Download - 031114 Oh Are Mezza Cappa
COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF NORTHAMPTON COUNTYCOMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
CIVIL DIVISION
BERNIE O'HARE : CV 2012-3442:
Plaintiff ::
vs. : :
TRICIA MEZZACAPPA : :
Defendant :
TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
Heard by THE HONORABLE MICHAEL J. KOURY, JR., Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Northampton County, Third Judicial District, Easton, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, March 11, 2014.
A P P E A R A N C E S:
BY: RICHARD J. ORLOSKI, ESQ. -- on behalf of the Plaintiff
Proceedings stenographically recorded by Nicole Candelino, Official Court Reporter.
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1 * * *
2 THE COURT: Good morning. We are here in
3 the matter of Bernie O'Hare versus Tricia
4 Mezzacappa, docket 3442 of 2012. The case was
5 listed for a non-jury trial regarding damages
6 following default judgment. The case was scheduled
7 for 9 a.m. The time is now 9:26 a.m. I've been
8 informed that Ms. Mezzacappa did not appear at the
9 call of the list, is that correct?
10 MR. ORLOSKI: That's correct, and she wasn't
11 at the call of the list last week either.
12 THE COURT: Okay, so you're ready to proceed
13 in her absence?
14 MR. ORLOSKI: Yes.
15 THE COURT: Call your first witness. You
16 can testify from the witness stand or the podium.
17 Raise your right hand and state your full
18 name, spelling your first and last name for the
19 court reporter.
20 MR. O'HARE: Bernard V. O'Hare, III.
21 BERNARD V. O'HARE, III, having been duly sworn
22 according to law, was examined and testified as
23 follows:
24 DIRECT EXAMINATION
25 BY MR. ORLOSKI:
3
1 THE COURT: You may be seated. Mr. Orloski,
2 you can proceed with your examination.
3 Can you just tell me briefly what's before
4 me.
5 MR. ORLOSKI: It's a hearing on damages for
6 the defamation. We're going to be requesting an
7 award for compensatory damages and for punitive
8 damages.
9 THE COURT: Okay.
10 MR. ORLOSKI: And we have, Your Honor, the
11 section from the standard civil practice, 1316,
12 which outlines the damages.
13 THE COURT: Okay. You, Mr. O'Hare, filed an
14 action for defamation against Ms. Mezzacappa,
15 correct?
16 MR. ORLOSKI: Yes.
17 THE COURT: And there was a default
18 judgment?
19 MR. ORLOSKI: Yeah, we have a complicated
20 history. We do have the docket which I will make
21 available to Your Honor. I have some notes on the
22 first page but this is page 3, starts with the
23 filing of the complaint. It's been a procedurally
24 complicated case.
25 THE COURT: Okay. Okay, you can proceed,
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1 Mr. Orloski.
2 BY MR. ORLOSKI:
3 Q. Mr. O'Hare, state your full name for the
4 record.
5 A. My full name is Bernard Vincent O'Hare, III.
6 Q. And, very briefly, at some point did you go
7 to law school?
8 A. I did.
9 Q. Did you graduate?
10 A. I did.
11 Q. Were you admitted to the bar?
12 A. I was.
13 Q. And your father, what was your father's
14 name?
15 A. His name was Bernard Vincent O'Hare, Jr.
16 Q. And he was also a lawyer?
17 A. He was.
18 Q. At some point you had some difficulties with
19 the bar?
20 A. That's correct.
21 Q. And what happened to you?
22 A. My license to practice law was suspended for
23 two years, in early 1986, I believe, as result of
24 ethical misconduct that occurred as a result of my
25 drinking.
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1 Q. And it was a suspension, not a disbarment?
2 A. It was a suspension.
3 Q. And you never applied to go back?
4 A. I have not.
5 Q. I gather this caused some anguish in the
6 family?
7 A. It did.
8 Q. And what have you done to rebuild your life
9 since then?
10 A. Well, the first thing I did was I stopped
11 drinking. That was the first thing that I did. It
12 was -- it was a very dark time in my life when I lost
13 my license to practice law and I was very -- I was
14 very disappointed that I disgraced myself, I
15 disgraced my family and I disgraced my profession
16 when my license to practice law was suspended, and
17 the way that I thought about rebuilding my life was,
18 first of all, I had to stop drinking. I stopped
19 drinking, went through rehab, I went to AA meetings
20 twice a day for a year straight and got myself on
21 track with sobriety, and then I went back and began
22 searching titles on a full-time basis at the
23 courthouse.
24 Q. Now were you making a living doing that?
25 A. I did.
6
1 Q. And at some point did you start a blog?
2 A. I did.
3 Q. And what was -- when did you start your
4 blog?
5 A. I started the blog in 19 -- excuse me, in
6 2006. It's called Lehigh Valley Ramblings, and the
7 purpose of the blog was to discuss political matters,
8 local political matters and also to provide -- to
9 compliment the -- the news media because the news
10 media these days are becoming -- there have been a
11 lot of layoffs at the newspapers and they don't seem
12 to get the stories out the way they used to when they
13 were sending squads of reporters every night to cover
14 local municipal meetings, so I thought I would be
15 doing a public service.
16 Q. Was the blog labor intensive?
17 A. It is.
18 Q. How many hours did you spend on the blog per
19 week?
20 A. It's a full-time job to be honest with you.
21 Q. But you enjoy doing that?
22 A. I do. It's a labor of love.
23 Q. And did you have a core of readers?
24 A. I do. I mean, it started off very low but
25 now it's up to about 5,000 readers on weekdays.
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1 Q. And did you become somebody that reporters
2 contacted regularly for information?
3 A. That's correct.
4 Q. And at some point did you become involved
5 with Tricia Mezzacappa?
6 A. Yes, she was one of my blog readers and she
7 began attending counsel meetings that I was attending
8 and told me that she was a walker and I went on some
9 walks with her.
10 Q. Was she also involved in political
11 activities as a candidate?
12 A. Pardon me?
13 Q. Was she involved in political --
14 A. Yes, she was running for office. She was
15 running for West Easton Borough Counsel at the time
16 and was claiming there was all kinds of ethical
17 improprieties and corruption going on in West Easton
18 Borough.
19 Q. Do you remember when that happened, when you
20 started interacting with her?
21 A. It was in 2011.
22 Q. And did you write any articles about her as
23 a political candidate?
24 A. Yes, I did.
25 Q. Would you characterize them as positive or
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1 negative?
2 A. Very negative.
3 Q. As a result of that did she start
4 communicating about you?
5 A. That's correct.
6 Q. What types of things was she saying about
7 you?
8 A. Well, she called me a rapist, claimed that I
9 had sexually assaulted her, claimed that I had
10 attempted to poison her pet pig, claimed that I had
11 burglarized her home on numerous occasions, claimed
12 that I stalked her on a regular basis and also
13 claimed that I was a pedophile.
14 Q. Okay, now let's back up. Have you ever been
15 married?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. And do you have any children?
18 A. I do.
19 Q. Do your children have any children?
20 A. They do not.
21 Q. Do you have a relationship with somebody who
22 does have grandchildren?
23 A. That's correct. After I separated from my
24 wife I developed a relationship with a another woman
25 and she has a grandson who was born very ill and he
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1 spent the first six months of his life in the
2 hospital, and I became very close to him as a result.
3 Q. How old is that young man now?
4 A. He's now 14.
5 Q. And did you become actively involved in his
6 life?
7 A. Very actively involved.
8 Q. In what capacity?
9 A. Basically since he had no real father I was
10 basically the -- the male figure in his life for many
11 years.
12 Q. And did you start -- he was active in
13 sports?
14 A. Very active. Much more so than I ever was.
15 Q. And did you start going to sporting events
16 with him?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. And, as a result of calling you a pedophile,
19 what happened?
20 A. Well, I can tell you that she -- she made
21 these allegations on -- on the Internet. They've
22 existed for several years and people, when I would go
23 to a game, I notice people would stop talking. I had
24 to explain myself to a couple of my grandson's
25 basketball coaches.
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1 I also noticed that before this happened,
2 often times I would be asked to take some of my
3 grandson's friends to different events, to practices,
4 to baseball practice, basketball practice, football
5 practice. That stopped. People would not ask me any
6 more to take -- to pick up their son or, you know, to
7 bring their son or even to take them to the movies.
8 Sometimes I would do that or take them to a batting
9 cage.
10 THE COURT: I've seen this young man play,
11 by the way. He's an excellent basketball player.
12 Q. How did it make you feel that you were being
13 shunned because of the allegations of being a
14 pedophile?
15 A. Pardon me?
16 Q. How did you feel?
17 A. Well, it made me feel terrible, made me feel
18 humiliated.
19 Q. And what does that mean, you were
20 humiliated?
21 A. Made me feel sick to my stomach.
22 Q. Now, in addition to that, she accused you of
23 being a rapist and a burglar, correct?
24 A. That's correct.
25 Q. How did that impact on your social life?
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1 A. Well, for one thing, it makes -- I'm very
2 uncomfortable when I have a conversation with a
3 woman. You know, I -- I'm very careful if I have to
4 meet somebody to make sure I meet them in a setting
5 where there's other people around so people can't --
6 so that nobody can say anything. It's just -- it's
7 just -- it's disturbed me in that way. So it's
8 affected me in that way with respect to my
9 interactions with females.
10 As far as how it's affected me at the
11 courthouse, I can tell you that after this first
12 happened I would walk into the Recorder of Deeds
13 office where I search titles, and they're largely
14 women, the other title searchers are largely women,
15 and they like to talk to each other and usually when
16 you come in they're carrying on conversations but
17 when I would come in I would notice they would stop.
18 They would stop talking. And after this happened I
19 was called in to the Recorder of Deeds office.
20 Q. Who called you in?
21 A. Ann Achatz. She was, at that time, the
22 Recorder of Deeds.
23 Q. And why did she call you in?
24 A. She called me in because of concerns that
25 had been raised by members of her own staff about
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1 whether they had anything to worry about.
2 Q. About you being a rapist?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. And how did that make you feel?
5 A. Terrible, terrible.
6 Q. And now in addition can you tell us how it
7 impacted on your -- your activities as a writer.
8 THE COURT: Just before we go onto that, did
9 you say burglar as well, she accused him of being a
10 burglar?
11 MR. O'HARE: Yes, Your Honor. She accused
12 me several times of breaking into her house and
13 stealing things from her.
14 THE COURT: This is also on her blog?
15 MR. O'HARE: Yes, stealing important
16 documents from her, and it's in the complaint.
17 MR. ORLOSKI: We have in the complaint, we
18 have extensive statements by her, what she was
19 writing. Judge -- was it Judge --
20 MR. O'HARE: Smith.
21 MR. ORLOSKI: Smith said it was defamatory
22 per se.
23 BY MR. ORLOSKI:
24 Q. What about your writing career?
25 A. Well --
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1 Q. Were you getting paid ever as a blogger?
2 A. I did get paid as a blogger. I had
3 advertisements on Google and I was getting paid a
4 certain amount of money every month through Google,
5 through Google Ads. That stopped. The -- but that
6 had nothing to do with the defamation. I have to be
7 honest with you, just tell you that that stopped.
8 Q. What about Patch, tell us what Patch is in
9 case the judge --
10 A. Patch is an AOL product. It is a hyperlocal
11 news site, which they have one in Easton, they have
12 one in Palmer, they have one in Nazareth, they're
13 throughout the area, that basically correspond with
14 the school districts, and I was asked to write
15 articles for Patch as a columnist on a weekly basis
16 and was getting paid $60 a week for basically one
17 column, which was easy money. That started in 2011.
18 And I was writing for them and what happened
19 was after this -- after these allegations started to
20 surface Ms. Mezzacappa began posting those comments
21 on Patch where I have no control over the comments,
22 and I threatened her with libel at the time and the
23 matter went into the legal department at Patch, it
24 went into -- it basically caused all kinds of
25 problems with me at Patch and I became so disgusted
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1 at having to deal with these allegations all the time
2 in a forum where I have no control over what is being
3 said, unlike my blog where I do have control, that I
4 just couldn't write for them anymore. I just
5 couldn't write.
6 Q. And how much -- how much income was that,
7 $60 a week?
8 A. Yes, so that would be 30 -- roughly $3,200
9 in 2012 and 2013, another $3,200, and though Patch
10 has seized operations of many of its local outfits I
11 was a columnist which means that my relationship with
12 them would have continued.
13 Q. What about the Bethlehem Press, did you --
14 A. Yes, I write for the Bethlehem Press. In
15 addition to writing for Patch I write for the
16 Bethlehem Press. That's a weekly newspaper and
17 it's in Bethlehem. I go to local meetings at their
18 behest and cover what is going on and write up
19 stories about what occurs there, and she began
20 contacting the newspaper and basically repeating the
21 defamation that is the subject of the complaint and
22 on several occasions, three occasions that I can
23 think of, I had to explain -- we had to go through
24 major explanations, myself and my editor, to the
25 publisher as to why he was still using me.
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1 Q. Now all of her allegations, by the way,
2 about criminal behavior she reported to the Easton
3 Police, correct?
4 A. Pardon me?
5 Q. She reported to the Easton -- West Easton
6 Police Department?
7 A. She reported some of the supposed burglaries
8 to the Easton Police. She never reported a rape to
9 the Easton Police. She reported the pig poisoning to
10 the Easton Police.
11 Q. The police never filed any charges against
12 you?
13 A. No.
14 Q. Now at some point you learned she had -- she
15 had the right to carry a gun, correct?
16 A. Yes, sir, yes.
17 Q. And she was accusing you of various crimes?
18 A. That's correct.
19 Q. Did that cause you any concern?
20 A. The fact that she was armed, the fact that I
21 felt that she was mentally unstable, the fact that
22 she was posting Internet comments on the Express
23 Times website three times stating that if somebody
24 that matches my description came to her house she
25 would put a hollow point bullet through my skull,
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1 yeah, that kind of scared me.
2 Q. I think you have that -- read that.
3 A. The whole thing?
4 Q. Just, yeah, the word bullet in the skull I
5 think it says right here.
6 A. Okay. This is at the Express Times web page
7 on January 10, 2013. As Tricia Mezzacappa, she says,
8 Hi Jimp. I don't usually respond to anons but here
9 it goes. Maybe I'm scared, but I don't think I'm
10 paranoid or a gun nut. See, law enforcement doesn't
11 always work for insignificant nobody's like myself.
12 They don't always serve and protect either. When
13 Armageddon comes a-running towards my house I stand
14 armed and ready. I picture Armageddon about 5 foot 9
15 inches and balding, little eyeglasses on the tip of
16 his nose and enough fat flaps to insulate a bull.
17 Deep breath, aim, shoot and one hollow point goes
18 through his skull. He's dead before he hits the
19 ground. Ker-splat [phonetic]. Perfect.
20 Q. And that same piece appeared in multiple
21 venues, correct?
22 A. She posted it repeatedly.
23 Q. So, to summarize, how have you been impacted
24 by this defamation?
25 A. Well, in addition to what I told you about
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1 the athletic activities and in addition to what I
2 told you about at the courthouse and on the job, in
3 addition to what I told you about my relations with
4 members of the opposite sex, it's very -- it's made
5 me depressed at times and it makes it difficult
6 sometimes for me to even come to the courthouse and
7 work, especially when I -- I've had to appear in
8 front of this Court on seven separate occasions based
9 on frivolous allegations.
10 Q. But the articles that she wrote about you,
11 how do they make you feel?
12 A. Terrible.
13 Q. Any problems, sleeplessness?
14 A. Yes, now that you mention it, you're right.
15 Q. And the impact on your relationship with the
16 young man, your surrogate grandson, how did that
17 impact --
18 A. Well, I don't think it's impacted my
19 relationship with my grandson, okay. I think I still
20 have a good relationship with my grandson. He and I
21 are close. He is getting older so he's getting
22 interested in girls and not in grandfathers, so you
23 know, I don't think it's really impacted him, but
24 it's impacted me in the respect that his friends, you
25 know, taking -- taking him and his friends to
18
1 different places, that doesn't happen, you know.
2 It's usually his mother that has to transport him to
3 different activities.
4 Q. Anything further you want to tell the judge
5 that I may have missed?
6 A. I can't think of anything, Mr. Orloski.
7 MR. ORLOSKI: We have nothing further.
8 THE COURT: Okay, thank you.
9 MR. O'HARE: Oh, I'm sorry. I would say one
10 thing. This thing has lasted for two years. Some
11 of the defamation is still out there. If you Google
12 my name you will still see many of the allegations
13 that are still out there on the Internet. She has
14 been asked to retract what she said. She refused.
15 She's been asked to apologize. She refuses.
16 MR. ORLOSKI: And she's actually gotten
17 worse as a result --
18 MR. O'HARE: That's correct.
19 THE COURT: Has it continued or has it
20 stopped?
21 MR. O'HARE: Well, since -- it continued
22 after Judge Smith entered his ruling that this was
23 defamation per se. It continued after the entry of
24 a judgment, the defamation continued. It did not
25 stop under her name until it became apparent to her
19
1 that there really was a judgment against her because
2 apparently that did not sink in to her for a long
3 period of time, so she has stopped under her own
4 name defaming me for about, I'd say, since December.
5 THE COURT: Okay. Has she ever appeared for
6 any court appearances regarding this defamation
7 suit?
8 MR. O'HARE: Yes, she's appeared in court,
9 she appeared -- first of all, she filed preliminary
10 objections which were dismissed. She appeared in
11 court on, I believe, three separate occasions in
12 this matter alone, maybe four in this matter alone,
13 seeking to have me restrained from stalking her
14 because she -- she would come to the courthouse to
15 file papers and would see me and then would say I
16 was stalking her.
17 THE COURT: But other than the preliminary
18 objections did she defend this case at all?
19 MR. O'HARE: On the merits, no.
20 THE COURT: Not on the merits?
21 MR. O'HARE: No.
22 BY MR. ORLOSKI:
23 Q. While I was representing you was there
24 anything significant in my life?
25 A. Yes, your office was fire bombed twice.
20
1 Q. And --
2 A. Right after -- right after adverse rulings
3 against Mezzacappa.
4 THE COURT: Your office in Allentown?
5 MR. ORLOSKI: Right.
6 MR. O'HARE: And she --
7 BY MR. ORLOSKI:
8 Q. Did she have on her blog --
9 A. Yes, she had a picture of a bottle rocket.
10 THE COURT: After this incident?
11 MR. O'HARE: Uh-huh, before the police --
12 before the police were -- before it was public
13 knowledge.
14 MR. ORLOSKI: That's just a -- I have no
15 further questions.
16 THE COURT: Okay, thank you, Mr. O'Hare.
17 MR. O'HARE: Thank you, Your Honor.
18 THE COURT: Mr. Orloski, do you want to
19 present argument now or do you want to present it in
20 writing as to what you're seeking?
21 MR. ORLOSKI: Well, we're seeking both
22 compensatory and punitive damages, but we'll submit
23 something in writing to Your Honor.
24 THE COURT: And you will agree that I can
25 defer my verdict until --
21
1 MR. ORLOSKI: Until that's done.
2 THE COURT: Okay, how long would you need?
3 MR. ORLOSKI: We can get it to you in 10
4 days, Your Honor.
5 THE COURT: Okay, and you will agree that I
6 can have 20 days from today to enter a verdict?
7 MR. ORLOSKI: Whatever you need, Your Honor.
8 THE COURT: Okay, all right, thank you very
9 much.
10 MR. ORLOSKI: Thank you, Your Honor.
11 (The proceedings concluded.)
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1 CERTIFICATION
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I. 4
I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings are 5 contained fully and accurately in the notes taken by
me in the hearing of the above cause and that this 6 copy is a correct transcript of the same.
7 DATE:_________________________________, 2014
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12 __________________________ Nicole Candelino,
13 Official Court Reporter
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--------------------------------------------------15
16 II.
17 I HEREBY DIRECT that the foregoing record of the proceedings in the above cause is approved and
18 directed to be filed.
19 DATE:_________________________________, 2014
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__________________________24 Michael J. Koury, Jr., J.
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