Katz & Blaze TV vs Steyn: A Cut-Out'n'Keep Guide

"You know, you're trying to relitigate something that has passed, gone, finished."
Judge Eileen Bransten to Blaze/CRTV counsel Jeffrey Mitchell of Browne George Ross
New York Supreme Court, September 13th 2018

UPDATE! On June 7th 2019 Blaze TV lost on every single one of almost a hundred claims in their second ten-million-dollar suit against me. Less than a month later, July 2nd, the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court ordered Blaze to pay me over one million dollars in legal fees.

In February 2017, Cary Katz and CRTV fired me, canceled my TV show, and sued me for $10 million. They lost, comprehensively - that's to say, on every single one of their claims. We are now in the third year of litigation, because a vengeful and unprincipled billionaire refuses to accept his defeat. Since the first suit, Katz's CRTV network has ceased to exist. They've now "merged" with Glenn Beck's The Blaze to become part of Blaze TV. So far Katz's second largest shareholder seems to be enjoying it about as well as you might expect, and about as much as the audience. Three of Mark Levin's CRTV colleagues have instantly departed. CRTV, LLC is likewise defunct.

So two years after CRTV sued me for ten million dollars and a year after they lost, comprehensively, we're still here and they're not, as I foresaw ("I promise we shall be here long after CRTV is gone"). As to what that means for the suits below, for CRTV please insert "Blaze Media". Don't know what I ever did to Glenn Beck. We've always had very cordial relations, and he helped make America Alone and "A Marshmallow World" bestsellers. But times change...

Immediately after their initial loss, Katz decided to double-down on his wrongdoing and mendacity and told us he would never pay the judge's award of damages. Within days of CRTV's defeat going public ("Conservative Pundit Wins $4M From Network That Fired Him"), he and his corporate sock-puppet then re-sued me, this time for a combined $25 million. My old boss Conrad Black, whom Katz has named as Grievance 75B in his "statements at issue", has written a characteristically sharp summary in The National Post of Katz's tedious and unavailing cases. But, for the benefit of the many lawyers among our readership who purport to be interested in this kind of thing, we provide a more detailed and updated guide here:

1) Here's Judge Gordon's original award in the very first CRTV vs Steyn suit. In this case, I'm the petitioner, in that I had to go to the New York Supreme Court to get the deadbeats CRTV to pay up what Judge Gordon said they owed me.

2) Here's CRTV/Blaze's return to the American Arbitration Association to sue me second time around for breach of contract, for $10 million. In this case, I'm the respondent. Yet again Blaze TV lost on every single one of almost a hundred claims.

3) Here's Cary Katz's self-suing bollocks in the Clark County Court, Nevada, where Katz's left buttock is suing Katz's right buttock into pseudo-insolvency. Here, because he's suing himself and is therefore both plaintiff and defendant, I'm the plaintiff-in-intervention.

4) Finally, here's Katz's personal defamation suit in federal court for $15 million. I'm the defendant.

So I'm the petitioner, the defendant, the respondent, and the plaintiff-in-intervention. That's not quite a full set: I've never been a counter-claimant-appellant-in-intervention, but give it another week or two...

In addition, Katz and his latest sock-puppet entity "Galaxy Media" (which operates out of the same offices as CRTV and shares the same tireless "sole manager", Elizabeth Wood) have filed multiple fraudulent UCC claims against CRTV in jurisdictions from Virginia to California (see page 14 here).

Now the ongoing updates:

1) Re the original award, in September 2018 CRTV attempted to do an end-run round Judge Gordon's decision with a last-minute request for an "amended" judgment that Cary Katz had beat the rap. In the New York Supreme Court Judge Bransten called their maneuver "ridiculous" (page 12). Under the sclerotic processes of the New York courts, it took nine months between filing the petition and entry of judgment. But here, very belatedly, is the actual judgment - which then went to appeal before the Supreme Court's Appellate Division. On July 2nd 2019, the First Department of the Appellate Division ordered Blaze/CRTV to pay me over one million dollars in legal fees. Katz has not yet indicated whether Blaze will do so.

2) Re Katz and CRTV's return to AAA to sue me second time around for $10 million, in this case the pathetic loser was reduced to complaining that by selecting "Oh, Happy Day" and "We Are the Champions" as recent Songs of the Week I'm somehow getting at him. So, as you'll have deduced, this case, like all his cases, is going nowhere. On September 24th 2018, the Arbitrator threw out 39 per cent of CRTV's "statements at issue", on the grounds that they had been decided (against CRTV) in the previous suit. In December he tossed "We Are the Champions" and a bunch of other stuff, totaling over 50 per cent of CRTV's aforementioned "statements at issue".

That left "Oh, Happy Day", "Same Old Song and Dance" (an obscure Sinatra single, the citation of which Katz claims defames him), CRTV's attempted heist of my cat tree has yet to be decided, and this very SteynOnline post (which counted as five of CRTV's revised "statements at issue") went to trial in March 2019. In early June a Final Award was issued, ruling that Blaze/CRTV had lost on every single one of those remaining "statements". The decision concludes (page 45) with a note on Blaze TV's hypocrisy:

The bedrock guarantee of our society is that people should be able to speak and write freely in public. US Const Amend I; NY Const, art I, § 8. CRTV purports to stand for that principle as its 'primary value'. See Tr. at p.1202 II. 9-15 (Alena Charles, Senior VP MP Marketing Blaze Media, Tr. p.1160 11020-23.) Yet, when push came to shove, CRTV sought to constrain that guarantee in a dispute with one of Its former talents.

3) Re Cary Katz's self-suing bollocks, here's my motion to intervene. Mysteriously, Katz "settled" with CRTV the day after our intervention (if only all their suits were so easily disposed of), so there was nothing to intervene in. However, Judge Johnson was under no illusion about these phonies:

'In so concluding, this Court appreciates the position taken by MR. STEYN, MARK STEYN ENTERPRISES (US), INC. and OAK HILL MEDIA, INC. the lawsuit filed by MR. KATZ against CRTV LLC, a limited liability compañy of which he owns the majority of units, is a sham and, in essence, results in a fraudulent conveyance.'

Understandably they'd like to keep much of this bogus self-suing stunt sealed from public view, but Judge Johnson is having none of it, and has ruled that merely avoiding a litigant's "embarrassment, incrimination, or exposure to further litigation" is no reason to conceal evidence. Preach it, sister.

4) Re Katz's personal defamation suit for $15 million, it was originally in Nevada District Court but was removed to federal court. In this case, here's my reply to Katz, written in the rather tedious call-and-response format. Nonetheless, connoisseurs may enjoy certain paragraphs along the way, including 21-23. Bottom line:

'Defendants admit that they have made true, non-defamatory statements that correctly describe Plaintiff Katz as "deadbeat," "scofflaw," "dishonorable," "criminal"...'

So stipulated. As to that $15 million, Katz's "expert" report, by a fellow called Tony Freinberg, has determined that Katz will sustain an impressively steady $500,000 in damage for the next twenty-eight years (page eight), at which point, per Mr Freinberg's actuarial calculations, Katz is scheduled to keel over and die (page eight, footnote four). [UPDATE: On February 1st 2019, Mr Freinberg revised his "expert" report, and both the damages and his crystal ball on Katz's expiry date appear to have vanished.]

In January 2019, the same loser lawyer from the first case, Eric M George (second from the left here), "deposed" me on Katz's behalf. Sample quote:

STEYN: This didn't work for you at the last trial. I thought you might have some new schtick today.

GEORGE: Let's move forward. Let's look at Exhibit --

STEYN: Have you won anything since I last saw you, by the way?

A few days later, Eric M George filed a motion in Las Vegas whining that Defendant Steyn is saying big meanie things about him.

Any further suits by frivolous abusive malicious harassing litigant Katz and/or his various sock-puppet entities will be posted here. As I've stated, it is my intention to donate whatever's left after legal costs to Hillsdale College and the Gatestone Institute. Let's hope Katz and CRTV stop their legal terrorism so that there's something left for these honorable institutions.

PS I enjoyed this from Jeff in the comments:

But the Katz came back the very next day
The Katz came back, they knew he was a grifter
But the Katz came back, he was just going to sue away!

Definitive version of that song here.