The first lawsuit was filed by perennial pro se litigant Sam Sloan. (Pro se, being the legal term for a person representing themselves -- it is also rumored to be Latin for "loser.") Sloan sued any number of defendants, but his main claim was that USCF director Paul Truong was the "Fake Sam Sloan."
The newsgroup Rec.Games.Chess.Politics, never a hotbed of civility, had been infested by a creature impersonating Sam Sloan, Ray Parker, Brian Lafferty and others. Even by usenet standards, this troll was profane, obnoxious, and idiotic. This clown upchucked all over rgcp, making it virtually uninhabitable for vaguely civilized folks. Most of the attacks were aimed at persons who were not allies of Troing. This activity peaked before the election where Polgar and Truong were elected.
Shortly after their election, Brian Mottershead, acting as a sysadmin on the USCF boards, noted that the FSS and Paul Truong had similar IP addresses when posting at the same time. FSS started in New York, and then moved to Lubbock Texas at the time that Truong did. FSS also posted from Mexico City at a time when Truong was also posting from Mexico City. Mottershead prepared a report documenting his investigation and conclusions, which he supplied to USCF and, apparently, 2 other people.
Someone leaked the report, and the accusation became public. It is still available for download at http://rs235.rapidshare.com/files/62649719/mottershead.zip,
It is worth noting that this was not the first time that Mr. Truong had been accused of posting to rgcp under a false name. Back in 2003, an obnoxious rgcp poster named "Bob Bennett" was linked to Truong. See the following link:
Shortly after this posting, Bob Bennett disappeared from the rgcp stage never to return.
Sloan claimed that the that the FSS destroyed his reputation, a notion that I must confess I found highly amusing -- what's another dent on a car that has already been through 15 demolition derbies? Sloan also asked that his the 2007 election be set aside, claiming that the FSS cost him his seat on the EB.
As ridiculous as the suit was, USCF's insurance had counsel appear to defend it. Members of the EB who were not parties to the lawsuit also hired counsel to advise them. This counsel requested Mr. Truong to sign an affidavit saying that he was not the FSS, and provide IP information on his computer. While Truong supplied some information, he did not provide either an affidavit or the IP addresses.
In Philidelphia, Ray Parker filed a copycat lawsuit against many of the same defendants also arising out of the FSS postings. USCF's insurance company was also defending that lawsuit, although, by this time, separate counsel were retained by the insurer to represent USCF and Polgar/Truong.
Sloan's suit was dismissed by the judge. Parker's suit was dismissed as to all defendants except Polgar/Truong. Had the matter stopped there, the litigation could have been under control, although the political fires would have raged.
Unfortunately, the matter was going to spin further out of control.
To be continued -- this blogger is too tired.
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