Jensen is basing his claim of slander on remarks that Abu-Akel made April 4, during a meeting in Louisville of the General Assembly Council. In that speech, Abu-Akel characterized as “a lie” claims that he and other church officials were involved in a conspiracy not to call the 214th General Assembly back into session to address defiance of the denomination’s Constitution regarding the ordination of gays and lesbians.
In response to Jensen’s lawsuit, Abu-Akel has filed . . . a request for vindication with Greater Atlanta Presbytery, of which he is a member. That procedure, permitted under the PC(USA)’s Constitution, states that a PC(USA) member “who feels injured by rumor or gossip may request an inquiry for vindication by submitting to the clerk of the presbytery a clear narrative and statement of the alleged facts.”
In a statement released May 21, Abu-Akel said, “I believe in the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) . . . I believe we should settle our issues within the judicial processes of our denomination. Mr. Jensen has chosen not to use the church system to decide this matter. Therefore, I am filing papers today requesting an inquiry for vindication with Greater Atlanta Presbytery. I will submit to the presbytery’s judgment about my remarks.”
Jensen’s lawsuit was filed May 20 in superior state court in Orange County, California. Jensen has been living in northern Virginia, but has a home in Laguna Beach, Calif., has practiced law in California and is a member of St. Andrews Presbyterian in Newport Beach.
Abu-Akel did not refer during his April 4 speech to any particular individuals who had made claims about there being a conspiracy. But when the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission held a trial in March to determine whether Abu-Akel was obligated to reconvene the General Assembly, Jensen was the lawyer who argued the case on behalf of Westminster church, the congregation in Canton, Ohio, which had filed a complaint alleging that Alex Metherell, an elder from California, had collected enough signatures from commissioners to meet the requirements and that the moderator should be compelled to call the assembly back.
In the complaint Jensen filed on behalf of Westminster in that case, he stated that Abu-Akel and other church officials had failed to fulfill the constitutional requirements for reconvening an assembly “and have otherwise conspired together and acted contrary to the polity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).”
In filing the California lawsuit, Jensen contends that “all allegations in the complaint in the Westminster case remain true.”
Abu-Akel made his April 4 speech knowing that journalists were present, and articles quoting his remarks about the claims of conspiracy being “a lie” were published and posted on the Internet, Jensen claims in the lawsuit. Jensen argues that Abu-Akel’s comments could injure him in his legal work and that “in more than a decade of practicing trial law in California, plaintiff has established a reputation as an honest lawyer, and has heretofore never been accused of lying to any court or other judicial or legislative body.”
Jensen’s lawsuit seeks damages, including punitive damages of an unspecified amount “to deter defendant from similar actions in the future.”
On April 4, Abu-Akel’s remarks came as part of his moderator’s report to the General Assembly Council. He spoke first of other issues — including an overseas trip he had recently taken to China, Korea and Indonesia, and another one to visit mission programs in the Midwestern United States. Then he began to tell the council about the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission’s ruling.
The judicial commission ruled in March that Abu-Akel was right to try to verify the signatures of those whose names were submitted as supporting Metherell’s petition and right to conclude that not enough commissioners had asked the assembly to reconvene, but said the moderator should not have written a letter in January “imploring” those who had signed the petition to change their minds, in the name of Jesus Christ and for the good of the Presbyterian Church.
Abu-Akel told the council that “this experience taught me about the power of media and the power of communication — how they can create a perception in the mind of people that is more powerful than the truth.”
The truth, he said, is that he explained to the council clearly in January what he intended to do, after Metherell presented the signatures he’d collected from commissioners. Then he went to California and focused on being the moderator and doing God’s work, Abu-Akel said. ‘My focus on Jesus and the church every day during that time was my salvation, because I did not allow the outside forces to overwhelm me,” Abu-Akel told the council. “So when I read that the moderator, the stated clerk and the staff in Louisville have a conspiracy, I became strong in the Spirit because I knew that this statement was a lie and I realize that the truth is more powerful than the lie.”
After the speech, Jensen sent Abu-Akel a fax, asking him to retract his comments and contending that the moderator had called him a liar.
On April 11, Abu-Akel sent Jensen a letter, stating that “in my April 4th statement to the GAC, I intended to say that I knew the factual allegations against me were untrue. They were. I was not speaking about the motivation of anyone who brought the complaint.”
Jensen responded with a fax, which stated that “my letter to you requested a retraction, your letter to me reiterates the false statements you made to the General Assembly Council. Which of us is correct will now be decided by a jury, in that I will immediately file a lawsuit against you personally for slander. I urge you to immediately retain counsel in this regard, and to have that attorney contact me.”
Abu-Akel was served with papers informing him of the lawsuit May 20 in Seattle.
In his letter to Greater Atlanta presbytery, making the request for vindication, Abu-Akel wrote that when he made his speech to the General Assembly Council “I indicated that I believed the allegations made in the complaint were untrue. I attributed the complaint to no particular person, nor did I share that opinion outside the General Assembly Council.”
In filing the California lawsuit, Jensen “has caused my integrity, honesty and Christian character to be questioned,” Abu-Akel wrote.
Under the rules, Greater Atlanta Presbytery can appoint an investigating committee, which will conduct an inquiry to determine the facts and circumstances, and report its findings in writing back to the presbytery.
