Charisma University has received "Candidate for Accreditation ACPSP

I'm sorry that you had to go through all that. I'm glad for the result.

 

Rich, congratulations on your win. Hopefully you can rest easy knowing this isn't looming over your head any more.

 

Well, it was never going to amount to anything. Can you imagine if anyone could bring suit against someone for anything a person wrote? It would be mayhem. But I wish he hadn't done it.

When I got served, I called him and offered to settle the matter. I offered to take whatever he wanted said about the school and post it under my name, provided it was factual. He would have none of it. I then asked if there was anything we could do to settle the matter amicably. He would have none of that, either. So I retained an attorney, then filed the anti-SLAPP response to the suit. We went back and forth for awhile on motions, then we had a hearing. In that hearing, the judge approved our demurrer, which is a request to be excused from the case. But because he wouldn't drop it, we decided to pull the demurrer and proceed with the dismissal. (This not only would kill the case, it would also make him liable for my costs relative to the anti-SLAPP, which is most of what was incurred.) Again, we offered twice more to drop the case and go our separate ways, but he never responded. So we proceeded with our motion to dismiss, which was granted yesterday.

Dr. Okpala pursed this case pro se, but was represented at the two hearings by an attorney hired just for the hearings. I wish he'd been represented by counsel the whole way--an attorney might have dissuaded him from proceeding with the suit.

He also sued this board, Chip, Steve Levicoff, Degree Discussion, Gus (the owner of DD), and others. He never successfully served anyone else. I think this ends the case, unless he appeals. (Obviously, I hope he doesn't.)

I won't receive all my costs, and I don't know if I'll be able to collect. But there are ways to do that, and it could get embarrassing for him to ignore the judgment. We'll see. And I won't ever get back the emotional loss and anger associated with this. I'm just going to let those go.

 

I realize that the lawsuit was destined to fail but I can imagine still getting worked up over something like this. Perhaps I would get even more worked up knowing that it was going nowhere.

I mean, if I drive my car into the front of your house I expect damages. But I'm probably mostly mad at myself for, you know, driving my car into the front of your house.

But if someone files an absolutely frivolous suit against me I'm going to feel pretty angry. And knowing I need to spend time, money and energy to have the nonsense thrown out would probably make me angrier.

Anyway, glad to hear it worked out and that you are willing to let the anger go. If there is a silver lining to this event it could be that maybe Dr. Okpala will be a bit more reluctant to bring such actions against others in the future.

 

Congrats Dr. Douglas,

I am confused, Charisma University is not in the United States nor California, why the lawsuit was filed there?

I thought if I have no choice to get my Ph.D, then I move to Charisma University to complete my Cyber Security Doctorate. Thanks to Dr. Okpala helps me not interested in the institution even a bit. In the past, I recommended several others for the institution for their Doctorate in Cyber Security. Now, I would not recommend to anyone.

 

Dr Okpala sued me in California because he lives there.

We never got to issues like:

-- what was the actual harm? (None.)

-- how could an individual use me for something I said about the school?

-- how does he have standing when I don't live in California, the school doesn't operate in California, etc.?

-- does the State know he's claiming to operate Charisma as a school from California without approval?

I will not recommend or fail to recommend this school on the basis of this man's actions. Or for any other reason. He sued me for saying things that we're true (mostly about accreditation) but he didn't like. I have no interest in whether or not some decides to enroll there, or not.

It would be very interesting to see what the authorities in Sacramento think about Charisma and Okpala's claim in court filings that he operates it from California. Yes, very interesting.

 

Just caught up with this, what a cluster.

Rich, I'm glad things worked out in your favor, and sorry you had to go through that nonsense, but thank you for the free entertainment. :tongue2:

 

Congratulations Dr Douglas, although I am sorry you had to go through all this. I was one of the others, and I was never served. I ignored the PM sent to me by surprises but talked to our legal department about this lawsuit. The advice I got was to do absolutely nothing, which, not counting a PM to the admin of this site, was exactly what I did.

Considering that, in my opinion, I didn't say anything negative about Charisma, I think I was sued for asking too many questions. There are a few I never asked, like why Charisma's legal representative Samuel didn't tell the truth in one of his posts and what exactly it was that didn't work out for Charisma in Montserrat, but I guess it's pointless to discuss further with a university allowing its "students" to ask other posters if they are from "the Boko Haram group".

 

Curiously, you were dropped from the suit, the only defendant who got that treatment. (Except me, when I was granted a demurrer. It was my choice to stay in the suit to go after the dismissal.)

Could you tell us why that happened, if you know?

 

I join everyone in congratulating Rich, and welcoming him to the most exclusive enclave among distance education experts – people who have been sued. And won.

But I expected no less. After all, I’m only a doctor. He’s now a doctor-doctor.

I’m not quite why the plaintiffs have had so difficult a time finding me. I mean, all they had to do was look for me in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, or Wyoming.

Yes, there are hidden advantages to being a trucker.

 

..........

 

http://ibin.co/2CrTQ9jBSZAJ

 

DL Truth.Com mentioned about you as a truck driver. I read some threats over there about the Plaintiff and those DL Truth folks were really confident about the lawsuit. They had not discussed anything about the dismissal and countersuit.

 

No "counter suit." Just a response to the original suit that resulted in a dismissal and costs.

 

Those morons are still at it?

 

@Dr Douglas

I have absolutely no idea. As I said, I think I was sued for asking too many questions - and possibly for knowing too much about things Nigerian -, not for anything I actually said about Charisma. I was, as I see it, trying to be fair and the interesting thing is that when I said I had made my mind up about Charisma, 'surprises' didn't ask me in what way: he just went ahead and sued me, after saying things like "most Nigerians I've met have been opposite you, or are you from the Boko Haram group" and "you are very troublesome and practically nothing." And by the way, I never claimed I am Nigerian. As it happens, I am Jewish.

 

Fair enough. It just seemed strange that he dropped you from the suit when he was suing anyone and everyone for who-knows-what reasons.

My attorney is working on the language for the dismissal (and our costs) for the judge to approve. Then we go after our costs. We'll also invite him to offer to settle. We'll see.

 

Hadn't seen this until now:

Charisma University Announces Articulation Agreement with Apollos University | News | Charisma University

I don't know, Apollos, I don't know...