Local
Metro Weekly publisher settles $1 million lawsuit
Agreement reached over debt, fraud allegation; IRS tax liens remain
Metro Weekly — a local gay magazine published by Jansi LLC, which is owned by Randy Shulman — and Post-Newsweek Media, Inc., the company that owns the Washington Post, reached a settlement agreement on April 28 over a lawsuit in which Post-Newsweek alleged that Jansi and Shulman engaged in fraud to avoid paying a Post-Newsweek-owned printing company $85,000 for printing services.
The settlement came six days after a D.C. Superior Court judge presiding over the lawsuit denied a motion for summary judgment by Jansi and Shulman that called for dismissing the fraud charge on grounds that insufficient evidence existed to move forward with the charge.
The settlement agreement also came just over seven months after Judge Ramsey Johnson denied a separate motion by Jansi and Shulman seeking dismissal of the lawsuit.
The terms of the settlement between the two parties could not be found in the court records, indicating the parties chose to keep the terms confidential as is the case with many lawsuits.
Paul S. Thaler, the attorney representing Post-Newsweek, and John W. Karr and William G. McLain, the attorneys representing Jansi and Shulman, did not respond to the Blade’s request for comment on the case and the settlement.
McLain faxed a message to the Blade on May 27 saying Jansi and Shulman would consider responding to a Blade inquiry in writing if such a response was “deemed appropriate” by him but the magazine has a policy of not providing interviews to Blade reporters.
Jansi and Shulman’s attorneys have argued that the lawsuit was without merit, saying the printing debt was incurred by Isosceles Publishing, Inc., the corporation that owned and operated Metro Weekly up until November 2007.
The magazine’s attorneys have argued that a new corporation called Jansi LLC entered into a licensing agreement with Isosceles to publish and operate Metro Weekly beginning in November 2007. They maintain that Jansi, as a separate corporate entity, was not responsible for the debts and liabilities incurred when Metro Weekly was published and operated by Isosceles.
A past due bill of $85,000 from Comprint, a Gaithersburg, Md., company owned by Post-Newsweek, was for printing services incurred by Metro Weekly during the time Isosceles published the magazine, the lawyers have argued.
In its lawsuit filed in July 2010, Post-Newsweek charged Jansi LLC and Shulman, one of Jansi’s two shareholders, with breach of contract, saying they were responsible for the printing debt with Comprint.
The lawsuit also charged Jansi and Shulman with fraud for allegedly entering into the licensing agreement with Isosceles for the alleged purpose of evading debts and liabilities.
“Upon information and belief, Mr. Shulman, Jansi, and Isosceles entered into the 2007 License Agreement with the specific intention to evade Isosceles’ creditors while continuing to publish, and reap revenue from, Metro Weekly,” the lawsuit said. “As a direct result of the defendant’s fraud, plaintiff suffered damages in a sum to be proved at trial but expected to exceed $1,000,000,” the lawsuit said in its request for punitive damages.
‘Nearly $656,000’ in tax liens
In its court brief opposing Jansi and Shulman’s motion to dismiss the fraud charge, Post-Newsweek attorney Thaler cited Shulman’s testimony in a deposition in February in which Shulman acknowledged that he and Isosceles had yet to resolve an outstanding tax obligation with the IRS.
News of Isoceles’ tax liabilities surfaced last year when the Washington Business Journal reported that, “nearly $656,000 in federal and state tax liens have been filed against Isosceles.” Records from the D.C. Recorder of Deeds, which keeps track of tax liens, show that 21 federal, D.C., or unemployment tax liens had been filed against Isosceles Publishing between 1996 and 2010.
Thaler stated in his brief opposing Jansi and Shulman’s motion to dismiss the fraud charge that the tax liens were an indication that the licensing agreement between Isosceles and Jansi was conceived to enable Metro Weekly to evade its debts, a development, he said, that supports Post-Newsweek’s fraud claim.
In Jansi and Shulman’s August 2010 motion for summary judgment seeking to dismiss the lawsuit, Karr argued that Post-Newsweek’s breach of contract charge concerning the printing debt was invalid because, among other things, Post-Newsweek had brought the same charge in a separate lawsuit in 2009.
A judge ruled in Post-Newsweek’s favor in the earlier lawsuit and ordered Isosceles to pay the printing debt. Isosceles started making payments for the initial printing debt, which exceeded $100,000, for a while before stopping all payments. That prompted Post-Newsweek to file the second lawsuit last July, Thaler said in court papers.
Karr argued in his dismissal motion that the legal concept of “claim preclusion” or “issue preclusion” prohibits “relitigation in a subsequent proceeding of the same claim between the same parties or their privies.”
He also argued that Post-Newsweek failed to provide in its lawsuit the required “elements” indicating that fraud might have taken place to a sufficient degree that a fraud claim could move forward to trial.
D.C. Superior Court Judge Ramsey Johnson rejected those assertions, stating in a Sept. 13, 2010 ruling denying the motion for dismissal of the lawsuit that he was “satisfied that the Plaintiff’s complaint for fraud has been sufficiently pled.”
In its separate motion filed Feb. 23, 2011 seeking dismissal of the fraud charge, Karr reiterated his claim that Post-Newsweek failed to provide sufficient grounds for proving fraud. Karr cited the testimony of Post-Newsweek official Garland Christmas in a deposition in which Christmas stated he was not familiar with the specific details of the lawsuit’s allegation that Metro Weekly and Shulman engaged in fraud through the licensing agreement between Isosceles and Jansi.
Karr argued in his brief that Christmas, the Post-Newsweek official in charge of debt collection for the company, also could not provide information to support Post-Newsweek’s claim that it suffered damages exceeding $1 million due to the non-payment of the printing debt or the licensing deal between Isosceles and Jansi.
In his opposition motion for Post-Newsweek, Thaler said the latest lawsuit was aimed at “asking the court to pierce the corporate veil and find that defendants Randy Shulman and Jansi LLC are the functional ‘alter egos’ of Isosceles and should therefore be held liable for the debt owed to Plaintiff.”
Business funds for personal use
In his opposition motion, Thaler added, “Mr. Shulman further indicated [in a deposition] that the licensing arrangement was the ‘only way’ Metro Weekly could continue to be published in light of the tax lien against Isosceles…Shulman and his business partners frequently commingled funds between Jansi and Isosceles. Shulman has also withdrawn funds from Isosceles and Jansi for personal use.”
Shulman was asked during depositions about various charges made to a company ATM card. “If you go down the purchases apparently using the ATM card you’ll see not just the Pet Smart and Martin’s Wine but a series of purchases at Safeway, RiteAid, Target and Subway as well as something called 14k Restaurant, Starbucks. Is it your testimony that all of these were for Jansi or mistakes by you as you’ve indicated you sometimes do,” a Post-Newsweek lawyer asked.
“Some could be mistakes I would think that – I know for a fact the 14K would be a business – that would be a business – that was probably for coffee for a business meeting,” Shulman replied.
In response to questions about purchases with the Jansi card made at other places, such as the Virginia Market convenience store near his home, Shulman said:
“ … I’m looking this over and I’m looking at the cluster of time and it’s very likely at this time that, aside from the thing that I was – quite honestly, I probably had absolutely no money in my own personal account. I was actually utilizing Jansi funds that were there at the time to help support me.”
“So you used the ATM for Jansi,” the lawyer replied.
“I did use the ATM for Jansi to make my purchases during that period.”
In his April 22 ruling denying Jansi and Shulman’s summary judgment motion to dismiss the fraud charge, Judge Johnson stated, “The court has already concluded that Plaintiff’s fraud claim was sufficiently pled when it denied Defendants’ Motion for Failure to State a Claim on Sept. 13, 2010. With regard to the instant motion, the Court does not find that the issue of fraud, at least in this case, lends itself to summary judgment.”
District of Columbia
GLAA releases ratings for 18 candidates running for D.C. mayor, Council, AG
Mayoral contender Janeese Lewis Geroge among those receiving highest score
D.C. mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George, a Democrat, is among just four candidates to receive the highest rating score of +10 from GLAA D.C. who are competing in the city’s June 16 primary election.
GLAA, formally known as the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, has rated candidates for public office in D.C. since the 1970s. It rated 18 of the 36 candidates on this year’s primary ballot for mayor, D.C. Council, and D.C. attorney general based on its policy of only rating candidates who return a GLAA questionnaire asking for their positions on a wide range of issues, most of which are not LGBTQ-specific.
Among the candidates who did not return the questionnaire and thus did not receive a rating, according to GLAA, was Democratic mayoral contender Kenyan McDuffie, who along with Lewis George, is considered by political observers to be one of the two leading mayoral candidates running in the Democratic primary.
Lewis George and McDuffie, who each have long records of support for the LGBTQ community, are among a total of eight candidates running for mayor on the June 16 primary ballot: seven Democrats and one Statehood Green Party candidate. In addition to Lewis George, GLAA rated just two other mayoral candidates. Rini Sampath, a Democrat who self identifies as queer, received a +6.5 rating, and Ernest E. Johnson, also a Democrat, received a +4.5 rating
Under the GLAA rating system, candidate ratings range from a +10, the highest score, to a -10, the lowest possible score. In its ratings for the June 16 primary, the lowest score issued was +4.5. GLAA said in a statement that each of the 18 candidates it rated expressed strong support for LGBTQ-related issues in their questionnaire responses, indicating that the overall rating scores reflect the candidates’ positions on mostly non-LGBTQ-specific issues.
The three other candidates who received a +10 GLAA rating are each running as Democrats for the Ward 1 D.C. Council seat. They include gay candidate Miguel Trindade Deramo; Aparna Raj, who identifies as bisexual; and LGBTQ ally Rashida Brown. The only other Ward 1 candidate rated by GLAA is LGBTQ ally Terry Lynch, who received a +5.5 rating.
Ward 5 D.C. Councilmember Zachary Parker, the Council’s only gay member who is facing two opponents in the Democratic primary, received a +7 GLAA rating. The two challengers did not return the questionnaire and were not rated.
“In seven out of 10 of our priorities, every candidate indicated agreement,” GLAA said in its statement to the Washington Blade in referring to the candidates it rated. “Total consensus on core issues signals that whomever is elected to Council and mayor, we should expect to hold our elected officials accountable to our goals of protecting home rule, resisting federal overreach, advancing transgender healthcare rights, and eliminating chronic homelessness in the District,” the statement says.
“While candidates agree on the basics, they distinguish themselves in the depth and creativity in their responses, and their record on the issues,” according to the statement, which adds that candidates’ full questionnaire responses and ratings can be accessed on the GLAA website, glaa.org.
Like past election years, GLAA does not rate candidates running for the D.C. Congressional Delegate seat or the so-called “shadow” U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate seats.
With the exception of one question asking about transgender rights, none of the other nine of the 10 questionnaire questions are LGBTQ-specific. But most of the questions mention that LGBTQ people are impacted by the issues being raised, such as affordable housing, federal government intrusion into D.C. home rule, and access to healthcare and public benefits for low-income residents.
One of the questions asks candidates if they support decriminalization of sex work in D.C. among consenting adults, which GLAA supports. Lewis George is among the candidates who said they do not support sex work decriminalization at this time. The other two mayoral candidates that GLAA rated, Sampath and Johnson, said they support sex work decriminalization.
In the race for D.C. attorney general, GLAA issued a rating for just one of the three candidates running: Republican challenger Manuel Rivera, who received a +4.5 rating. Incumbent Democrat Brian Schwalb and Democratic challenger J.P. Szymkowicz were not rated because they didn’t return the questionnaire.
D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D), who is running unopposed in the primary, received a +6.5 rating. Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen, who is facing three Democratic challengers in the primary and who is a longtime LGBTQ ally, received a +6.5 rating.
In the special election to fill the at-large D.C. Council seat vacated by the resignation of then-Independent Councilmember McDuffie to enable him to run for mayor as a Democrat, GLAA has rated two of the three Independent candidates competing for the seat. Elissa Silverman received a +5.75 rating, and Doni Crawford received a +5.6 rating.
Finally, in the At-Large D.C. Council race GLAA issued ratings for five of the 11 candidates running in the primary, each of whom are Democrats. Oye Owolewa received a +9; Lisa Raymond, +7.5; Dwight Davis, +6.5; Dyana N.M. Forester, +6; and Fred Hill, +6.6.
The full list of GLAA-rated candidates and their detailed questionnaire responses can be accessed at glaa.org.
Rehoboth Beach
From the Capitol to the coast: Rep. Sarah McBride shares Rehoboth favorites
As summer kicks off, Congresswoman Sarah McBride shares her favorite Rehoboth spots.
Each year for the past 19 years, the Washington Blade has kicked off the summer season with a quintessential tradition — a party in Rehoboth Beach. The annual celebration is well known among Blade readers as the unofficial start of summer and beach season. (This year’s event is May 15, 5-7 p.m. at Diego’s featuring remarks from Ashley Biden.)
Two weeks ago, the Blade sat down with Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first openly transgender person elected to Congress, to discuss her first year in office. While reflecting on key milestones and challenges ahead, she also shared some of her favorite Rehoboth spots and what the beach town means to her.
“I love Rehoboth,” the state’s sole House member told the Blade, beaming from her office in the Longworth House Office Building. “I love Baltimore Avenue, and love going to Aqua and the Pines.”
Both Aqua and the Pines have long served as staples of Rehoboth’s LGBTQ community. From the Saturday night lines stretching down the street off the main drag to the Sunday tea dances, the venues have helped cement Rehoboth as one of the top LGBTQ beach destinations in the United States dating back to at least the 1940s, when LGBTQ federal workers would escape the pressures — and often prying eyes — of Washington for a queer haven along the Delaware coast.
While attitudes and the community itself have evolved over the decades, Rehoboth today can still feel like an extension of D.C. — only with more Speedos and sandy flip-flops. Conversations that begin in Washington about politics and nightlife often continue beachside, shifting from “What’s Bunker’s theme tonight?” to “Who’s DJing at Aqua?”
When asked where she likes to dine in town, McBride highlighted one longtime favorite while also teasing a new addition she’s eager to try.
“Drift Seafood and Raw Bar is one of my favorite restaurants,” she said. “I actually ran into a Rehoboth restaurateur the other day while I was at Longwood Gardens for the tulips — which were beautiful. The restaurateur just opened a new restaurant on the south end of Baltimore Avenue that I’m excited to try. It sounds like an Indian fusion restaurant.”
When asked whether she frequents Poodle Beach — the longtime LGBTQ section of the shoreline — McBride shared that she prefers a quieter stretch of sand a bit farther north of Rehoboth’s gay beach scene.
“I usually go to Deauville, which is just north. It’s right there in between the boardwalk and Gordon’s Pond and North Shores.”
Regardless of where she chooses to unwind from the pressures of Washington and Dover, McBride was clear about how much both Rehoboth and Delaware mean to her.
“I love Rehoboth. I love the restaurants there. This is the professional privilege of my lifetime, getting to represent Delaware.”
“One of the things that I love is seeing how much goodness there is in this state,” she shared. “I represent more people in the House of Representatives than any other representative. Unlike most members who represent exclusively urban, suburban, or rural districts, I represent all three. Delaware demographically looks like America.”
She went on to say that representing a state whose demographics closely mirror the country as a whole gives her hope for the future — something that can at times feel elusive within the often-divisive halls of Congress.
“That means every day that I’m here, and every time Delawareans come to visit me, I get to see the full diversity of this country and this state on display. I get to see the goodness across that diversity, whether it’s diversity of identity or diversity of thought. It makes me even prouder to represent a state that time and time again judges candidates not based on their identities, but based on their ideals.”
She ended with a simple but hopeful message about her state and its people.
“Our politics are too often defined by hate. I’m glad Delaware and Delawareans are showing that a different kind of politics is possible.”
District of Columbia
Anti-LGBTQ violence prevention efforts highlighted at D.C. community fair
Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs organized May 8 event
Detailed advice on how LGBTQ people can avoid, defend themselves against, and prevent themselves and loved ones from becoming victims of violence, with a focus on domestic and intimate partner violence, was presented at a May 8 LGBTQIA+ Safety in Numbers Community Fair.
The event, organized by the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, included five workshop sessions and information tables set up by 14 LGBTQ-supportive organizations and D.C. government agencies or agency divisions, including the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department’s LGBT Liaison Unit and the D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center.
Also playing a lead role in organizing the event was the D.C. LGBTQIA+ Violence Prevention and Response Team, or VPART, a coalition of D.C. officials and leaders of community-based organizations that work with the Office of LGBTQ Affairs.
The event was held in meeting space in the building where the Office of LGBTQ Affairs is located at 899 N. Capitol St., N.E.
The workshop topics included de-escalation training on healthy relationships, bystander intervention, self-defense training, violence prevention grants, and suicide prevention.
“This will be a public safety and violence prevention event where community partners will educate attendees on various methods of violence intervention and trauma-informed practices,” according to a statement released by the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs prior to the start of the event.
The statement adds, “We will have live demos, interactive games, and workshops focused on strategies for self-defense, protecting vulnerable communities, increasing access to mental health resources, providing tools for recognizing domestic violence/intimate partner violence signs in intimate relationships, and assistance for substance abuse.”
Sonya Joseph, associate director of engagement for the Office of LGBTQ Affairs, told the Washington Blade that studies have shown rates of domestic or intimate partner violence are higher in the LGBTQ community than in the community at large.
“Domestic violence and intimate partner violence are two very big prevalent issues in the LGBTQ community,” she said, adding that some of the workshops at the event would be providing “training on healthy relationships and how to recognize and prevent intimate partner violence and the signs of it.”
About 35 to 40 people attended the workshop sessions.
Experts specializing in violence impacting the LGBTQ community have said domestic violence refers to violence among people in domestic relationships that can include spouses but also siblings, parents, cousins, and other relatives. Intimate partner violence, according to the experts, refers to violence perpetuated by a partner in a romantic or dating relationship.
These D.C. based organizations or agencies that participated in the LGBTQIA+ Safety in Numbers event, and which can be contacted for assistance, include:
• Defend Yourself
• DC LGBTQ+ Community Center
• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
• Joseph’s House
• Us Helping Us, People into Living, Inc.
• MCSR (formerly known as Men Can Stop Rape)
• MPD LGBT Liaison Unit
• Volunteer Legal Advocates
• DC SAFE
• Destination Tomorrow
• D.C. Office of Victims Services and Justice Grants
• Life Enhancement Services
• ONYX Therapy Group
• U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C.
America’s broken pipeline of mental healthcare for trans youth
GLAA releases ratings for 18 candidates running for D.C. mayor, Council, AG
Blade finalist for D.C. Society of Professional Journalists awards
He is 16 and sitting in a Cuban prison
From the Capitol to the coast: Rep. Sarah McBride shares Rehoboth favorites
Protection should mean protection
Maren Morris to headline Capital Pride Concert
Va. Supreme Court invalidates Democrat-backed redistricting plan
Celebrate Pride in Lost River, a slice of rural heaven
