Doromal threatens Cruz with defamation lawsuit

Human rights advocate Wendy L. Doromal, through a lawyer, has threatened to sue Taotao Tano and its president, Gregorio Cruz Jr., if they do not stop issuing allegedly defamatory and slanderous statements against her.

Cruz said Doromal and her lawyer, John W. Zielinski, have threatened the wrong person because he is not afraid of lawyers and lawsuits.

Zielinski wrote Cruz on Friday, demanding that Cruz and Taotao Tano immediately stop their “wrongful publication” campaign against her.

Zielinski said his client has provided their office with multiple e-mail communications, letters, and other materials that Cruz had published about Doromal, to her detriment.

“The statements in your publications are inaccurate, defamatory and slanderous statements made in an effort to injure Ms. Doromal’s good reputation as well as potentially interfere with her employment contract,” the lawyer said.

The issue came up after Cruz wrote Department of Education State of Florida Commissioner Dr. Eric J. Smith on Jan. 10, 2009, complaining about Doromal’s activities in the CNMI.

In that letter, the Taotao Tano president told Smith that Doromal has been “falsely accusing” the CNMI of human tortures and atrocities compared to that of a Third World country.

“For years now she had been heavily involved in the destruction of our homeland reputation throughout the United States, including teaching her false propaganda in your classrooms to young school children who have no idea where and what our island is all about,” Cruz said.

Cruz promised to send Smith “a vast number of information” pertaining to Doromal’s activities “under the guise of a human rights advocate.”

On Jan. 11, 2009, Cruz also wrote a letter asking Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Corporation for National and Community Service Learn and Serve America, urging them to revoke the award given to Doromal during the 19th Annual Service Learning Conference in Minnesota and calling her a “fake human rights advocator.”

Zielinski told Cruz that Doromal’s actions that he is complaining about represent a U.S. citizen’s legal duty to apprise her government of human rights violations within U.S. territories.

“Ms. Doromal’s truthful testimony and lawful activities have received legislative support resulting in the enactment of laws that are designed to improve living conditions in the Mariana Islands,” Zielinski said.

The lawyer said that if Cruz has issues with the law, there are legal methods available for him to challenge U.S. legislation.

Zielinski said a personal attack on Doromal “is not warranted and is actionable in a court of law.”

He reminded Cruz that the decision to publish false and misleading materials to Doromal’s employment supervisors constitutes “tortious interference” with her existing employment contractual relationship. This occurs when a person intentionally damages a plaintiff’s contractual or other business relationships.

“As a citizen of a United States Territory, you are subject to the United States’ Courts’ jurisdiction,” the lawyer told the Taotao Tano president.

Zielinski said if Cruz does not cease such actions immediately, they will not hesitate to seek monetary relief as well as injunctive relief against him and Taotao Tano.

In his response to Zielinksi Saturday, Cruz he is a poor man and doesn’t have many material things that could be taken away but “I am passionate about defending my homeland and my people.”

Cruz said the next time Doromal says anything in the press that is derogatory and untrue about the CNMI, he will see if he can sue her.

“Then you and I can have a good discussion in front of our court about the damage that Ms. Doromal’s false accusations have had on our Commonwealth,” Cruz told Zielinksi.

Cruz suggested that Zielinksi collect all the statements that Doromal has made over the past years about individuals and groups in the CNMI and then think about whether he could prove that Doromal’s statements are true.

“I think it would be good to have an airing of all of this in a neutral court,” Cruz said.