College Official Files Lawsuit

Gates Claims Woman Defamed Him In Blog Spot Posts

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

— An administrator at NorthWest Arkansas Community College is suing a woman over statements she made about him on the Internet.

Houston attorney Paul Kerlin filed the suit Monday in Benton County Circuit Court on behalf of Steven Gates against Francesca M. Cataldo.

Cataldo couldn’t be reached for comment. There were no responses to email sent to her Tuesday.

Gates, senior vice president for learning and provost, claims in the lawsuit Cataldo began posting about the college on the blog nwacccorruption.blogspot.com. The lawsuit claims Cataldo made false and defamatory statements regarding Gates and his position with the college.

The college isn’t a named party in the lawsuit.

At A Glance

The Lawsuit

Steven Gates’ lawsuit claims the Internet statements about him are defamatory because they:

• Injure his reputation and expose him to public hatred, contempt or ridicule or financial injury

• Impeach his honesty, integrity, virtue and reputation

• Injure him in his occupation or profession.

Source: Staff Report

“The college is not involved in the suit; however, Dr. Gates has made us aware of its filing,” Becky Paneitz, college president, said in a news release Tuesday. “We are understanding of Dr. Gates’ desire to end what we understand to be false posts about him on the Internet. Dr. Gates is well within his personal rights to pursue this action.”

The lawsuit lists several examples of defamatory statements. The lawsuit states on May 26, Cataldo posted Gates was “a bully” and had been fired from Crowder College in Neosho, Mo., for sexual harassment. The posting also claimed Gates had been unemployed for several years and questioned why someone with “his tainted history” was hired by the college, according to court documents.

The complaint reflects an Aug. 7 posting that described Gates as a “bully” and the “the Don Coreleone of this mob mentality.” The posting also claimed Gates destroys people’s lives and careers.

Cataldo accused Gates of cyberstalking her in an Aug. 13 posting, according to court documents.

The lawsuit claims Cataldo posted a web link urging readers to contact the college’s Board of Trustees to inform them of how poorly Gates and other administrators ran the college.

Gates said Cataldo’s statements about him are false, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit claims Cataldo’s false statements are libelous. The lawsuit seeks a preliminary injunction to remove all the statements about Gates from the nwacccorruption website.

Gates’ lawsuit wants the court to stop Cataldo from making statements that defame or disparage him. The lawsuit also wants the court to order Cataldo to assist in removing defamatory and disparaging remarks about Gates from Internet search engines.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages. The case is assigned to Circuit Judge John Scott.