The Gospel of John saturates our minds and hearts with the law of self-gift. The life-defining reality that the Son of God—out of his infinite mercy—gave up his body and poured out his blood is […]
Denver, Colo., Aug 26, 2019 / 05:25 pm (CNA).- Jury selection began Monday in a lawsuit that accuses the Knights of Columbus of violating a verbal contract with a vendor who claims that the Catholic fraternal organization inflate its membership numbers, and has destroyed his business.
The lawsuit claims that the Knights of Columbus gave a software company, UKnight Interactive, a $100 million verbal contract to make it a designated web services vendor to KofC local and regional organizations.
UKnight alleges that its services would have provided local councils with a “complex interactive system” of linked websites designed to attract and engage members, increase fundraising, and increase sales of Knights of Columbus insurance policies.
However, the company alleges that in 2016, the Knights of Columbus “fraudulently” denied the verbal contract, and later used the company’s proprietary design elements to seek contracts with other technology companies.
UKnight claims that Knights of Columbus executives “acted…maliciously” with the “specific intent” of destroying the company.
In a 2018 court filing, the Knights of Columbus disputed that account.
“The true nature of this action is that Plaintiff is a disappointed prospective vendor that offered the Order inferior and outdated website services that the Order refused to endorse. UKnight is now trying to accomplish through this lawsuit what it could not get through product development and sales negotiations,” the Knights argued.
The Knights argued that Labriola has “raised preposterous legal claims in an attempt to force the other side to pay money that is neither owed nor deserved. One of these claims is that the Order supposedly gave UKnight an oral contract in which it would, on a single day, endorse UKnight’s services and thereby confer on UKnight a $100 million value.”
UKnight filed its lawsuit in January 2017. The suit was dismissed in July of that year, and UKnight refiled the lawsuit in January 2018.
The plaintiff, List Interactive, also known as UKnight Interactive, claims that “broken promises” by the Knights of Columbus have destroyed its business. That business is owned by Colorado resident Leonard Labriola.
The Knights of Columbus say the lawsuit is over a simple business dispute that has been exagerrated for publicity.
In a February 2017 motion requesting that the suit be dismissed, the Knights argued that a “garden variety business dispute” had been “repackaged…to extort a settlement through damaging publicity having nothing to do with the Plaintiffs’ core allegations.”
UKnight and Labriola had “festooned their complaint with baseless, scandalous allegations that are designed only to inflame and attract publicity,” the Knights said.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, seeks $100 million in damages, and a court order invalidating the Knight’s tax-exempt status.
Among the suit’s claims is the allegation that the Knights of Columbus deceptively inflates its membership numbers in order to increase its life insurance ratings.
While Judge Brooke Jackson allowed UKnight to review membership data last year, the Knights have rejected claims that they inflate their numbers.
“The Knights of Columbus has a long-standing, thoughtful, and well-conceived membership retention process in place that reflects sound practices and the values of the Order,” a spokesperson told Buzzfeed last week.
“One of those values is to ensure that members of the Knights provide mutual aid and assistance to fellow members of our organization.”
Labriola could not be reached for comment. But the plaintiff is no stranger to litigation.
In 1993, Eller Industries, a company owned by Labriola, attempted to revitalize the bankrupt Indian Motorcycle brand by purchasing the defunct company’s trademarks. Labriola signed a contract to purchase the trademarks in 1997, but a court battle began in 1998, after the brand’s legal custodian said that Eller had failed to obtain financing or meet the terms of its contract.
Eller’s contract with Indian Motorcycles was terminated by a federal judge on Dec. 7, 1998.
Labriola subsequently sued the brand’s custodian for $2.7 million, and in the midst of the lawsuit requested that two judges recuse themselves, accusing them of “corruption, duplicity, ineptitude, hubris, and abject indifference.”
In the same motion, Labriola accused Indian Motorcycle’s legal custodian of “brazen temerity” and “outright lies and distortions.”
Before founding UKnight, Labriola founded at least three additional companies.
In 2002, he founded the Backyard Drills Foundation, which produced DVDs teaching sports skills. According to a 2007 article in BizWest, the DVD sets were marketed through revenue-sharing fundraising arrangements with youth football leagues. Backyard Drills was dissolved in 2007.
Two months after dissolving Backyard Drills, Labriola founded Quvico, a clean energy enterprise, which was dissolved less than a year after it was founded.
In September of 2007, Labriola founded Dinner Party Dot Com, LLC. The company was cited by the Secretary of State for failing to file required annual reports, and was dissolved in November of 2016.
According to the Colorado Secretary of State, UKnight Interactive was registered in 2011 as a trade name of LiST Interactive, a company founded by Labriola on the same day. In 2012 and 2015, LiST Interactive was cited by the Secretary of State for failing to file required periodic reports.
The UKnight lawuit has made several allegations dismissed by the court.
Among the dismissed claim’s is UKnight’s charge that the IRS fraudulently maintains the tax-exempt status of the Knights of Columbus, allowing the organization to commit acts of racketeering forbidden by federal law.
Also dismissed is UKnight’s initial accusation that the Knights engaged in “racketeering,” in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO.
Jackson dismissed the suit’s first filing on July 28, 2017. His order determined that the plaintiffs’ RICO allegations were unfounded, and noted that the suit seemed actually to misunderstand racketeering laws.
“If plaintiffs’ description of how jurisdiction under RICO works were correct it would mean that Congress could effectively override the Constitution,” Jackson wrote.
Jackson also criticized UKnight and Labriola for the lawsuit’s “excessively aggressive phrasing and histrionics.”
Sources have told CNA that UKnight’s lawsuit is partially funded through LexShares, an online platform that connects plaintiffs with investors, who buy a stake in any settlement or judgment rendered in the suit.
Vatican City, Aug 26, 2019 / 04:35 pm (CNA).- A better understanding of the meaning and symbolic language of the Church’s liturgy, especially the Mass, will help Catholics encounter the Lord and grow in holiness, Cardinal Pietro Parolin said in a… […]
Kolkata, India, Aug 26, 2019 / 04:01 pm (CNA).- Hundreds of Missionaries of Charity gathered at their headquarters on Monday to commemorate the birthday of the order’s founder, Mother Teresa.
Archbishop Thomas D’Souza of Calcutta, whose birthday falls on the same day, celebrated Mass on Aug. 26 to recognize what would be the 109th birthday of Saint Mother Teresa.
“It was a splendid celebration. The 109th anniversary of the birth of our beloved Saint Mother Teresa was a moment of thanksgiving through prayer and joy,” said Father Dominic Gomes, vicar general of the archdiocese.
“The chapel was packed with people of all social origins,” he told Asia News.
The event was held at the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata. After Mass, an estimated 300 nuns and novices gathered around the saint’s tomb and sang “Happy Birthday.”
Catholics normally commemorate the feast day of a saint – which often corresponds with the day they died – but the Missionaries of Charity have continued to celebrate Mother Teresa’s birthday as well, even after her death in 1997. During Mother Teresa’s life, her birthday had been a major celebration at the house.
The nuns told UCA News that they celebrate Mother Teresa’s birthday in all 700 of their homes across the world. The nuns will begin a nine-day novena on Aug. 27 in preparation for the saint’s feast day on Sept. 5.
“There can be no feast day without a birthday,” one of the nuns told UCA News. “So, our birthday celebrations could be seen as preparation for the feast day.”
Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu Aug. 26, 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia. After joining the Sisters of Loretto at age 17, she was sent to Kolkata, where she later contracted tuberculosis, and was sent to rest in Darjeeling.
On the way, she felt what she called “an order” from God to leave the convent and live among the poor.
After she left her convent, Mother Teresa began working in the slums, teaching poor children, and treating the sick in their homes. A year later, some of her former students joined her, and together they took in men, women and children who were dying in the gutters along the streets.
In 1950, the Missionaries of Charity were born as a congregation of the Diocese of Calcutta. In 1952, the government granted them a house from which to continue their mission of serving Calcutta’s poor and forgotten. Today, they operate in 176 countries, serving the “poorest of the poor.”
Mother Teresa was canonized in 2016.
During his homily, Archbishop D’Souza said Christ invites everyone to service and pointed to Mother Teresa as a model of selfless love.
“Jesus invites us to love one another. The Mother served the poorest of the poor with selfless service and passionate love, giving them to Jesus through her work,” he said, according to Asia News.
Richmond, Va., Aug 26, 2019 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- The Governor of Virginia has appointed a Democratic activist with a history of profane, anti-Catholic statements to an influential public body.
On Aug. 16, Gov. Ralph Northam (D) appointed Gail Gord… […]
Dhaka, Bangladesh, Aug 26, 2019 / 03:41 pm (CNA).- Two years after a surge of state-sponsored violence in Burma forced more than 1 million members of the Rohingya Muslim minority group to flee the country, the refugees are calling for international act… […]
A year ago one October Saturday, my wife and I were at Good Shepherd Catholic Church, in Alexandria, Virginia, which is a hop, skip and a couple turns from George Washington’s Mt. Vernon estate. It […]
Paterson, N.J., Aug 26, 2019 / 01:55 pm (CNA).- After a fire destroyed a Catholic Charities shelter in Paterson, New Jersey on Saturday, Catholic leaders are counting their blessings that no one was injured or killed in the blaze.
“Thank you to … […]
Canberra, Australia, Aug 26, 2019 / 10:05 am (CNA).- Cardinal George Pell will appeal his conviction to the Australian High Court, following the decision last week by the Court of Appeal in Victoria to uphold […]
Washington D.C., Aug 26, 2019 / 11:00 am (CNA).- Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI), a practicing Catholic who has served in Congress since 2011, will be stepping down from his seat on September 23. He made the announcement in a post on his personal Facebook page.
Duffy made the announcement Aug. 26, citing a desire to be with his family ahead of the imminent arrival of his ninth child as the reason he will leave Congress before the end of his term.
“With much prayer, I have decided that this is the right time for me to take a break from public service in order to be the support my wife, baby and family need right now,” he said.
“It is not an easy decision – because I truly love being your Congressman – but it is the right decision for my family, which is my first love and responsibility.”
Duffy and his wife, television personality Rachel Campos-Duffy, announced in May that they were expecting their ninth child, saying “God isn’t done with our family yet!” In his Facebook post on Monday, he explained that new family developments, coupled with the difficulty of being in Washington for most of the week, contributed to his decision to quit.
“As you all know, raising a family is hard work. It’s especially true for one as large and busy as mine. Being away from home in Washington four days a week is challenging and for that reason, I have always been open to signs from God when it comes to balancing my desire to serve both my family and my country,” said Duffy.
His ninth child, a girl, is due in late October. In the Facebook post, Duffy explained that they recently learned that she will “need even more love, time, and attention due to complications, including a heart condition.”
Duffy thanked his constituents for “the faith and sacred trust you have put in me all these years,” and said he was especially thankful for the people who have prayed for his family. He encouraged people to continue praying.
“I will miss being your Congressman, but I am also looking forward to having more time with my family, being home for more birthdays and hockey games, and having time to enjoy and care for our new baby girl, who is already so loved by our family,” he said.
The congressman’s district, Wisconsin’s 7th, is a reliably safe Republican district. Duffy was re-elected in 2018 with 60 percent of the vote. In the past, he has expressed his consistent support for President Donald Trump.
Duffy and his wife both participated in the reality television series, “The Real World,” broadcast on MTV. Campos-Duffy was on the show’s third season, which was filmed in San Francisco, and Duffy participated in the sixth season, which was filmed in Boston. The two met in 1998 while participating in a related TV project titled “Road Rules: All Stars.”
© Catholic World Report