DALLAS (ABP) — A district judge found no evidence of racketeering by either the W.A. Criswell Foundation or Criswell College in a dispute with a computer contractor.
The suit arose from an agreement John Thomas, a Baptist layman and founder of International Data Systems, reached in 1995 to digitize tapes, transcripts and outlines of sermons by W.A. Criswell, longtime pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas.
IDS sued the foundation and the college for allegedly breaching a contract with IDS and then giving the business to a corporation in which IDS claimed a foundation board member held significant financial interests.
IDS accused the Criswell entities of engaging in a pattern of racketeering activity that included mail fraud, extortion and copyright infringement. By dismissing complaints filed under the RICO Act, the judge reduced the claim for damages from $46.6 million to about $15.5 million, which IDS claims are actual damages. The anti-racketeering statute allows recovery of three-fold damages.
The judge found the case lacked evidence to qualify as racketeering under several elements of the RICO Act, particularly no evidence of a continued threat of criminal activity or the presence of a racketeering enterprise.
Blake Beckham, lead attorney for the Criswell Foundation, characterized the anti-racketeering claims as “a cheap publicity stunt in an otherwise simple contractual dispute over $40,000 of contested invoices.”
Thomas claimed he understood he was working on a charitable venture for Criswell College. Consequently, he agreed to donate his own time and charge the school only what it would cost him to complete the project. IDS developed a prototype website for the project, which was demonstrated at the 1998 Southern Baptist Convention.
Criswell College paid on invoices received for services and equipment through October 1999. But sometime between October 1999 and January 2000, the business relationship soured, and the Criswell entities stopped paying. Each party since has accused the other of trying to change the terms of earlier agreements.
In March 2000, the Criswell entities terminated their relationship with IDS and entered into a contract with Chris Moreau, president of DIAWS Systems, to complete the project. Thomas alleged a foundation board member had financial interests in DIAWS.
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