Courtroom 219!

Good Day Readers:

Yesterday a Pre-Trial Conference was held before Court of Queen's Bench Justice The Honourable Joan McKelvey in the Manitoba Metis Federation's defamation lawsuit against the site CyberSmokeSignals and Co-Defendants Terry Belhumeur and Clare L. Pieuk.

By way of brief background, at the first P-TC (September 2008) MMF lawyer Murray Trachtenberg (www.ptlaw.mb.ca; mtrachtenberg@ptlaw.mb.ca) requested and was granted a Publication Ban. It was not challenged because of the court costs had we lost. Essentially it states Motion Hearings normally open to the public can be reported but not Case Management Conferences. In the past, as happened Wednesday, MHs can easily transistion into CMCs which are covered by the Ban.

Counselor Trachtenberg filed a Motion to strike my Statement of Defence arguing I have not paid the court costs related to a successful Motion I filed in March of this year for an adjournment of the initial trial date. This is because I do not have the funds. Mr. Trachtenberg's latest Motion was not considered yesterday, therefore, the S/D has not been struck. In addition, the original March 1, 2010 trial date was re-scheduled yesterday to May 16 - June 10, 2011. The next Pre-Trial Conference will be September 15, 2010.

Regarding the CMC portion of yesterday's meeting, suffice it to say the courtroom dynamic has radically changed with the presence of my attorney Mr. Anders Bruun. Justice McKelvey is to be commended for the excellent way she presided over the Hearing.

Sincerely,

Clare L. Pieuk