Here we go: Ringling sues AR groups

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FROM DALLAS MORNING NEWS We all knew it was coming, it's the only option for pathetic scum like Feld Entertainment to do. But RICO?????? OMG he's crazy. Ringling Bros. producer sues animal rights groups 04:49 PM CDT on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 Bloomberg News The producer of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the self-proclaimed "Greatest Show on Earth," sued the ASPCA and other animal rights groups, claiming they paid a former company

employee to help them fight alleged abuses by the circus in court and before lawmakers. Feld Entertainment Inc., which filed the complaint Wednesday in Washington federal court, says the groups paid more than $100,000 to Tom Rider, a former employee, to file lawsuits against the company and act as a witness in legislative action. Rider, who's also named in the suit, accepted additional funds from a Washington law firm that represents nonprofit groups, according to the complaint. "This lawsuit is a direct result of the animal rights extremists' agenda to deny families in the United States entertainment choices like the circus and their ongoing conspiracy to harm Feld Entertainment," company spokesman Stephen Payne said in a statement. The suit is the latest salvo in a seven-year legal battle that has pitted the Vienna, Va., company against animal rights groups over the treatment of animals at

the 88-year-old circus. The case was brought under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, a law originally enacted to combat organized crime groups. Aside from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the complaint also names the Animal Protection Institute, the Animal Welfare Institute and the Wildlife Advocacy Project as defendants. They're accused of engaging in bribery, obstruction of justice and fraud. Kathy Meyer, a lawyer at Meyer, Glitzenstein & Crystal who represents the ASPCA, said Rider was never bribed and that the lawsuit is retaliation for his "incredibly effective" media campaign against the abuse of endangered Asian elephants by handlers at Ringling Bros. "Rider has received foundation grants to pay for his living expenses as he goes around the country, speaking to reporters, grass-roots groups and legislative entities," Meyer said. "He's been

doing that for seven years and lives out of a used Volkswagen van." In a related case also pending in Washington, a judge last week denied Feld's attempt to include racketeering claims in a suit that's expected to go to trial next year. The case is Feld Entertainment Inc. v. American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 1:07-cv-01532, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Washington). "Think occasionally of the suffering of which youspare yourself the sight" Albert Schweitzer

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