Mr. and Mrs. Faramarz Rahimi.  A copy of the false statements are attached hereto and can be located at the following link: https://michaelvolpe.substack.com/p/michael-volpe-investigates-podcast-155

Demand is hereby made that you immediately cease and desist from making any such statements in the future and to immediately retract any such statements including the statements set forth in the attachment hereto.  Your failure to comply with this demand will result in legal action taken against you and for any and all damages allowed to the full extent of the law. 

I am only familiar with one of their two clients, so I was left scratching my head. I was scratching it even more when I realized that Hess Verdon is the premier, “trust and probate litigation firm, offering unparalleled legal counsel backed by over three decades of experience in estate planning, business transactions, and commercial disputes” according to its website.

I don’t think that Ms. Gilani has much experience in defamation law, and this email- which serves as a cease-and-desist letter- shows as much.

Ms. Verdon did not specify what I said about Mr. and Mrs. Faramarz Rahimi which was defamatory.

In fact, in the article in question, I only mentioned Mr. Rahimi; I didn’t even know he was married. Congratulations, I’m sure it’s a joyous union.

Ms. Gilani does not mention what is defamatory in her email, which is critical for a cease-and-desist letter.

This website states that, “The letter should clearly identify the defamatory statements and specify the ways in which they are harming your or your business’s reputation.”

Ms. Gilani did include a screenshot- which I won’t show since she insists the screenshot is defamatory- but there is a big problem with this screenshot.

The screenshot is not of my article. It is from a text message from a 914 area code- which is in California.

The text message accuses of Mr. and Mrs. Rahimi of doing bad things, which I’m sure Ms. Gilani knows aren’t true.

Only, I didn’t send the text message.

At the end, the text message states.

I appreciate the marketing for my site, but I did not say any of the things in the text message. I did say this.

After a few years, Farnaz told me, her brother, Faramarz, began to engage in elder abuse against his father.

This included removing over $100,000 from the trust in a dubious way, trying to sell the equestrian center from underneath his siblings, and unilaterally making himself the super trustee.

Farnaz goes into more detail about this abuse in the first fifteen minutes of the podcast.

All of that is accurate, and Mr. Rahimi was removed as the trustee for cause.

As such, Ms. Gilani may take up her complaints with the judge who ruled, Commissioner Aaron Heisler.

I was so excited to receive such a wonderful email on a Friday evening, so I decided to start a dialogue.

I'm not seeing the false and defamatory statement. I reached out to your client, and he refused to comment. If you move forward with any lawsuit, I will likely respond with a motion to dismiss using California's anti-SLAPP laws. California's laws not only give me an opportunity to dismiss quickly but you will pay my legal costs.

California's anti-SLAPP legislation also allows me to sue you for further costs after the suit is dismissed.

In the meantime, I will consider publishing this legal threat unless a better explanation is provided.

I think Christmas dinner at Ms. Gilani’s house is all but certain.

Anti-SLAPP is important legislation which protects people like me from frivolous lawsuits, like the one Ms. Gilani is considering filing.

California’s anti-SLAPP- which stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation- is one of the strongest in the nation.

I similarly threatened the lovely and talented Raj Matani with this law, when he sent an equally bogus cease and desist letter.

While Ms. Gilani brushes up on defamation law, she should also be introduced to another concept: The Streisand Effect.

Based on her action, I presume her clients don’t want anyone to know what they did to their father and father-in-law.

The trust was started by Faramarz’s father in 2014.

So, to teach Ms. Gilani a lesson, everyone should read the original article and also listen to the podcast with Faramarz’s sister, Farnaz.

If you really want to show her, then you should upgrade your membership to a paid membership.

You can do that here.