On Tuesday, Stuff reported:
Lawyer found guilty of misconduct for trying to destroy ex-husband's career
An Auckland lawyer could be struck off after being found guilty of misconduct for trying to destroy her former husband's reputation and career.
Among other things, Jeanne Denham organised for blog posts to appear on Cameron Slater's Whaleoil site that targeted Peter Clague in his role as principal of Kristin School.
You’ve really got to wonder why authorities don’t simply move to close down the sewer of a blog known as Whale Oil Beef Hooked. After all, the Harmful Digital Communications Act is in play, and should be used to remove Slater's highly defamatory posts.
A while ago the National party made a big pretence of getting tough on people who use the Internet to harass others. However they continue to allow nasty trolls like Cameron Slater and Carrick Graham to pedal their destructive hatred unchallenged because it suits their divisive agenda. Because of this, it’s clear the sites admin and the politicians who anonymously post there have no principles whatsoever.
Denham's lawyer Warren Pyke said an appeal against the judgment had already been lodged. He said he was unable to provide further details, but added both Denham and her former husband were "flawed human beings".
Not even Denham’s lawyer actually backs her. Some people might think these types of nasty court proceedings are unusual, but vexatious litigation actually occurs all the time. Usually the courts just go along with it to ensure unscrupulous lawyer's continue on the gravy train.
The judgment said that in October 2012, Denham engaged the services of Carrick Graham, a public relations consultant known for his connections to Whaleoil blogger Cameron Slater, who arranged for pieces to be published that were highly critical of her former husband.
Multiple text exchanges between Denham and Graham showed how they discussed the impact the Whaleoil blog posts would have on Clague's reputation as Kristin principal.
Denham said in a message on 25 October 2012 that a recent blog post was generating interest in the school community, adding: "It'll spread like wildfire now!", the judgment said.
Carrick replied two minutes later: "Excellent. We'll talk more tomorrow about what else we can run on there!"
Disgusting! The problem for Graham and Slater is that Whale Oil has no credibility left to leverage people’s opinions with. By continuing to blog, they're basically just confirming that those who use such reprehensible services are scumbags themselves, who should be publicly and professionally avoided.
Following another blog post the following month, Denham wrote it made her "laugh out loud".
Carrick later told Denham her former husband was now "damaged goods" in terms of his reputation, the judgment said.
Denham is also damaged goods, and is no longer listed as working for the Luscombe Legal agency based in Hastings. It also appears that she’s no longer the chair at North Harbour Living Without Violence either. I wonder why?
Let's hope that Denham has learnt a valuable lesson here. People need to realise that there are consequences to employing the services of evil thugs like Graham and Slater to do their dirty deeds.
In 2014, Denham filed a private prosecution against Clague for assault, following unsuccessful attempts to overturn the police decision to not lay charges.
She arranged for Graham to leak details of the case to media before Clague could file an application for name suppression, noting "it might be a race".
The prosecution was dismissed as an "abuse of process" by the presiding judge, who ruled in 2015 it had been primarily brought to "destroy his [Clague's] career and reputation and collaterally damage Kristin School".
Poor guy. It appears that he had to move countries because of Denham’s vindictive nature. However I bet she now regrets her decision to give dirty laundry to the despicable Graham and Slater.
Denham was ordered to pay $146,000 in costs, which have not been paid as she has since declared herself bankrupt.
Typical of these types of people to claim they’re bankrupt to try and avoid paying their dues. I bet Denham is simply hiding her wealth in an attempt to not make payment out of spite.
Clearly Jeanne Denham deserves to win this week’s Asshole Award. There is no doubt in my mind that she should have her appeal fail as well.
