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Federal Court Awards 137,147$ in Attorney fees to Jeannette Burmeister

Kati

Patient in training
Messages
5,497
In an unprecedented motion the federal court awarded attorney fees to Jeannette Burmeister's lawsuit regarding the failure of HHS and NIh to provide Freedom of Information documents following the FOI Act in regards to the IOM Contract and the P2P workshop.

Please refer to Jeannette's blogpost here. She is requesting her full blogpost is not to be copied here, but people visit her blog. The previous posts are also very interesting as it unveils the communications 'behind the scenes' involving NIH Susan Maier and others.

In the Court’s order, the Judge noted:

Ms. Burmeister is clearly the prevailing party in the litigation. Moreover, as outlined in the order granting Ms. Burmeister’s motion for summary judgment, the government’s conduct throughout its dispute with Ms. Burmeister was unreasonable. Ms. Burmeister stood to gain nothing financially from her attempt to obtain documents at issue from the government, and she conferred a benefit on the public through her successful effort to obtain a ruling against the government. [emphasis added]

http://thoughtsaboutme.com/2014/11/...ys-fees-against-hhs-and-nih-in-iom-foia-case/

Congratulations Jeannette @NotAllInMyHead and thank you for your dedication and hard work.

Correction: the award was 139,147$, thx to @Ren for poingting the error to me.
 
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Kati

Patient in training
Messages
5,497
My questions to members are what are the ramification of this award, and how can we use this decision to move forward, particularily as CFSAC will proceed in less than a month, and as P2P workshop is also due in a month ?
 
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Kati

Patient in training
Messages
5,497
Seems like she had some help from other lawyers, one with the same last name. perhaps her husband?

GG

PS Wish there was a super-like button! We have not had any accountability from our gov't in to long in regards to our illness!
Hi @ggingues Edward is indeed her husband, they used to work for the same firm until she got sick.

Just so it is very clear (and she also mentioned it on her blogpost) Jeannette was not doing this for money, she did it because her rights as a citizen were violated by the federal government. Her latest blogposts unveil what is the content of these FOIA requests, and more is yet to come.
 
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*GG*

senior member
Messages
6,389
Location
Concord, NH
Hi @ggingues Edward is indeed her husband, they used to work for the same firm until she got sick.

Just so it is very clear (and she also mentioned it on her blogpost) Jeannette was not doing this for money, she did it because her rights as a citizen were violated by the federal government. Her latest blogposts unveil what is the content of these FOIA requests, and more is yet to come.

Meant to mention that I got the info of other lawyers helping her, she credits them in her blog!

GG

PS Hope they can sue them some more!
 

Keela Too

Sally Burch
Messages
900
Location
N.Ireland
I understand that all the award is taken up paying Jeannette's legal costs.

Had the award not been made she would still have been liable to pay these costs.

So Jeannette really put herself out there for all of us, both in terms of her finances and her health.

Go Jeannette.... I am SO glad you have put your obvious skills to such good use, and also that you were prepared to risk so much for the greater good of ME patients everywhere - because let's be honest this affects so much more than just USA ... xx
 

geraldt52

Senior Member
Messages
602
... We have not had any accountability from our gov't in to long in regards to our illness!

And we still don't. The taxpayers will pick up that judgment, not the "government", and no one responsible will pay a single dime, or suffer the slightest consequence. And the band will play on.

This isn't a criticism of Jeannette Burmeister, who I applaud, but a statement about how the system works. The Burmeisters have embarrassed some folks on a small scale, and we now have written evidence of how we've always known we were thought of, but beyond that, sadly, I don't see anything changing.
 

Nielk

Senior Member
Messages
6,970
And we still don't. The taxpayers will pick up that judgment, not the "government", and no one responsible will pay a single dime, or suffer the slightest consequence. And the band will play on.

This isn't a criticism of Jeannette Burmeister, who I applaud, but a statement about how the system works. The Burmeisters have embarrassed some folks on a small scale, and we now have written evidence of how we've always known we were thought of, but beyond that, sadly, I don't see anything changing.

This effort is not over. Let's see what all these documents that they were forced to produce will uncover.
 

jimells

Senior Member
Messages
2,009
Location
northern Maine
It's staggering to think that it cost $140,000 to pry loose some government documents. Almost as staggering as the thought that lawyers can get away with charging hundreds of dollars per hour. We truly have a system where folks can get as much justice as they can afford. Which isn't much, for most of us.
 

jimells

Senior Member
Messages
2,009
Location
northern Maine
I think I found this link on Jeannette's blogpost: http://news.sciencemag.org/people-e...onduct-official-quits-frustration-bureaucracy

The article gives a vivid description of just how awful the HHS bureaucracy truly is. The subject of the story was a director of the Office of Research Integrity. It will come as no surprise that he quit in disgust, as he was not really allowed to do his job. I can imagine he would've been appalled if he had been able to review the ME/CFS research being promoted by HHS.

I knew coming into this job about the bureaucratic limitations of the federal government, but I had no idea how stifling it would be. What I was able to do in a day or two as an academic administrator takes weeks or months in the federal government

Since I’ve been here I’ve been advised by my superiors that I had “to make my bosses look good.” I’ve been admonished: “Dave, you are a visionary leader but what we need here are team players.” Recently, I was advised that if I wanted to be happy in government service, I had to “lower my expectations.”
 
This is a major victory for ME/CFS patients all over the world. Hopefully, it makes the government take us more seriously. Also, there is no mention of this victory from our sham advocacy groups, CAA/SMCI or Pandora. Nothing but crickets chirping. LOL