Archive/File: pub/people/mermelstein.mel mermelstein.order.072285
Last-Modified: 1995/05/06

		 SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
		       FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES

MEL MERMELSTEIN.                )    No. C 356 542
         Plaintiff,             )
vs.                             )    JUDGMENT
                                )
INSTITUTE FOR HISTORICAL        )
REVIEW, et al.                  )
         Defendants.            )

     Pursuant to the Stipulation for Entry of Judgment executed on July 22,
1985, the Court renders the following judgment:

    1.  Defendants LIBERTY LOBBY, WILLIS CARTO, ELISABETH CARTO, LEGION FOR
SURVIVAL OF FREEDOM, INSTITUTE FOR HISTORICAL REVIEW, and NOONTIDE PRESS,
and each of them, are jointly and severally liable to plaintiff MEL
MERMELSTEIN for the sum of One Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($150,000.00),
reduced to the sum of Ninety Thousand Dollars ($90,000.00) payable as
follows:
       (a) Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) on August 1, 1985, and
delivered to the law offices of ALLRED, MAROKO, GOLDBERG & RIBAKOFF;
       (b)  Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000.00) on September 1, 1985;
       (c)  Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000.00) on October 1, 1985.
    2.  Should any of the installments not be made by the defendants against
whom judgment herein is entered within the time period provided, plaintiff,
at his sole option and discretion, shall have the following options:
       (a) To rescind the Stipulation for Entry of Judgment and proceed to
trial and any payments received by plaintiff to that date from defendants
shall not be returned to said defendants; or
       (b) Plaintiff may request entry of Judgment against each of said
defendants, jointly or severally, in the sum of One Hundred Fifty Thousand
Dollars ($150,000.00).
    3.  Defendants LIBERTY LOBBY, WILLIS CARTO, ELISABETH CARTO, LEGION FOR
SURVIVAL OF FREEDOM, INSTITUTE FOR HISTORICAL REVIEW, and NOONTIDE PRESS,
shall issue and execute, by a duly authorized representative, a Letter of
Apology to Mel Mermelstein, as follows:
  "Each of the answering defendants do hereby officially and formally
  apologize to Mr. Mel Mermelstein, a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau and
  Buchenwald, and all other survivors of Auschwitz for the pain, anguish and
  suffering he and all other Auschwitz survivors have sustained relating to
  the $50,000 reward offer for proof that "Jews were gassed in gas chambers at
  Auschwitz".

DATED: AUG 5, 1985

                                          ROBERT A. WENKE, JUDGE
                                          SUPERIOR COURT

APPROVED AS TO FORM AND CONTENT:

G. G. BAUMEN
Attorney for Defendants
INSTITUTE FOR HISTORICAL REVIEW,
LEGION FOR SURVIVAL OF FREEDOM,
ELISABETH CARTO and NOONTIDE PRESS

VON ESCH & ASSOCIATES
Attorneys for Defendants
LIBERTY LOBBY and WILLIS CARTO


*****  B  *****  B  *****  B  *****  B  *****  B  *****  B  *****  B  *****


			    STATEMENT OF RECORD
				    AND
		    LETTER OF APOLOGY TO MEL MERMELSTEIN

     "WHEREAS, the Legion for Survival of Freedom, and the Institute for
Historical Review, sent by letter dated November 20, 1980, directly to Mel
Mermelstein, a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau and Buchenwald, an exclusive
reward offer in a letter marked "'personal'" dated November 20, 1980,
offering Mr. Mermelstein a $50,000 exclusive reward for "'proof that Jews
were gassed in gas chambers at Auschwitz'" "and further stating that if Mr.
Mermelstein did not respond to the reward offer "'very soon"', "the
Institute for Historical Review would ' publicize that fact to the mass
media' ..."
     "WHEREAS, Mr. Mermelstein formally applied for said $50,000 reward on
December 18, 1980; and
     "WHEREAS, Mr. Mermelstein now contends that the Institute for
Historical Review knew, or should have known, from Mr. Mermelstein's letter
to the editor of the Jerusalem Post dated Autust 17, 1980, that Mr.
Mermelstein contended he was a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau and
Buchenwald; knew, or should have known, that Mr. Mermelstein contended that
his mother and two sisters were gassed to death at Auschwitz; and knew, or
should have known, of his contention that at dawn on May 22, 1944, he
observed his mother and two sisters, among other women and childred, being
lured and driven into the gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau, which he later
discovered to be Gas Chamber No. 5; and
     "WHEREAS, on October 9, 1981, the parties in dispute in the litigation
filed cross-motions for summary judgment resulting in the court, per the
Honorable Thomas T. Johnson, taking judicial notice as follows:
  "'Under Evidence Code Section 452(h), this court does take judicial
  notice of the fact that Jews were gassed to death at the Auschwitz
  Concentration Camp in Poland during the summer of 1944'" and "'It just
  simply is a fact that falls within the definition of Evidence Code Section
  452(h).  It is not reasonably subject to dispute.  And it is capable of
  immediate and accurate determination by resort to sources of reasonably
  indisputable accuracy.  It is simply a fact.'"
     "WHEREAS, Mr. Mermelstein and other survivors of Auschwitz contend that
they suffered severe emotional distress resulting from said reward offer and
subsequent conduct of the Institute of Historical Review; and
     "WHEREAS, the Institute for Historical Review and Legion for Survival
of Freedom now contend that in offering such reward there was no intent to
offend, embarrass or cause emotional strain to anyone, including Mr.
Mermelstein, a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau and Buchenwald Concentration
Camps of World War II, and a person who lost his father, mother and two
sisters who also were inmates of Auschwitz;
     "WHEREAS, the Institute for Historical Review and Legion for Survival
of Freedom should have been aware that the reward offer would cause Mr.
Mermelstein and other survivors of Auschwitz to suffer severe emotional
distress which the Institute for Historical Review and Legion for Survival
of Freedom, now recognize is regretable and abusive to survivors of
Auschwitz.

		    LETTER OF APOLOGY TO MEL MERMELSTEIN

  "Each of the answering defendants do hereby officially and formally
apologize to Mr. Mel Mermelstein, a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau and
Buchenwald, and all other survivors of Auschwitz for the pain, anguish and
suffering he and all other Auschwitz survivors have sustained relating to
the $50,000 reward offer for proof that "Jews were gassed in gas chambers at
Auschwitz".

DATED: 7/24/85             G. G. Baumen
                           Attorney for Defendants
                           Legion For Survival of Freedom,
                           Institute for Historical Review,
                           Noontide Press, and Elisabeth Carto

DATED: 7/24/85             MARK F. VON ESCH
                           Attorneys for Defendants
                           Liberty Lobby and Willis Carto

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