Well, well, well.....the fatlady finally sang! News Releases Capella University settles counterclaim lawsuit against former learner MINNEAPOLIS, January 15, 2009 - Capella University has agreed to settle its counterclaim lawsuit claiming defamation and interference with business relationships against a former Capella student named Jeffry La Marca. The settlement agreement states that Mr. La Marca will relinquish ownership of all his Web sites to Capella. In addition, he has agreed to cease all further activities referencing Capella and has withdrawn his appeal of the decision in the lawsuit he brought against Capella for alleged violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act. That lawsuit was dismissed in November 2007. Mr. La Marca has also issued an apology that will be posted on Capella's Web sites. “Capella is pleased with the settlement agreement and that Mr. La Marca's Web sites, blogs and other postings on the Internet, which Capella believes were designed to harm Capella's reputation, will be removed,” said Steve Shank, Capella's chairman and CEO. To Capella University, its staff, instructors, students and counsel. During the course of the litigation between Capella and myself, I have made or created a significant number of online comments and images critical of the University, its staff and students, and its lawyers, and, in particular, Greg Thom, Priscilla McNulty, Lisa Bromenshenkel, Kurt Linberg, Karen Viechnicki, Michael Offerman, Diane Stottlemyer, Fey Epling and Chris L’Orange. Many of my comments and images were extremely personal, derogatory, and contained demeaning and insulting language. In addition, I have also filed complaints with a number of local, state and federal agencies where I stated or inferred Capella and its staff were incompetent or engaged in improper activities. Third parties reading these comments, or seeing these images, could easily have been misled by their content. My comments, images and complaints were based on factual inaccuracies or my perception of events, and were neither accurate nor fair. Consequently, I now retract my statements, images and complaints, and offer my sincere apology. At the time I made these statements I believed these statements to be true, and at the time these statements were made I sincerely believed that I had been mistreated by the University and certain members of its staff. Jeff La Marca
Hmm. I don't know too much about computers. Could you explain how someone removing their comments from a website might cause a website to be down for awhile?
Needless to say - I am ecstatic about the settlement. IMHO, this was the best possible outcome for Capella - Capella gets to remove the websites, and LaMarca publicly apologizes. I'm glad its over... Shawn
No, Chip has a lot going on, and just forgot to renew the domain. I sent him an e-mail, and it was back up within a couple of hours. As for Mr. La Marca, in the words of Rush Limbaugh; words mean things.
The result was the best that Capella could realistically expect - though, in my opinion, the penance LaMarca faced seems woefully inadequate.