A federal judge in Maine will reconsider a case in which a Freeport man was ordered to pay millions of dollars for defaming the owner of a Haitian orphanage.
At issue is whether the court had jurisdiction over the case.
Last July, a jury awarded Michael Geilenfeld — the founder of a Haitian orphanage and an affiliated charity, Hearts with Haiti — a total of $14.5 million in damages. Geilenfeld had brought the defamation lawsuit against Freeport resident Paul Kendrick, an activist who had launched an email campaign against Geilenfeld, accusing him of being a serial pedophile.
Kendrick appealed that decision against him, and this week, an appellate court in Boston ordered the District Court in Maine to reconsider whether the court had jurisdiction over the case.
Kendrick’s attorney David Walker says it doesn’t, because Geilenfeld, although a U.S. citizen, lives in Haiti.
“If it’s determined the court did not have jurisdiction, the court would simply — I believe, and some of this we’ll have to wait and see — I believe the court would then dismiss the case,” Walker says.
If it’s determined that the federal court does have jurisdiction, Walker says he will appeal other issues in the case. The hearing is scheduled for March 30.
