Psychic Loses 7 Million in Defamation Lawsuit

[♫anna♫]

www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Psychic-who-reported-mass-grave-north-of-4596687.php QUOTE:
'Psychic' who reported mass grave north of Houston must pay $7 million
June 13, 2013
A self-described psychic who triggered a media frenzy when she told authorities a Liberty County couple had a mass grave on their property has been ordered to pay the couple $6.8 million.

A Dallas County judge issued the judgment May 7 against Presley "Rhonda" Gridley, the sole remaining defendant in a lawsuit filed a year ago.

"Whether it will be collectible, we're going to pursue that," said Dallas attorney Andrew Sommerman.

He represents plaintiffs Joe Bankston and Gena Charlton in the suit that has concluded, except for efforts to collect the judgment.

Gridley, 50, failed to appear in court May 7 for the bench trial before Judge Carl Ginsberg in the 193rd State District Court, records stated.

Ginsberg found that Gridley had made defamatory statements about Bankson and Charlton on June 6, 2011, when she volunteered false information to the Liberty County Sheriff's Office, claiming that a mass grave containing dismembered bodies was at the plaintiffs' home.

The defendant's false statement injured the plaintiffs' reputation and exposed them to public hatred, contempt, ridicule and financial injury, the complaint stated.

For damages suffered, the judge awarded $3 million in damages to Bankson and $3,849,000 to Charlton, plus 5 percent interest from the date of the occurrence in 2011.

The suit was filed June 5, 2012, almost exactly a year after the alleged incident took place.

In the initial complaint and other documents filed through August 2011, Gridley was referred to as "Jane Doe, a self-proclaimed psychic going by the name of 'Angel.'" Her name began appearing in court documents as Presley "Rhonda" Gridley in September.

The suit alleges that Gridley called the Liberty County Sheriff's Office and falsely claimed that 25 to 30 dismembered bodies were buried in a mass grave at the plaintiffs' residence.

The sheriff's office repeated the false statements to various news media organizations and provided the plaintiff's address, the suit states.

"Over the course of the day, media defendants began to exaggerate and eventually make up facts about Plaintiffs, including that a mass grave existed on the property, including the bodies of children," the suit states.

Media reports based upon false claims of found bodies were circulated worldwide, the suit said.

When initially filed, the suit's defendants included Liberty County and six media outlets, which over time were dismissed.

The suit was filed in Dallas County because one of the defendants, Belo Corp., has its principal place of business there, according to the initial complaint.

A few days after the 2011 incident, Gridley told the Houston Chronicle that she has had visions her entire life. After confiding with two friends who were having similar visions about three children who might be in trouble, she told the Chronicle she contacted the Liberty County Sheriff's Office.

[Deleted]

Funny she didn't foresee that hgappening!

[Hunny]

Sounds like a movie!

[sadie1263]

Did the police actually do any digging on the property? Or was it just the media that damaged them?? How about filing against the media for being idiots and going with the story? Something needs to be done to make them more responsible!!

[♫anna♫]

Jun 19, 2013 15:53:20 GMT sadie1263 said:

Did the police actually do any digging on the property? Or was it just the media that damaged them?? How about filing against the media for being idiots and going with the story? Something needs to be done to make them more responsible!!

Right Sadie! Tabloids love to promote psychics to sell their rags!

The police really lose a lot of time and get embarassed when they follow the "leads" of these self proclaimed psychics.

I'm still outraged over the psychic, who told the mother of the missing 5 year old girl Leanna Warner that her daughter was being held captive in a basement and tortured. The psychic even gave the address and poor Mrs. Warner drove there and broke into the basement to try to rescue her daughter. The owners of the house had compassion for Mrs. Warner and didn't charge her or even bill her for the damage!

You can really show these psychics up by just asking them about normal things. Did the missing girl Leanna Warner have a favorite pet? A favorite cartoon character? What was her favorite color? What page number of the book am I looking at?

It's quite noteworthy that these psychics only "tune in to" the monsterous horror stories that they concoct often with pornographic elements. I experienced this on the forum dedicated to Dru Sjodin, who went missing over 10 years ago. Really disgusting! Countless often obscene horror "psychic" visions and all wrong! They remind me of vultures and will torment the families of missing persons!