Complaint Review: A. Harrison Barnes Lawcrossing Career Mission Employmentcrossing BCG Attorney Search Hound - Las Vegas Nevada

Harrison Barnes must be the most ignorant person to ever get a law degree.  He just filed a lawsuit against two people for posting negative comments on this site and another small time blog (complaint: http://www.jdjournal.com/wp-content/BarnesvKinney_FAC.pdf).  One of the people is supposedly a former employee who started up his own recruiting firm after he left Harrisons company.  The second is a solo practitioner in Ohio who runs a tiny blog that was probably unknown.  Harrison claims that these people caused him $10 million in damages.  The utter ignorance and stupidity  is that Harrison cant even see that any damage to him or his companies was mostly of his own making and he is just fanning the flames of his own inferno.

First, if it werent for the threats of lawsuits that started last May I never would have known about these blogs.  All Harrison did was highlight the questions raised about his character and business practices and invite additional information about him.  For example, I never would have known that his businesses have F ratings with the BBB (Lawcrossing alone has 61 complaints with 14 unanswered and in May 2007 a BBB employee gutted Lawcrossing warning consumers to stay away (http://www.enewsbuilder.net/bbbsouthland/e_article000802948.cfm?x=b11,0,w), that two of his companies have been suspended from doing business in California with at least one suspended for non-payment of taxes (http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/corpdata/ShowAllList?QueryCorpNumber=C2831806 and http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/corpdata/ShowAllList?QueryCorpNumber=C2832086), that he lives in Malibu homes owned by one of his companies and uses an employee to rent out the homes for profit (his residences used to be listed as company properties until recently when they were suspiciously removed after a blogger learned that one of his employees for his legal companies was renting out the houses as a side business), that he probably runs his companies in violation of state laws punishable by civil and criminal penalties (http://legalauthorityscam.blogspot.com/), that his employees have been leaving in droves, that he seems to grossly mismanage his finances, that he pays people (most seem to live in foreign countries) to write favorable things about him on the Internet and even set up a company to do so, and so much more. 

Second, the blogger in Ohio (who calls himself AmericanMaestro) first wrote about Harrisons companies on January 29, 2009 and then had about four total pithy comments through the beginning of April.  The blog was DEAD after that.  Yet, Harrison decided in May or June to have a lawyer call this person on the phone and threaten to sue him unless he removed his blog.  Aside from the sickness of this behavior, this is where he shows his greatest idiocy.  AmericanMaestro then decided to blog that he was threatened and described a series of conversations and events that transpired after that first call.  The result, Harrison or his lawyer called him repeatedly, set him up with a conference call with Harrisons employees, invited AmericanMaestro to visit the company in California and then asked to meet with him in Ohio sometime this month.  The result of all of the above is that there are now over 70 comments on AmericanMaestros blog, at least a half dozen other blogs (including this one and most started before AmericanMaestro) are chatting about how poorly Harrison Barnes runs his companies and a few people who claim to be former employees are coming out to say very consistent and unflattering things about Harrison.  In Harrisons complaint he recites numerous examples of how AmericanMaestro ruined his companies, but the village idiot Barnes seems to forget that everything that he put in his complaint with reference to AmericanMaestro occurred after he threatened to sue and harass a person with an unknown blog who was exercising free speech.  Mr. Barnes, you can't both stir up a controversy and then start pointing fingers at everyone else that it was their fault.

Third, Harrison left out many other bloggers, sites and accusations made against him.  Either his lawyer is sloppy and not thorough or the lawyer didnt recite the other unflattering statements because they are true and not actionable.  Independent and verifiable third party information such as the California Secretary of State, the Better Business Bureau, the California Attorney Generals office, Amazons mTurk (http://www.cathygellis.com/soi/2008/10/law-crossing-definitely-nay.html and http://www.cathygellis.com/soi/2008/10/law-crossing-definitely-nay.html) and statements made on Harrisons own blog and sites all make it seem as though there is something less than scrupulous behind the scenes.  Other independent sources that remain to be identified include people who claim to have either worked for him or know him personally and appear on some of the above sites plus http://corcodilos.com/blog/469/droolers-charles-manson-and-a-harrison-barnes and http://franklysaurkraut.blogspot.com/2008/08/vanara-scam.html). 

Fourth, the second named defendant is a person who wrote on this site and who is a TX based headhunter (if this is the correct person) who tried to remain anonymous by calling himself Albert.  If this person actually did write the blog against Harrison then it was probably foolish and amateurish to try to slime a competitor for no good reason and that might leave open a good question about if this person violated business laws with an intent to harm Harrisons businesses (actions included in the complaint), but that doesnt mean the person lied about or defamed Harrison.  Also, the complaint relies heavily on a lot of he said/she said statements between Albert and Harrison.  Statements like Harrison bragged in my presence that he made over $5 million in one year.  Is that defamatory and how can anyone know what was really said between the two people?  (Harrison might have a good case if the former employee filed some type of non-disclosure statement but that was not mentioned in the complaint.)  So again, Harrison has only raised the profile and dignified the allegations made against him using a ridiculous lawsuit that could be viewed as coercion against free speech.

Fifth, Harrison is also going after two other people of questionable identy, at least one of which (supposed ex-employee) merely called him names on his posting.  The other claims to be another former ex-employee (Joe C.) who was very specific in his statements about Harrisons companies and not expressed as an opinion.   It will be interesting to find out who Joe C. really is and if he can back up his allegations based upon his claimed first hand knowledge.

Sixth, Harrison has confirmed on his own blog and other of his websites that he has closed his operations in Pasadena, is trying to rent out the now vacant space (that was confirmed on yet another web site by someone who works in the same building with Harrison), and is moving his businesses to Las Vegas.  This is all happening during the worst economy that any of us have known during our lives.  Suddenly in June he decides to threaten, then file, a $10 million lawsuit for damages (but wait a minute, he never said that he even made $5 million in a year so what exactly are his profits).  The stench of this lawsuit is that it very much appears that Harrison Barnes is trying to find any excuse other than his own faults for his failures and is grasping at any straw to get cash any way he can to maintain his lifestyle. 

Anyway, the fact that Harrison Barnes is spending this much time and energy on something that was a non-issue until he made it one is peculiar and it makes me wonder even more how he manages his companies and treats his employees.  Complaints against him at the BBB and complaints.com go back several years, so why start threatening now?  He seems obsessed and paranoid.   I also wonder what his tax returns and accounting books look like.  In the end, maybe Harrison Barnes is correct because he really does run well-respected, well-managed and companies that are profitable even in this economy, but it doesnt look like that is the reality.