CAUSE NO. DC-13-01890-F
E.C.
(ELIZABETH CORDIA), § IN
THE DISTRICT COURT
P.P.
(PAMELA PICKENS), §
B.P.
(T. BOONE PICKENS, JR.), §
And T.P., (THOMAS B. PICKENS, III), §
Plaintiffs, §
§
v. §
§
MICHAEL O. PICKENS, §
Defendant. §
_______________________________________§ 116th
JUDICIAL DISTRICT
§
MICHAEL O. PICKENS, §
§
Counterplaintiff,
§
§
v. §
§
THOMAS BOONE PICKENS, JR., §
§
Counterdefendant.
§ DALLAS COUNTY, TEXAS
_____________________________________________________________________
DECLARATION OF MICHAEL PICKENS
_____________________________________________________________________
THE STATE OF
TEXAS §
§
COUNTY OF DALLAS §
1. “My
name is Michael O. Pickens. I am over the age of twenty-one (21)
years, and I am competent to make this Declaration. I have personal knowledge
of the matters contained in this Declaration, and the facts stated herein are
true, correct and accurate.
2. Plaintiffs -- Elizabeth Cordia (E.C., referred to as
“Lizzy”), Pamela Pickens (P.P., referred to as “Pam”), T. Boone Pickens, Jr.
(B.P., referred to as “Boone” or my “father”), and Thomas B. Pickens, III (T.P.,
referred to as “Tom”) -- sued me, first
alleging causes of action for “Invasion of Privacy – Intrusion on Seclusion,”
“Invasion of Privacy – Public Disclosure of Private Facts,” and “Violation of
CPRC §143.01,” which they have called “Harmful Access by
Computers.” Primarily, Plaintiffs have
sought injunctive relief to prevent me from writing about them on my blog.
3. Now, after changing counsel, the
Plaintiffs have dropped their “intrusion” claim, but have added claims for
defamation and libel. In spite of the
change in the Plaintiff’s claims, my defense still concerns my Constitutionally
protected right of freedom of speech and that my statements are true or matters
of my opinion.
4. In my blog in general, and in
particular in the post titled “My Story,” I review my own personal history and
demons and express my opinion about the cause of my long-term drug addiction,
viewed through the lens of my recovery. The underlying theme of my blog posts
about addiction, abuse, relationships with my father and family, are to serve
as an example to others that, given the circumstances, the same fate can happen
to anyone, whether you are from a rich family or not, and that you can, in
spite of the odds, overcome these problems.
Addiction is a major problem in this country, with the complete failure
of policy regarding the “war on drugs.” Even
the New York Times recently said so. See http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/opinion/gregory-brothers-the-war-on-drugs-is-a-failure.html?_r=0.
5. In this lawsuit, the Plaintiffs and my father
in particular, deride me for my history of drug abuse in an effort to undermine
my credibility because they want to make people believe that I am lying. They speak about my visit to rehab and my
criminal conviction. These facts are, in general, true. But, then that is
precisely the point.
6. As my blog states, I do not deny my
history; unlike the Plaintiffs, I own it.
I kicked my drug addiction at Alina Lodge in 2006-07. Afterwards, I have been completely sober and
drug-free. Being now a licensed Intervention
Therapist, I spend a great deal of my time assisting addicts to get and stay
clean. That is my mission. And I personally desire to make a real
difference by using myself as an example and showing addicts and their families
that it is love that cures addictions, not jail and certainly not condescension
and abandonment.
7. I have reviewed each of the affidavits
and declarations filed in this case by the Plaintiffs. While they make a rather inept attempt to
disprove my factual statements and opinions, they make no effort and cannot
disprove my intent -- I have never had any intent to cause harm or mental
distress to any of my family members. Further,
I do not believe that anything I say about them has any effect on them or that
their reputations can be harmed. Nothing
in their affidavits indicates otherwise.
8. My blog simply tells stories about my
own life from my own perspective and, to a large extent those stories include
my family, because they were around or were involved in those events. This is especially true when I describe my
home life and my relationship with my father, Boone.
9. Subsequent to being released from rehab
at Alina Lodge, I purposely engaged in a concerted effort to have a better
relationship with my father. I was appreciative
of his assistance when I was charged with securities fraud. However, his statements both in the petition
and in his affidavit that he purposefully and individually wanted to help me
are false. John McShane, discussed more
below, told me expressly that when I was first charged with securities fraud,
that he had to beg my father to help me because my father did not want to.
10. The series of cards and short notes that
I wrote to my father, as referenced in the filings of the Plaintiffs, were
heartfelt, and I meant them at the time.
That however, does not mean that any of the comments that I have made on
my blog -- about abuse during my childhood -- are untrue. The notes and letters reflect the fact that I
was trying to build a relationship with my father after the point in time that
I was no longer drug addicted.
11. My effort lasted for several years, from mid 2008 to late 2012, but
it failed. It was during this time that my father gradually revealed to me what had always been his true character. He eventually returned to being extremely
accusatory -- making false statements about me and berating and bullying me. He was not trying to help me – I was there to
serve him.
12. It was a one-way street with him, and when
he dropped his pretense, I had to face the harsh truth that my father really
cares only about himself. Certainly, that is my opinion. This is exemplified
in his own letter to my siblings and me in which he apologizes for being a bad
father because making money was more important to him than his family. A true and correct copy of the letter is
attached as Exhibit ____.
My Father is a Public Figure.
13. A simple Internet search yields many,
many thousands of stories about him and about members of my family. See a true and correct copy of a print-out
from the first page of a Google search, attached as Exhibit ____. He is consistently reported in Forbes
magazine as being a billionaire (see Exhibit ___, a true and correct copy of a
Forbes reference to him); he has for several years attempted to get the US
government to back greater use of natural gas (for his own benefit in the gas
companies into which he invested ) (see Exhibit ____, a true and correct copy
of ___________); and he even had a bet with now Secretary of State John Kerry
about the lies Boone helped to spread about Kerry in the infamous “swiftboating”
effort he backed financially (see Exhibit ___, a true and correct copy of
_______).
14. My father’s public persona, for better or
worse, has drug the rest of us into the public eye, too. Certainly, I was lampooned when I was charged
and pleaded to securities fraud. And my
brother, Plaintiff Tom, was recently publicly outed for his being sued for
stealing millions of dollars from his current employer in Austin (see
Exhibit____, a true and correct copy of an article from D magazine, and Exhibit
___, a true and correct copy of the petition filed in the lawsuit against Tom).
15. One story that continues to haunt me
concerns the death of my nephew, Ty, my brother Tom's now-deceased son. I had expressed to both Tom and my father,
that Ty was obviously drug- addicted.
Whenever I saw Ty, he seemed to be out of it and “on” something. In fact, roughly 10 days before Ty’s death at
the end of January 2013, I had breakfast with my father. At that breakfast I
told him that I was very worried about Ty’s drug abuse, and that I was worried
he might not live unless someone intervened.
16. Just as he has done with other personal,
family issues, my father acted as if it was too much trouble for him to pay
attention to, and that he simply did not care. He told me that it was none of my business
and that he did not want to talk to me about it. Ten days later Ty was dead
from a Heroin overdose. See Exhibit
____, a true and correct copy of a new story from ______, stating that Ty’s
autopsy showed he died from a heroin overdose.
17. Further, my father knows now and knew at
the time I spoke to him about Ty that my concern was valid. In July 2012, one of my father’s long-time
employees, Jay Rosser, had a son die from a heroin overdose. He was only 18 and
had been locked up in the Travis County jail since mid-2011. I begged Jay to allow me to assist with
Travis County to get Kent into treatment at Alina Lodge and out of jail. Jay refused, having been "coached"
by Boone that his son needed to "hit his bottom." "Hit bottom" is an old AA term, not
applicable to the myriad of extremely dangerous chemicals of addiction we deal
with today. In spite of this recent
history, my father showed no concern for Ty at all.
18. So, when my family asserts that I am
critical of them, that is true. My
criticism, however, also is true. There
are other grandchildren in trouble, and the family dynamic resulting from the
fear that Boone perpetrates (by scaring my siblings and other family members
into agreement with threats of disinheritance), continues to put them in
danger. I do not want to lose any more
children in the family while my father, Pam and Tom ignore their cries for
help.
OSU
19. It is well known that my father is a
supporter of Oklahoma State University, where the football stadium is named
after him. See Exhibit ____, a true and
correct copy of a new story about his loss of a case in which he cost OSU a
huge amount of money in an insurance scheme.
The Boat Story.
21. Apparently my father has a problem with
the story that I told about being in a burning boat at the age of 13. That
story is completely true, and is told from my own personal perspective. The
boat did explode and catch on fire, and I was severely burned and ended up in
the water. When I surfaced, I saw my
father on the shore.
22. I find my father's complaint about the
story to be odd, considering that I never actually criticize him or
characterize his actions expressly. I
simply told the story as I remember it, and like almost all of my comments
about him, he makes no effort to disprove it.
Moreover, the story is true, and he cannot honestly claim this story
damaged him in any way.
Boone’s alleged damages.
23. In spite of my father stating that he is
suffering from some unspecific and unsupported mental distress, he has managed
to conduct business as usual. For
example, and accessible to anyone who wants to watch, my father was interviewed
on his private jet by a local Dallas reporter, Meredith Land. On April 18,
2013, they traveled to Clemson University, and Boone sat onstage and calmly
gave an interview to Meredith in front an auditorium full of people.
24. My father has shown no ill physical or
mental effects from anything that I have said about him, and ironically, it is
the lawsuit itself that has drawn attention to my blog, not any efforts by
me. Since articles have been written
about this lawsuit, the clicks on my blog have increased exponentially.
25. My father’s lawsuit against me is not
about any damage he claims to suffer – it is all about power. His “M O” is to use the court when he wants
to squelch speech about him. See Exhibits
___ and ____, true and correct copies of news articles about other times he has
manipulated the courts in an effort to squelch speech. Put simply, my father’s sole purpose in this
lawsuit is to try to shut me up.
John McShane (“McShane”).
26. McShane truthfully states under oath that
he has represented me in a legal matter previously. This is true; yet, in this lawsuit, he also
is representing my father against me, his former client. He appeared at my deposition in this case as
“additional counsel to the Plaintiffs” but is now submitting testimony against
me. I object to this and find it to be
unethical and unprofessional.
27. McShane states that he has attempted to
assist me with my addictions. Taking him
at his word -- his testimony further violates confidences that I have given to
him. I have never given McShane a release
to use my own personal information against me.
28. McShane states that I told him that it’s
hard to be Boone Pickens son. But that
is not because my father has been wealthy or achieved notoriety; it is because
my father has treated me poorly – even worse than people he does not know. My writing about Boone’s abuse is not
inconsistent with McShane’s paid commentary.
29. According to McShane, he is having his
office staff monitor my blog and my Twitter account daily. But that is not the complete extent of their
efforts. I have seen someone going
through my trash; I have caught someone following me more than once. This is no surprise because it is how my
father does things.
30. I recall once when I was young going into
a closet at my home and finding a newly installed stack of electronic
equipment. I later learned it was for internal
surveillance and recording phone conversations without anyone knowing. On another occasion, as a young man, I
spotted a man tailing me and called a friend to help box the guy in to trap
him. When we did, I confronted the guy,
and he told me he worked for my father.
I still have no idea why he was tailing me. So, I am not surprised to find I am being
followed now.
McShane and the Settlement Demand.
31. McShane states in his affidavit various
facts concerning a settlement offer that I instructed my counsel to make to my
father after I got sued in this case. While
I believe this is wholly irrelevant, and I understand it is not supposed to be
admissible into evidence (thus I object to it), this is another example of
McShane’s unethical conduct at the direction of my father who believes rules do
not apply to him. I had never thought to
ask for money to take down my blog, and I had never asked for any money before
I was sued here. The Plaintiffs cannot
honestly state otherwise.
32. My counsel made the settlement demand to
McShane as my father’s counsel. The
amount was based on what I believe are valid causes of action that I have now
asserted as counterclaims against my father (which I incorporate here). In
addition, I have planned to publish a book, and because the Plaintiffs sued me
to stop me from publishing my personal story and connected stories about my
family, childhood, addiction and recovery, there is a great deal of value to me
in giving up those rights if I were to do so.
33. At my father’s bidding and as apparently
directed by my father’s current lawyers, McShane has violated his attorney
client privileges and confidences, has engaged in an egregious conflict of
interest and has falsified evidence in order to try to manufacture the
Plaintiff’s position in this lawsuit that I am trying to “extort” money from my
father. It is not true, and they know
it.
Responses to specific allegations concerning various statements:
My
step sister, Lizzy.
34. I have never mentioned Lizzy. I have no idea why she is suing me except
perhaps that Boone manipulated her into doing so. Even in the statement where I said, “All the
members of my family of origin are addicts (discussed below); I did not mention
her and meant to specifically exclude her.
It is frivolous for her and her lawyer to throw her into the myriad of
vague allegations they have made about my written statements about the Plaintiffs. She can point to nothing I have said about
her at all and none of my writings concern her in any way.
Regarding
Abuse.
35. First, I have never written any
allegation that my father sexually abused me, in spite of the Plaintiffs’
attempts to say that I did. All
suggestions and references that I have published such an allegation are untrue. Nowhere in my writings have I stated this
allegation.
36. When I speak of abuse in the various
locations on my blog, I am generally stating my own experiences and observations
and my opinion about each. With regard to myself, my father often beat me with
a belt. I did not feel that this was
disciplinary, and I felt that it was over the top, and it seemed to me that he
gained personal satisfaction from doing it.
37. To the extent that my siblings state that
they never saw it, perhaps that is because my father used to take me into his
closet to beat me. True abusers do not
leave witnesses or marks, and most of the abuse I suffered – the type that
lasted for life - was not physical abuse; it was mental and emotional. As I say in my blog, my
father had his own way with each of us. Being that a lot of what I discuss concerns
my childhood, I would not expect any of my siblings to have had the perspective
that what they saw was out of the ordinary; in any event – it was out “normal.”
38. My comments about suffering physical,
emotional, spiritual and mental abuse at the hands of my father are my personal
opinion based upon my personal experiences and specifically based upon his
overtly negative treatment of me throughout my life. When I was young, my
father berated me and often told me that I was no good and that I would amount
to nothing. It is my personal opinion that any father worth his salt would
never say this to his child, that it is not helpful or constructive, and that
it is in fact abusive.
39. I personally did not understand the
abusive nature of my upbringing until I went through rehab at Alina Lodge.
There, I learned that my father's uncaring, overbearing, bullying personality,
and the fear it generated in me individually, was the trigger for my seeking
out the solace of drugs. My father and my siblings can deny this all they want,
but my experience is just that – my own experience.
40. In my sister Pamela’s declaration, says
that it was not until the end of my rehab at Alina Lodge that I told her about
abuse by Boone. I cannot speak to
whether she was surprised to hear about it, but I had not talked to her about
it until that point because it was only at Alina that I began to understand the
extreme negative impact that my father’s treatment of me as a child had on me for
many decades. Perhaps she and Tom would
feel differently if they had gone through Alina Lodge as I did.
41. With regard to any broad statements I
have made concerning my father’s treatment of my siblings, all of those are
based upon my personal observations, and based upon my opinion of the treatment
of them that I saw and the effect it has had on them. Whether or not each of them wants to express
an opinion that Boone’s treatment of them was abusive is up to them
individually, I have only generally stated what I saw and what my opinion on
the matter is.
42. In general, Boone was uncaring, mean and
abusive, sometimes very aggressively, as with me, and sometimes passively, as
he was when he stood by and let Pam and her first husband start a business that
failed from underfunding because Boone would not loan them the money even
though he told Pam that it was fine for her to spend all of her savings. I will never forget that because my father
told me directly that he predicted the business would fail and that they would
get divorced. In my opinion, no real
father acts like that. As I have stated
more generally – he had his own form of abusing each of us.
Regarding addiction.
43. One of the Plaintiffs’ primary complaints
has been my statement that the members of my “family of origin” are addicts. As stated above this was specifically meant to
delete any reference to Lizzy. Further,
I mention no one by name and make no specific statements that they can argue is
untrue.
44. I made no specific allegation that any of
them has any particular addiction. In
this particular statement I was referring to “addiction” in a generic sense as
opposed to the specific statements I had made about myself and drug use. Compare it to my father’s statements that
America is “addicted” to OPEC oil. See
Exhibit____, a true and correct copy of a page from the Pickens Plan website
stating my father’s opinion.
45. I have seen in paperwork filed in this
lawsuit that Plaintiffs and their lawyer argue that I said Boone, Pam and Tom
are drug attics. I did not write that. However, it is indeed my opinion that they
are addicts, each of the different sort.
46. Boone. – It is my opinion that my father is
an alcoholic. He drinks far too much in general for example, I have seen him
drink two bottles of wine at dinner with no help from anyone else. And he has told me that he has trouble
sleeping without taking medication.
Obviously, he made those statements to me prior to this lawsuit.
47. In addition, it is my opinion that my
father is a gambling addict. By this I mean he is addicted to gambling with
money in the financial and commodities markets and that activity is the sole
thing that gives him any satisfaction in life. It is my opinion that his monetary gambling
habits have destroyed most of his businesses and is the reason why he is not even
close to being a billionaire as he likes everyone to believe. For example, his
BP Capital fund, which was worth more than $5 billion at one point, is now
worth less than $40 million the last time I checked. Not all of the money in the fund belongs to
my father, certainly.
48. Tom -- it is my opinion that my brother
Tom is an addict, because he has an extremely long history of alcohol and
marijuana abuse.
49. Pam -- it is my opinion that my sister
Pam is an addict in several respects. First, she has told me that she takes Adderall
daily. If that is no longer true, it
certainly used to be. Second, she has told me that she is a sex addict. In addition, I have seen her drink alcohol to
great excess, day after day.
50. The Plaintiffs have complained about my vague
statement, which is very broad and nonspecific. I had made it that way intentionally. That is
because I had no intent to state publicly the actual facts about any of them
regarding addiction, individually or specifically. I am stating the facts now only because I am
forced to as a result their lawsuit, each claiming that my statement was about
them individually (it was not), that it was false (it is not), that I am guilty
of malice or negligence (I am not), and they have suffered some sort of damages
(they have not).
51. None of the Plaintiffs can point to any
damages at all. And if my brother Tom has
suffered any recent damage, it has been at his own hands for his own conduct.
Attached as Exhibit _____, is a true correct copy of an article and a lawsuit filed
against him in Travis County District Court accusing him of stealing $10
million from the company he works for.
“Never
had a real dad.”
52. This is from a post on my blog entitled,
“Grief.” I did not write this, and the
statement is not actually about my family or me. I copied this from the Internet that I found
to be enlightening. It mentions no one
in my family.
“My
home was a sham.”
53. This statement is a matter of my personal
opinion. When I was growing up, I did
not feel like we had what others called a “home.” It was not a loving place. Instead, I felt fear, primarily of my father,
who always said our family needed to run like a business. I did not feel loved.
54. The same holds true regarding my
statements that my parents were absent from my life and that “all I had” was
the love I felt from my friends’ parents.
That is my personal perspective and my opinion. Regardless of what
my parents might say, or even my siblings, that is how it felt to me at our
house, where my parents were not emotionally supportive in my view. More importantly, I have not expressly
written that my parents did not love me – I have only written about how I felt.
55. When I wrote that my father hated my
mother and she was terrified of him that is because that is what I observed. He was mean to her, berated her and was verbally
abusive to her. She appeared to me to be
extremely afraid of him and would physically cower when he was present. She acted markedly different in his presence
that she did when he was absent. To the extent of my siblings state otherwise,
then perhaps they were not paying attention, but this is what I saw and it is
my opinion.
56. My comment that none of Boone’s children
has been successful in life is my personal opinion. My statement in this regard is not specific,
nor is it about any of the Plaintiffs specifically – it is a generalized
statement of my opinion. For example,
although I did not publish this about Pam on my blog, I have seen her ruin her
relationships with her children, and I have seen her drink too much and have personally
experienced her being personally, overly mean, nasty, and abusive. During Thanksgiving of 2012, Pam seemed to stay
drunk the whole time that we were at my father's ranch. Then, she became
overtly and falsely accusatory toward my wife and both of my children.
57. This same comment about success in life
holds true for Tom, again, although I did not mention him. As already stated, he is being sued for
stealing millions of dollars from his company in Austin.
Pam and Tom live off my mother’s money.
58. Shortly after my granddad died in 1988, I
reconnected with my mother, who had divorced her second husband, Bill Harlow. I knew she was having some financial
difficulty so I asked her if I could look into her “business” and her personal banking
and financial records. I went back to Amarillo, hired movers and moved all of
her office furniture, files, vehicles, etc., to Dallas. I went through all of her files to get an
understanding of what she had.
59. What I found out was shocking at the very
least. It was a miracle she had anything at all. Both my sister Pam and brother
Tom had been stealing from her for years. They both had her credit cards, with
which they had been financing much of their own lives, since Boone divorced
her. My brother Tom had been flying around the world, first class, for years, staying
in five-star hotels and wining and dining prospective partners/investors. Pam
had been shopping for clothes, in the most expensive shops, for years, for her
three girls and herself.
60. I also found that Tom had moved all of
mother’s stock holdings from her broker in Amarillo to a broker in Dallas who
was his friend. Tom apparently had convinced mother into selling all of her
Mesa Ltd Partnership common stock, which had a very good yield and had been
providing her with a good yearly income, and into buying various other stock
holdings that had cratered in price, wiping out much of her net worth.
61. Mother had a home on Mockingbird Lane, in
Highland Park, valued at about $1 million, which she was having difficulty
paying the mortgage. She actually got a
job, at age 65, as a real estate sales person.
62. She ended up having to sell her home and car
and cancel her membership at Brookhollow Country Club and move into an
apartment. She even sold much of her jewelry. I received a letter from Pam during this time
period, telling me that “we” were going to have to take care of mother, etc., I
responded with a pretty curt response, saying she would not be in the shape she
was in if Pam and others had not been stealing from her for years – of course,
I heard nothing back.
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