California Court Rejects Mermelstein's Appeal

by Mark Weber

In the latest round in the long-standing effort by Holocaust personality Mel Mermelstein to shut down the Institute for Historical Review, the California Court of Appeal (Second Appellate District, Division Two) ruled on October 28, 1992, decisively in favor of the IHR and co-defendants.

The three judges -- Nott, Gates and Fukuto -- unanimously rejected Mermelstein's appeal of the dismissal, on September 19, 1991, by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Steven Lachs, of Mermelstein's complaint of malicious prosecution against IHR and its fellow defendants. (For more on the IHR's 1991 legal victory, see the IHR Newsletter, October 1991.)
Five days before its recent ruling, Mermelstein's lawyer had argued before the appeal court that Judge Lachs had erred in finding that the IHR and co-defant Willis Carto had probable cause to sue Mermelstein for libel.

However, IHR attorney William Hulsy's persuasive brief and oral arguments, as well as Judge Lachs' careful attention to the facts and the law in his decision to grant Hulsy's motions of non-suit and to dismiss Mermelstein's complaint, proved decisive. The ruling of the three appeals court judges was both unanimous and categorical. More