A jury has awarded $791,000 to three locals for libel damages caused by the creator of the board game Pirateer. The verdict may finally mark an end to what was once a Mendocino Coast business success story.
Scott Peterson ended up losing the lawsuit he launched against former members of the board of directors of the Mendocino Game Company. The firm was formed to promote the adventure game that Peterson invented in 1995 and had about 50 local investors.
Peterson claimed the board members conspired against him to bring down the company and to take it over for their own benefit.
In a press release, Attorney Charlie Cochran of Santa Rosa and his law partner, John Borba, announced success in a five-year legal marathon that ultimately became a libel action against Peterson. The two attorneys represented former board members Larry Wagner, Birdie Wilson-Holmes, Ron Stark and Andarin Arvola, Peterson”s ex-wife, in a three-week jury trial in Mendocino County Superior Court.
“Our clients prevailed against Scott Peterson of Mendocino for [libel] and intentional infliction of emotional distress with the jury awarding a total of $791,000 in favor of Sally Stewart, Birdie Wilson-Holmes and Ron Stark,” the press release said.
“Our defendants prevailed against Peterson with the jury finding that they did not conspire or breach their fiduciary duties as members of the board,” the press release said.
Stark told a Humboldt Public Radio station the problems began when board members sought more detailed financial information about the company. Stark said that led to the 2004 lawsuit by Peterson against his board, followed by a relentless email campaign. A flurry of false allegations began arriving anonymously in the personal and business lives of all the former board members.
The jury considered numerous letters and emails sent by Peterson to people in the Mendocino community that they felt libeled Stewart, Stark and Wilson-Holmes, the press release said.
The jury did find Arvola hired a locksmith and broke in to his house during their acrimonious divorce and awarded Peterson $101 for the cost of the locksmith, the press release said.
When asked to respond to the verdict, Peterson referred this newspaper to his expert, Dr. John Watts Podboy. Podboy, a psychiatrist, testified that psychiatric testimony was improper and not based in good practice.
Podboy said Dr. Murray Zucker, the psychiatrist who testified about Peterson”s mental condition, improperly administered the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. “That provided a negative and false image of Peterson”s mental health that may have given the jury a damaging impression,” Podboy said.
According to an article in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, the testimony said Peterson actually did suffer from a narcissist personality disorder along with paranoia.
The jury found Peterson had caused defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress to Stewart, Stark and Wilson-Holmes and awarded them $150,000 each. Stark and Wilson-Holmes also got $500 each for their counseling bills, the press release from the attorneys said.
The jury also awarded Stark and Wilson-Holmes another $20,000 for intentional infliction of emotional distress in a separate cause of action.
In a second phase of the civil trial, the jury found Peterson had acted with malice and awarded an additional $100,000 each in punitive damages to Stewart, Stark and Wilson-Holmes, the press release said.
Cochran claimed the $791,000 verdict may be the largest libel verdict in Mendocino County history.
Pirateer was originally called Privateer. Pirateer still has its own website, which contains a construction placard and the words “lawyers at work” in place of contact information. Peterson said in an email interview the game has been out of production for several years.
