Hurwitz, C

oops, see also maxxam

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jial h


<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2001 13:37:28 -0700 (PDT) 
Subject: MAXXAM's House task force ethics violation 

<center style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><h2>Congressman Pombo May be Guilty of House Ethics Violations for Release of report on MAXXAM's Failed S&L</h2></center><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Headwaters, Steelworker and anti-MAXXAM compatriots and members of the media: <br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" medium="medium" font-style="font-style" normal="normal" font-variant="font-variant" font-weight="font-weight" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" line-height="line-height" text-align="text-align" start="start" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" text-transform="text-transform" none="none" white-space="white-space" widows="widows" word-spacing="word-spacing" display="display" inline="inline" important="important" float="float">A serious breach of Congressional ethics has taken place with the release of Congressman Pombo's report from his Resources sub-committee task force on how the debt for nature idea supposedly inspired the banking regulators to file court actions against Hurwitz, MAXXAM and United Savings. <br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The breach is this: The task force which Pombo chaired is defunct--it no longer exists. Further, no vote of the resources committee occured to release the report. Instead, Pombo snuck it through to the public record by simply entering into the congressional record. <br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In other words, a rogue Congressman Pombo, without any authorization at all entered a report declaring poor Charles Hurwitz to be a victim of a conspiracy between federal banking regulators and "eco-terrorists" to deprive him of his redwoods. News accounts even point to the highly unusual method of entering this into the public record. <br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" medium="medium" font-style="font-style" normal="normal" font-variant="font-variant" font-weight="font-weight" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" line-height="line-height" text-align="text-align" start="start" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" text-transform="text-transform" none="none" white-space="white-space" widows="widows" word-spacing="word-spacing" display="display" inline="inline" important="important" float="float">Last year, MAXXAM made contributions to many members of the task force, banking committee, and the Bush Inaugural that activists believe bought and paid for the Republican-led task force. <br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The following people are contacts to determine whether a House Ethics Committee Probe will be launched. <br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Ethics Committee staff chief Robert Walker (Republican) 202/225 7103. Ask him if a breach has been reported and if this seems like a breach of ethics. <br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Rick Healy, staffer for Rep. George Miller (Democrat) on Resources Committee. Ask him if Miller will refer this matter to Ethics. <br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Allan Freemayer staffer for Rep. James Hansen (republican). Hansen if a moderate. Ask Freemayer if they will report this as an ethics breach. 202 225 2761. <br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Bari Schwartz, Staffer for Congressman Howard Berman, ranking Democrat of the Ethics Committee. She's familiar with this issue. Ask her if the ethics committee is looking into this: 202/225 4695. <br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Jim Zoia, ranking staffer for Congressman Nick Rahal (Ranking democrat on Resources). Ask Mr. Zoia to report this breach to the ethics committee. 202/225 6065. <br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" />
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George Kozmetsky, Charles Hurwitz, the FBI and the Attempted Assassination of Judi Bari

By Jim Larkin
February 1995; Volume 1, Issue #5
(sub)TEX

Just before noon on May 24 1994 a bomb exploded under the drivers seat of a car making its way along Park Boulevard in Oakland, California. The driver of the car, Judi Bari, was rushed to hospital in critical condition with a shattered pelvis and her legs, face and abdomen perforated with shrapnel, while the passenger, Darryl Cherney, was treated for shrapnel injuries to the head. Bari was crippled for life by the injuries she received. The first investigator at the scene, Michele Gribi, a civilian evidence technician with the Oakland Police Department (OPD), concluded that an antipersonnel bomb had exploded directly beneath the drivers seat. Since both occupants were Earth First! (EF!) activists, then organizing the Redwoods Summer, a three month long protest against the clearcutting of California's redwoods, it was clear that the two had been victims of an assassination attempt.

To understand fully the background of this attempted assassination we need to go back to 1985 and the "controversial" takeover of the Pacific Lumber Company by the Houston based Maxxam Corporation. The architect of this takeover was corporate raider Charles Hurwitz who holds 60 percent voting control in Maxxam. Another key player was George Kozmetsky, partner, mentor and confident to Hurwitz, board member of Maxxam and chairman of the closely related corporation MCO. Kozmetsky is an influential figure at UT, with the Graduate business School named after him and is the director of UT's Institute for Constructive Capitalism on San Gabriel Street. Also heavily involved in the takeover was junk bond merchant Micheal Milken.

Up to 1985 Pacific Lumber (PL) was one of the most economically and environmentally sound timber companies in the US. A family-run business for 118 years, Pacific Lumber never clear cut trees, generally leaving 30 to 50 percent of the timber standing in a harvested area, thus creating a natural canopy break for new growth and stopping soil erosion. The company was also generous to its employees, providing low cost housing and a very generous pension fund. These strengths, however, made PL ripe for a takeover: the pension fund was overfunded by $60 million and its sustainable cutting practices left it with the largest privately held tract of old growth redwoods in the country.

In November 1985, Maxxam bought over PL for $900 million, mostly in junk bonds floated by Micheal Milken. The exact details of the takeover are shady and the subject of a rash of insider trading investigations. For his deeds, Micheal Milken got a five year prison sentence and Hurwitz has been the subject of numerous lawsuits. In return for financing the takeover, Hurwitz caused United Savings Association of Texas (USAT), an S&L which he had control of, to purchase $1.3 billion of junk bonds underwritten by Milken's assosciates . In 1988 USAT became the sixth biggest S&L failure in the country, with a cost to taxpayers of $1.6 million and Maxxam's role is currently under investigation by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).[lost?]

Despite the creative, if illegal, financing, it became clear quite quickly that PLs century old management of the redwoods would not make the interest payment on the junk bonds. Carrying out the Golden Rule that he quoted to PL employees shortly after the takeover: "He who has the gold rules," Hurwitz looted the pension fund, doubled the rate of logging and introduced clearcutting for the first time in the company's history.

The response from environmental groups to the wholesale liquidation of 2,000 year old trees for picnic tables and hot tub decks to line the pockets of corporate pirates wasn't long in coming. At the forefront of this activism was Earth First (EF!) who, through direct action and nonviolent protest raised awareness of the history and the stakes, demanding not only that the FDIC disgorge PL from Maxxam and turn it over to the taxpayers who had eventually footed the bill for the takeover, but that Hurwitz and his cronies be jailed for their illegal dealings. Court battles taken by more conservative environmental groups also ensued, forcing PL to undertake renegade logging - illegal clear cutting on weekends and holidays when US Fish and Wildlife Service personnel were not working.

An unforeseen consequence of the PL clearcutting was the alliance of two groups which are usually played off each other in such circumstances: environmentalists and lumber workers. With Hurwitz's openly-admitted plan to liquidate PLs redwoods in 20 years, the workers saw the death of their way of life and began joining with environmental groups in protesting the devastation wrought by clearcutting. As an organizer for the International Workers of the World (IWW) Judi Bari was actively involved in developing this alliance and was representing a number saw mill workers at the Louisiana Pacific lumber company at the time of the bombing.

With the three pronged front of militant activists, conservation groups and lumber workers, the Redwoods Summer action of 1990 posed a potent threat to the corporate raiders of the old growth trees in California. So much so that Bari received 36 death threats during the preceding 18 months, including a picture of her with rifle crosshairs drawn in, which was pinned to her door and smeared with feces. When these threats were brought to the police, their response was one of disinterest. As one Mendocino County deputy informed Bari "If you turn up dead, we'll investigate." While the bombing of May 24 didn't result in her death, the police could no longer ignore the situation.

However, 27 hours after the explosion, both Bari and Cherney were arrested and charged with illegal possession of explosives, with bail set at $100,000. The pretext for the charges was the claim made by a team of FBI agents lead by Special Agent Frank Doyle, Jr. that, contrary to the conclusions of the OPD, the bomb was behind the drivers seat when it exploded and thus, the occupants must have been aware of its existence. Within hours the media had taken up the story of Bari and Cherney as eco-terrorists and demonized Earth First! as advocating sabotage. However, despite extensive unwarranted searches of the homes of EF! activists carried out by OPD, FBI and Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents, no incriminating evidence was found. By July 21, the District Attorney had dropped the case.

Angered by the attempt to frame them for the bombing and the lack of police effort to find the real assassins, on May 22, 1991, Bari and Cherney filed a $2 million suit in federal court for false arrest and gross violations of their civil rights by the FBI and OPD. Their lead attorney, Dennis Cunningham, had successfully litigated against the FBI in the 1972 COINTELPRO assassination of Black Panthers Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, winning a settlement of $1.85 million for the survivors and mothers of the deceased in 1983. As the Bari/Cherney suit passed through its discovery stage, the FBI and OPD were forced to release their documents on the case and what has emerged proves that the FBI and the OPD falsified and withheld information in an attempt to frame the victims and discredit EF! on the eve of a major action.

From released photographs it is clear that the bomb was under, rather than behind the drivers seat. Moreover, the triggering mechanism consisted of a large ball bearing that had to roll to connect two contact points: a booby trap set to explode when Bari drove the car. Despite knowing this within hours of the bombing, the FBI never mentioned this to the press and still went ahead with trying to pin the bomb on the EF!ers. Later FBI claims that a crime lab bomb expert identified the nails in the bomb as the same as those found in Bari's house proved to be outright lies.

With the victims arrested and smeared in the press, the FBI set about a nationwide intelligence gathering exercise on environmentalists, and EF! in particular. Under the guise of investigating the bombing, the FBI looked through the letters to the editor files of nine small hometown newspapers, and confiscated letters from environmentalists. They also obtained the telephone records of fourteen EF!ers and compiled a list of 634 out-of-state phone calls we had made. The FBI then investigated each of these 634 phone numbers, gathering information including names, addresses, physical descriptions, places of employment, criminal records, and political associates. Following a report on FBI activities against EF!ers in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, complaints by FBI director Richard Held about the coverage made their way to the Press Democrat's parent paper, the New York Times, leading to the writers removal as timber reporter.

Most sensational of all, contained in the 5,000 pages of released documents is evidence that the FBI was involved in planting the bomb in Bari's car. Four weeks before the bombing, the FBI held a Bomb Investigators Training Course in Eureka California, in which FBI agents blew up cars and practiced examining the wreckage. The head instructor at the bomb school was none other than Special Agent Frank Doyle, who along with four other agents turned up at the scene of the Oakland bombing within two hours of the explosion. Despite the fact that, as taught at the school, it is very unusual for a car bomb to be placed inside the passenger compartment of a car, two out of three cars blown up in the practice sessions were of this type, as was the one in Bari's car. On top of all of this, the place where these cars were blown up in bomb school was at a logging site owned by the Louisiana Pacific Lumber Company!

Having defeated three attempts by the FBI to have the case thrown out of court, Bari and Cherney are set to go to trial later this year.

UT Watch note: In June 2002, a federal jury decided against the FBI and the Oakland Police Department and awarded $4.4 million in a landmark case to Darryl Cherney and the estate of Judi Bari, who died of breast cancer in March 1997. For much more information on the case and the life of a great environmental and social justice leader, visit www.judibari.org.
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http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/charles-hurwitz-greedy-clear-cutter-charles-hurwitz-caring-environmentalist
bs clintom tommy boggs


<ul style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" medium="medium" font-style="font-style" normal="normal" font-variant="font-variant" font-weight="font-weight" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" line-height="line-height" text-align="text-align" start="start" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" text-transform="text-transform" none="none" white-space="white-space" widows="widows" word-spacing="word-spacing"><li>Texas corporate raider Charles Hurwitz, with the help of junk-bond broker and convicted felon Michael Milken, looted and crashed a Savings and Loan, United Savings Association of Texas (USAT), costing U.S. taxpayers a staggering $1.6 billion!</li><li>With looted money funneled from the S & L, Hurwitz engaged in a hostile takeover of the Pacific Lumber Company, commenced rabid clearcutting, and tripled the rate of logging of the world's largest stands of privately held ancient redwood forests, including Headwaters Forest, a precious, sacred and irreplaceable international treasure of the ages.</li><li>Hurwitz simultaneously raided Pacific Lumber's worker pension fund, removing $55 million from the retired loggers and millworkers' nest egg, and began raping the company, selling off much of it's other liquitable assets for the quick cash he needed to make his pressing junk bond payments.</li><li>Hurwitz had previously looted the Simplicity Pattern worker pension fund in 1982, reducing worker benefits by nearly $4000 per year.</li><li>Hurwitz has entered into out-of-court settlements for insurance fraud, securities violations and a land swindle of his own company's shareholders! Hurwitz has lost seven environmental lawsuits over his incessant, illegal logging in these ancient redwood forests of Northern California.</li></ul><b style="color: rgb(128, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><a href="http://www.jailhurwitz.com/howtouse.html">How to Use This Web Site</a>
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<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; font-size: 9pt; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell. Practice Areas include: Business Law; Land Use Litigation; Environmental Litigation; Administrative Law; Real Propert; Civil Litigation and Water Law. 

Mr. Carter was born February 25, 1935 in Wingate, Texas and was admitted to the California State Bar in 1963. He was a U.S. Marine Corp Infantry officer from 1956 to 1959; and he is a 1962 graduate of Stanford University Law School, where he became a member of the Order of the Coif, and was an editor on the Stanford Law Review. He was law clerk to United States Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas in 1962 to 1963, and served as assistant professor of law at Stanford University Law School from 1963 to 1965. 

Mr. Carter engaged in private practice in San Francisco with the firm of Cooley, Crowley, Gaither, Castro, Godward, and Huddleston, for two years before beginning approximately eight years of employment with the federal government from 1967 to 1975. He served as Assistant Legal Advisor in the United States Department of State from 1968 through 1971, principal Deputy Director of the Office of Ocean Affairs, Department of Defense, for one year, and as Deputy Under Secretary of Interior from 1972-1975. While serving in the State Department: 1) he was a member of the U.S. delegation to United Nations Conference in Geneva Switzerland to negotiate an international convention of the law of treaties in 1968; and, 2) in 1979 he headed the U.S. delegation to United Nations Conference in Guatemala City to renegotiate the Warsaw Convention on Civil Aviation. While Serving as Principal Deputy Director of the Office of Ocean Affairs in the U.S. Department of Defense he represented the Defense Department in inter-governmental and international negotiations respecting the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. 

Mr. Carter has practiced in Ukiah, California consistently since 1975, except for the period of September 1999 until November 2006, when he was Executive Vice President and General Counsel, or a consultant, for the Pacific Lumber Company in Scotia, California. His practice in Ukiah has been in all areas of general civil and administrative law, and trial practice, with an emphasis upon business, real property, environmental, land use, and litigation. He has litigated several significant state and federal cases including: in the state courts: Public Resources Protection Assn. v. CA Dept. of Forestry (1994) 7 Cal.4th 111; Sierra Club v. Board of Forestry(1994) 7 Cal.4th 1215; Buehler v. Oregon-Washington Plywood Corp. (1976) 17 Cal.3d 520; Brown v. Superior Court (1975) 15 Cal.3d 52; Elk County Water Dist. v. Dep't of Forestry & Fire Prot. (1997) 53 Cal.App.4th 1; E.P.I.C. v. State Board of Forestry, et al. (1993) 20 Cal.App.4th 27; Albion River Watershed Protection Association, et al. v. Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, et al. (1993) 20 Cal.App.4th 34; E.P.I.C., et al. v. Maxxam Corporation, et al. (1992) 4 Cal.App.4th 1373; T.R.E.E.S. v. Deptarment of Forestry and Fire Protection, et al. (1991) 233 Cal.App.3d 1175; E.P.I.C. v. Johnson (1985) 170 Cal.App.3d 604; Joseph v. Masonite Corp. (1983) 148 Cal.App.3d 6; Estate of Jeffers (1982) 134 Cal.App.3d 729; in the federal courts: Marbled Murrelet v. Babbitt, et al. (1999) 182 F.3d 1091; Marbled Murrelet v. Babbitt, et al. (1997) 111 F.3d 1447; Marbled Murrelet v. Babbitt, et al. (1996) 83 F.3d 1068.<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: 9pt; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> 

wiki pac lumber


<h3 style="font-weight: bold; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.6; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">20th Century[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pacific_Lumber_Company&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: 20th Century" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">edit</a>]</h3><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">By 1905, Simon Murphy, Sr., originally of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit,Michigan" title="Detroit, Michigan" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">Detroit, Michigan</a> and later of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whittier,California" title="Whittier, California" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">Whittier, California</a>, completed the process of gaining control of the company. Through the rebuilding of San Francisco after the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1906_San_Francisco_earthquake" title="1906 San Francisco earthquake" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">1906 San Francisco earthquake</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I" title="World War I" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">World War I</a>, and numerous floods on the Eel River, the company came into the modern age. By 1920 the company had 1,500 employees and 65,000 acres (260 km2) of timberland. Beginning in the same decade, company management began participating in the preservation movement, primarily as a result of pressure from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Save-the-Redwoods_League" title="Save-the-Redwoods League" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 0%; background-clip: border-box; background-origin: padding-box; background-size: auto auto;">Save-the-Redwoods League</a> in San Francisco.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 0%; background-clip: border-box; background-origin: padding-box; background-size: auto auto;">[5]</a> Portions of prior PL holdings including the Rockefeller Forest, the world's largest remaining contiguous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_growth" title="Old growth" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 0%; background-clip: border-box; background-origin: padding-box; background-size: auto auto;">old growth</a> Redwood Forest to survive, now comprises the core of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_Redwoods_State_Park" title="Humboldt Redwoods State Park" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 0%; background-clip: border-box; background-origin: padding-box; background-size: auto auto;">Humboldt Redwoods State Park</a>. Further developments included recycling of sawdust into the world's first Presto logs.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-6" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">[6]</a><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In 1931, Stanwood Murphy became president of the company. His unique foresight led to a drastic change in practices from the industry standard of clear cutting to a "selective cut" system of logging. This meant that the company would limit cutting to a maximum of 70 percent of the mature trees in a stand, leaving the younger, most vigorous trees to hold the soil and seed a new generation of forest. He also instituted the concept of "sustainable yield," which directed planners to never cut more than the company's forests could replace by new growth in any year. These practices were hailed as revolutionary and he and his direct heirs ran the company in this manner for the next 55 years.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-7" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 0%; background-clip: border-box; background-origin: padding-box; background-size: auto auto;">[7]</a><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">By the 1950s, PALCO efforts to make Scotia a comfortable place to live and raise a family provided the following in the company town: affordable employee housing, stores, a school, a hospital, a skating rink, and a theatre. Under the Murphy family, the company implemented an employee pension plan, and provided free life insurance. By 1961, academic scholarships were also provided to students who were children of company employees. In 1975, PALCO was listed on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Stock_Exchange" title="New York Stock Exchange" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 0%; background-clip: border-box; background-origin: padding-box; background-size: auto auto;">New York Stock Exchange</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-8" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 0%; background-clip: border-box; background-origin: padding-box; background-size: auto auto;">[8]</a><h3 style="font-weight: bold; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.6; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">Late 20th Century[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pacific_Lumber_Company&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Late 20th Century" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">edit</a>]</h3><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">By the 1980s, this huge lumber operation had absolutely no debt, holding a partially diversified portfolio that included a high-rise building in San Francisco and lucrative welding operation in the San Francisco Bay Area, all derived from the company's 100-year-plan based on sustained yield directed cutting and profits carefully spent to protect cash flow. These long-term plans consequently and purposely led to a relatively low profit annually, which unwittingly were about to make the company vulnerable to "new" acquisition practices from Wall Street. The last Murphy to manage the company under these circumstances, Warren Murphy, reflected on what it was like to run such a stable enterprise with sound environmental practices: "We were the good guys. It was fun, it was easy—it was a great life."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-9" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 0%; background-clip: border-box; background-origin: padding-box; background-size: auto auto;">[9]</a><h3 style="font-weight: bold; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.6; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">1985 Hostile Takeover[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pacific_Lumber_Company&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: 1985 Hostile Takeover" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">edit</a>]</h3><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On September 30, 1985, the venerable Pacific Lumber Company, having maneuvered through more than a century of business peaks and valleys, was taken over as a result of stock purchases culminating on September 27, 1985. The Murphy family (the largest minority stock holders at the time) and countless previous stockholders, mostly company employees, were relieved of their stock as a result of a hostile takeover by Charles Hurwitz and his Maxxam, Inc. corporation of Texas.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-10" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">[10]</a><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On February 26, 1986, the day after the completed takeover, Warren Murphy resigned, turning over the company to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A.Campbell(lumber_executive)" title="John A. Campbell (lumber executive)" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">John A. Campbell</a>, a man who had been one of his executive vice presidents.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-Scion-4" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">[4]</a> However, despite indisputable changes in the tenor and management of the company, its last major holding of contiguous old growth forest was ultimately preserved as environmental groups and various auspices of government worked to seek a deal that inevitably led to the creation of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headwaters_Forest" title="Headwaters Forest" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 0%; background-clip: border-box; background-origin: padding-box; background-size: auto auto;">Headwaters Forest</a> in 1999 in exchange for $480 million in taxpayer's money.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-11" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 0%; background-clip: border-box; background-origin: padding-box; background-size: auto auto;">[11]</a><h4 style="font-weight: bold; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">Clearcutting Introduced Under Maxxam[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pacific_Lumber_Company&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Clearcutting Introduced Under Maxxam" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">edit</a>]</h4><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Between a desire to turn a higher profit and the need to start paying off the debt incurred from acquiring Pacific Lumber, Hurwitz's Maxxam replaced the sustainable growth policy of the previous owner-managers (primarily the Murphy family) with one of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearcutting" title="Clearcutting" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">clearcutting</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-TimesStandard2008-06-12-12" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">[12]</a><h4 style="font-weight: bold; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">Protests and Resistance[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pacific_Lumber_Company&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Protests and Resistance" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">edit</a>]</h4><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On May 24, 1990, a bomb planted in the car of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_First!" title="Earth First!" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">Earth First!</a> activist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judi_Bari" title="Judi Bari" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">Judi Bari</a> exploded, sending her and fellow activist Darryl Cherney to the hospital.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-gen-13" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">[13]</a> Judi and Darryl were on their way to a music and speaking event on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California,_Santa_Cruz" title="University of California, Santa Cruz" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">UC Santa Cruz</a> campus, part of an organizing tour for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redwood_Summer" title="Redwood Summer" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">Redwood Summer</a>, which sought to inform the wider public about the tragedy unfolding in the Redwood Empire.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">That explosion was a milestone of forest activism in the redwoods and elsewhere. The bomber was never identified. Oakland police and the FBI initially accused Bari and Cherney with transporting an explosive device under the driver's seat of her own car; but Alameda County prosecutors dropped the case for lack of evidence a few months later.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-gen-13" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">[13]</a> A lawsuit filed by Judi against the FBI for violation of Constitutional rights was ultimately successful in 2002, vindicating Darryl and Judi, but coming five years after Judi's untimely death from breast cancer at the age of 47.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On September 17, 1998, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Chain" title="David Chain" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 0%; background-clip: border-box; background-origin: padding-box; background-size: auto auto;">David Chain</a>, an Earth First! activist was struck by a falling tree while trying to stop logging in Pacific Lumber property.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-14" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">[14]</a> He was killed instantly and died of massive head trauma. In response to his death, a Pacific Lumber Co. spokesperson said their logging crew did not see anybody in the area and were unaware of Chain's presence.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-15" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">[15]</a> Earth First! said that the loggers had been deliberately felling huge trees, in a perpendicular manner rather than downhill,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-pullman-16" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">[16]</a> in the protesters' direction.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-17" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">[17]</a> One of the protesters also noted that the tree fellers were fully aware that they were there, as the activists had been "yelling at them, walking towards them, telling them 'Don't fall this tree'".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-pullman-16" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">[16]</a> On a videotape supplied by Earth First!, Arlington Earl Ammons, the 52-year-old logger responsible for falling the tree that caused Chain's death can be heard shouting expletives and threatening the protesters.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-pullman-16" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">[16]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-18" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">[18]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-examiner-19" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">[19]</a><h3 style="font-weight: bold; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.6; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">Beginning of a new millennium[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pacific_Lumber_Company&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Beginning of a new millennium" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">edit</a>]</h3><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The company filed for bankruptcy protection in January 2007. A Texas bankruptcy court considered reorganization options early in 2008. On June 6, 2008 the judge preliminarily decided to confirm the Mendocino Redwood Company option for reorganization and signed the order on July 8, 2008. The company's bond holders attempted to appeal, but on July 24, the appellate court in Louisiana refused to hear the case. Timber note holders stated that this will mean the Mendocino Redwood Company/ Marathon plan will be able to go forward, and many agree that any future court will be unlikely to undo it.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-20" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">[20]   [</a>huh?]<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">...<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<h2>Environmental issues</h2>

Under pressure from environmental activists, the company considered selling 6,000 acres (24 km²) of mostly old growth <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoia_sempervirens" title="Sequoia sempervirens">redwoods</a> for $300 million to protect the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marbled_murrelet" title="Marbled murrelet">marbled murrelet</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_owl" title="Spotted owl">spotted owl</a>, and other old growth dwellers.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-26">[26]</a> As required by regulatory authorities, buffer zones have been further developed around rivers to prevent <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erosion" title="Erosion">erosion</a>

and maintain animal habitats, but the Eel River, the region's major

waterway, has been considerably damaged as a result of more than 150

years of logging activity, not all of which is the result of PALCO

operations. In 1999 PALCO agreed to American activist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Butterfly_Hill" title="Julia Butterfly Hill">Julia Butterfly Hill</a>'s requests to create a 3-acre (12,000 m2) buffer zone around a 600 year old growth redwood named <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_%28Redwood_Tree%29" title="Luna (Redwood Tree)" class="mw-redirect">Luna</a>

in exchange for leaving the tree, as she had been living in it for just

over two years. Though someone vandalized the tree during the process,

it survives to the present.

In 2003, the Company was sued civilly, by the District Attorney of

Humboldt County, for fraud and violations of the California Business and

Professions Code. The suit was predicated on the allegation that PALCO

had affirmatively represented that its timber operations would have a

similar environmental impact across all of its land holdings, when in

fact there were wide variances and effects on differing watershed

environments. The suit was ultimately dismissed by a California Superior

Court Judge, but was later appealed to the California Court of Appeal.

In January 2008, the California court of Appeal for the 1st district

upheld the trial court's dismissal of the litigation, and the suit is

for all practical purposes over.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-27">[27]</a>

During the pendency of this litigation MAXXAM filed for Bankruptcy.

Reports indicate that the family that owns the GAP Stores who are

already investors in timber lands in Mendocino county, just south of

Humboldt county have submitted a proposal to take over PALCO to the

Bankruptcy court in Corpus Christie, TX. Environmentalists hailed the

move as being a vast improvement on the increased logging approach by

Charles Hurwitz and MAXXAM.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company#cite_note-28">[28]</a>===
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain


David Nathan "Gypsy" Chain (June 17, 1974 – September 17, 1998) was an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_activist" title="Environmental activist" class="mw-redirect">environmental activist</a>. He was killed by a falling tree in suspicious circumstances during a protest in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California" title="California">California</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_California_coastal_forests_%28WWF_ecoregion%29" title="Northern California coastal forests (WWF ecoregion)">Redwood Forests</a> against the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Lumber_Company" title="Pacific Lumber Company">Pacific Lumber Company</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#cite_note-examiner-1">[1]</a>

<h2>Contents</h2>

</div></div><div id="toc" class="toc">

<ul><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#Background">1 Background</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#Circumstances_of_his_death">2 Circumstances of his death</a>

<ul><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#Civil_suit_and_settlement">2.1 Civil suit and settlement</a></li></ul>

</li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#Consequences">3 Consequences</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#In_popular_culture">4 In popular culture</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#See_also">5 See also</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#References">6 References</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#External_links">7 External links</a></li></ul>

</div>

<h2>Background</h2>

Chain was a member of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_First%21" title="Earth First!">Earth First!</a> environmental advocacy group and was engaged on a campaign of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_sitting" title="Tree sitting">tree sitting</a> in order to stop what they considered was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_logging" title="Illegal logging">illegal logging</a>, in breach of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Department_of_Forestry_%26_Fire_Protection" title="California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection" class="mw-redirect">California Forest Practices Act</a>,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#cite_note-2">[2]</a> in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headwaters_Forest" title="Headwaters Forest" class="mw-redirect">Headwaters Forest</a>, 350 miles north of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco" title="San Francisco">San Francisco</a>, near <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly_Creek_Redwoods_State_Park" title="Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park">Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park</a>. Headwaters was the largest private holding of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old-growth_forest" title="Old-growth forest">old-growth</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoia_sempervirens" title="Sequoia sempervirens">forest</a> in the world. Following a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostile_takeover" title="Hostile takeover" class="mw-redirect">hostile takeover</a>

of Pacific Lumber Co., the Murphy family (the largest minority stock

holders at the time) and countless previous stockholders, mostly company

employees, were relieved of their stock by Charles Hurwitz and his

Maxxam, Inc. corporation of Texas.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#cite_note-3">[3]</a>

Between a desire to turn a higher profit and the need to start paying

off the debt incurred from acquiring the company, Hurwitz's Maxxam

replaced the sustainable growth policy of the previous owner-managers

with one of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearcutting" title="Clearcutting">clearcutting</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#cite_note-TimesStandard2008-06-12-4">[4]</a> The new practices led to the so-called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redwood_Summer" title="Redwood Summer">Redwood Summer</a> campaign by environmentalists, and ultimately forced the 140-year old company to declare bankruptcy.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#cite_note-TimesStandard2008-06-12-4">[4]</a>

Many residents of the area made their living through logging, despite

its heavy toll on the environment. On the one hand, some members of the

community in the nearby mill town of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortuna,_California" title="Fortuna, California">Fortuna</a>

strongly resented the presence of activists from other areas, as these

were not aware of the potential economic impacts of logging stoppages.

On the other hand, environmental activists like Chain believed that

clearcutting was not sustainable and highlighted that the choice of jobs

or the environment was a fallacy.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#cite_note-TimesStandard2008-06-12-4">[4]</a>

<h2>Circumstances of his death</h2>

According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_County,_California" title="Humboldt County, California">Humboldt County</a> Sheriff Department, Chain was struck by a falling tree while trying to stop logging.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#cite_note-5">[5]</a>

He was killed instantly and died of massive head trauma. In response to

his death, a Pacific Lumber Co. spokesperson said their logging crew

did not see anybody in the area and were unaware of Chain's presence.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#cite_note-6">[6]</a> Earth First! said that the loggers had been deliberately felling huge trees, in a perpendicular manner rather than downhill,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#cite_note-pullman-7">[7]</a> in the protesters' direction.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#cite_note-8">[8]</a> One of the protesters also noted that the tree fellers were fully aware that they were there, as the activists had been "yelling at them, walking towards them, telling them 'Don't fall this tree'".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#cite_note-pullman-7">[7]</a>

On a videotape supplied by Earth First!, Arlington Earl Ammons, the

52-year-old logger responsible for falling the tree that caused Chain's

death can be heard shouting expletives and threatening the protesters.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#cite_note-examiner-1">[1]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#cite_note-pullman-7">[7]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#cite_note-9">[9]</a>

Based on the local sheriff's probe, Humboldt County <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_attorney" title="District attorney">district attorney</a> Terry Farmer decided not to press charges, concluding Ammons had not knowingly aim a tree at any of the protesters.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#cite_note-examiner-1">[1]</a> Farmer concluded Chain's death was an accident, and went further to say that he had considered charging Earth First! with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Involuntary_manslaughter" title="Involuntary manslaughter" class="mw-redirect">involuntary manslaughter</a> charges instead.

<h3>Civil suit and settlement</h3>

Following the reticence of the district attorney to file criminal

charges, Chain's mother started a civil suit against Ammons, Pacific

Lumber and its parent company, Maxxam, alleging they were reckless and

responsible for the death of her son.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#cite_note-examiner-1">[1]</a>

A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrongful_death" title="Wrongful death" class="mw-redirect">wrongful death</a>

settlement was reached three days before trial was scheduled to

commence. Its financial terms remain undisclosed but other parts were

made public, as a reminder of the tragedy, the 135-foot tree that struck

Chain will remain where it fell, and a 100-foot buffer zone prevented

any nearby logging. A memorial was also erected.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#cite_note-10">[10]</a>

<h2>Consequences</h2>

Soon after Chain's death, it was revealed that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Department_of_Forestry_%26_Fire_Protection" title="California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection" class="mw-redirect">California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection</a>

had charged Pacific Lumber with at least 250 violations of the

California Forest Practice Act between 1995 and 1997. These violations

continued to accumulate in 1998, and in November of that year, Pacific

Lumber became the first company ever to lose its logging license in

California.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#cite_note-11">[11]</a>

As a condition of reinstating their license, Pacific Lumber agreed to the creation of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headwaters_Forest_Reserve" title="Headwaters Forest Reserve">Headwaters Forest Reserve</a>. It received $380 million of public funds in return for the purchase. A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_Conservation_Plan" title="Habitat Conservation Plan">Habitat Conservation Plan</a> (HCP) was also developed and approved to allow limited logging on the remaining 211,000 acres (850 km2) of Pacific Lumber Company timberland.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#cite_note-LAO-12">[12]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Chain#cite_note-13">[13]</a>
4/2007 @ 1:00AM

Hurwitz Hands Off At Maxxam

To put it lightly, the last few decades haven?t been kind to Charles Hurwitz Charles Hurwitz .

Now the daddy of controversial business battles is ceding a measure of control of his conglomerate Maxxam to his son Shawn, who will assume the post of president. The elder Hurwitz will remain CEO and chairman of the board.

Hurwitz, 66, is arguably handing over a sinking ship, with the Friday announcement coming two weeks after the company, which has interests in logging, real estate and horseracing, reported a wider first-quarter net loss of $12.3 million, or $2.33 a share, on $28.7 million in revenue.

In the mid-1980s, the Texas-born corporate raider earned a spot on the list of the most vilified businessmen of the last quarter century when he bought Pacific Lumber, owner of the majority of privately held old-growth redwood forests in the U.S., and the company promptly filed papers showing it intended to harvest them.

Stopping the logging became a cause celebre for the environmental movement, and in the media glare that followed, Hurwitz was cast in the role of arch villain. A Web site called jailhurwitz.com was started. Hurwitz was physically assaulted. Woody Harrelson was arrested at a demonstration. And Julia “Butterfly” Hill gained national attention for the cause when she spent two years living in a 200-foot-tall redwood she named “Luna.” Eventually, she paid Maxxam $50,000 to spare the tree.

In 1999, the dispute was settled when Pacific Lumber sold 5,600 acres of redwoods to the state and federal governments for more than $360 million. The deal also called for logging restrictions to preserve the 200,000 acres that weren?t purchased.

However, Hurwitz was still embroiled in a bizarrely related dispute with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The FDIC filed suit against him in 1995, blaming him for the $1.6 billion collapse of United Savings of Texas in 1988. Hurwitz had owned a quarter of the bank’s parent company, United Financial Group.

In a 2005 ruling in Hurwitz? favor, a federal court said that the government had brought the suit to engineer a financial loss for the businessman that would force him to give up the redwood forests.

Hurwitz was awarded $72 million by the court in the largest penalty ever assessed against a federal agency.

Hurwitz may have won in court, but the once-feared corporate raider?s business fortunes have been unarguably diminished.

On Jan. 20, Pacific Lumber filed for bankruptcy, blaming strict regulations for unfairly limiting its logging profits.

Hurwitz got in more hot water in California on Feb. 21, when he was placed in handcuffs at the Arcata/Eureka airport after trying to go through the commercial passenger gate. When Hurwitz was stopped, he allegedly had some words with the sheriff?s deputy who was called by an airline employee.

It was also revealed in April that two former California state forestry officials sued Pacific Lumber Co. in December, alleging that the company didn?t live up to the deal it struck with the state over the redwoods, essentially defrauding the state of California out of tens of millions of dollars.

Hopefully, Shawn Hurwitz will have better luck than his father.

The elder Hurwitz has tangled with the authorities throughout his career. After forming a small brokerage and investment company, he bought Summit Insurance Co. of New York in 1970, only to be sued shortly afterward by the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly manipulating Summit stock. He got off, but Summit went bankrupt shortly thereafter and was liquidated in 1975.

Hurwitz was then charged by the acting insurance superintendent of New York with insurance fraud for improperly shuttling funds between holding companies. He settled for $400,000.

He took control of McCulloch Oil Co. in 1980, renaming it MCO Holdings. Simplicity Pattern Co. was his next move, and after taking cash out of its pension plan and selling its assets, he renamed the company Maxxam

=
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">2014<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Maxxam Inc. Chairman Charles Hurwitz, the billionaire who controls the commercial real-estate company, will forgo $1 million in bonuses to settle an investor’s claim that he received excessive compensation.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Hurwitz also will relinquish options to buy more than 1,300 Maxxam shares, received as part of his 2012 compensation package, to resolve a Delaware Chancery Court lawsuit filed by Arbiter Partners QP LP, according to court papers. The New York-based hedge fund sued Maxxam’s directors in March alleging Hurwitz was “unjustly enriched” by the option grants.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">“The proposed settlement confers an immediate and substantial monetary benefit to the company,” the fund’s lawyers said in a court filing yesterday. “When measured against the substantial risks and costs of continued litigation, it is an excellent result.”<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">The settlement comes as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission weighs a proposal to require corporations to disclose how much more their chief executives earn than rank-and-file employees. The pay-ratio disclosures are mandated by a provision in the Dodd-Frank Act.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Greg Varallo, a Wilmington, Delaware-based lawyer representing Hurwitz in the Arbiter case, didn’t immediately return a call today seeking comment on the settlement.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Maxxam rose 46 percent to $1,072 in over-the-counter trading today.<h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin: 1.25rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.625rem; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Race Tracks</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Maxxam’s holdings include commercial real estate and horse-and dog-racing operations in Arizona, California, Puerto Rico and Texas, according to court filings. The Houston-based company is co-owner of the Sam Houston Race Park horse track in Houston and a greyhound track in Harlingen, Texas, according to Hoover’s Inc., a business-information service owned by Dun & Bradstreet Corp.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">New York-based Arbiter, which said in court filings it owned 7.7 percent of Maxxam’s shares, alleged in its complaint that Maxxam directors approved “self-dealing transactions” that provided excessive compensation to Hurwitz.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Hurwitz, who owns stock giving him voting rights over 88 percent of Maxxam’s shares, received stock and option grants in 2011 and 2012 valued at more than $7 million, Arbiter’s lawyers said in court filings.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">The grants unfairly enriched “Hurwitz to the impoverishment of Maxxam’s minority shareholders,” the hedge fund said in its complaint. Arbiter sought to recover $7.8 million in damages on Maxxam’s behalf.<h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin: 1.25rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.625rem; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Settlement Talks</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Arbiter officials reached the settlement of their derivative claims in talks with lawyers for Maxxam’s directors. As part of the accord, Hurwitz agreed not to accept future stock or option grants unless the award’s fairness is reviewed by a “nationally recognized, third-party valuation firm,” according to a court filing yesterday.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Such a review “greatly reduces the potential for such abuses” of Maxxam’s executive-compensation system, Arbiter’s lawyers said.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Maxxam directors have been criticized for failing to provide proper oversight of Hurwitz’s handling of the company and his compensation. Both Bloomberg Businessweek and Forbes magazines have ranked Maxxam’s board among the worst in the U.S. for allowing itself to be dominated by the billionaire, Arbiter said in court papers.<h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin: 1.25rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.625rem; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">California Loans</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">In 1997, Maxxam agreed to pay a total of $25.5 million to settle investor lawsuits filed in Delaware over real-estate development loans made to a California company controlled by Hurwitz.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Complaints about executives’ pay packages prompted Congress to require companies to disclose pay ratios under the 2010 Dodd-Frank law. That statute was designed to tighten financial regulations in the U.S. in the wake of the economic collapse tied to subprime mortgages.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">The law requires public companies to disclose their CEO’s total compensation as a multiple of median total worker pay. Total compensation under the law includes salary, bonus, stock and option awards, long-term incentive pay, and change in pension value.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Across the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index of companies, the average multiple of CEO compensation to that of rank-and-file workers is 204, up 20 percent since 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">CEOs at companies such as J.C. Penney Co., Co., Simon Property Group Inc. and Oracle Corp. were paid more than 1,000 times the average worker pay in their industries, according to the data.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">The case is Arbiter Partners QP LP v. Hurwitz, CA No. 8394, Delaware Chancery Court (Wilmington).<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">To contact the reporter on this story: Jef Feeley in Wilmington, Delaware at<a href="mailto:jfeeley@bloomberg.net" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: color 0.1s ease-out 0s; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247); background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 0%; background-clip: border-box; background-origin: padding-box; background-size: auto auto;">jfeeley@bloomberg.net</a><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at<a href="mailto:mhytha@bloomberg.net" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: color 0.1s ease-out 0s; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247); background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 0%; background-clip: border-box; background-origin: padding-box; background-size: auto auto;">mhytha@bloomberg.net</a><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 29.124px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">2014



<div id="registryBlk" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><div class="whois_result" id="registryData" style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;">omain Name: CHARLESHURWITZ.COM
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 2
Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Referral URL: http://networksolutions.com
Name Server: NS21.WORLDNIC.COM
Name Server: NS22.WORLDNIC.COM
Status: clientTransferProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Updated Date: 11-nov-2014
Creation Date: 10-jan-2006
Expiration Date: 10-jan-2018
</div></div><div id="registrarBlk" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; display: block;"><table class="whois_heading" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-bottom: 10px; width: 700px;"><tbody><tr><td style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><h2 style="margin: 0px; padding: 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">charleshurwitz.com registrar whois</h2></td><td class="whois_update" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px; text-align: right;">Updated 1 second ago</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="whois_result" id="registrarData" style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;">Domain Name: CHARLESHURWITZ.COM
Registry Domain ID: 312390606_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Registrar URL: http://networksolutions.com
Updated Date: 2015-01-29T00:12:52Z
Creation Date: 2006-01-10T15:35:54Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2018-01-10T05:00:00Z
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Registrar IANA ID: 2
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: <img src="http://www.whois.com/eimg/b/dd/bddfc68646a73d4df598fefcd1a96334ec5eebb0.png" class="whois_email" alt="email" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" />@web.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.8003337680
Reseller: 
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Registry Registrant ID: 
Registrant Name: PERFECT PRIVACY, LLC
Registrant Organization: 
Registrant Street: 12808 Gran Bay Parkway West
Registrant City: Jacksonville
Registrant State/Province: FL
Registrant Postal Code: 32258
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.5707088780</div></div>

<table style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><tbody><tr /><tr><td valign="top"><img src="http://www.jailhurwitz.com/icons/text.gif" alt="[TXT]" /></td><td><a href="http://www.jailhurwitz.com/cronies/CAST_of_CRONIES/AFFINITO_Lilyan_H/AFFINITO-Caterpillar_Board.txt">AFFINITO-Caterpillar_Board.txt</a></td><td align="right">30-Sep-1998 19:09</td><td align="right">201</td><td> </td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="http://www.jailhurwitz.com/icons/text.gif" alt="[TXT]" /></td><td><a href="http://www.jailhurwitz.com/cronies/CAST_of_CRONIES/AFFINITO_Lilyan_H/AFFINITO-Jostens_Board.txt">AFFINITO-Jostens_Board.txt</a></td><td align="right">30-Sep-1998 19:09</td><td align="right">1.9K</td><td> </td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="http://www.jailhurwitz.com/icons/text.gif" alt="[TXT]" /></td><td><a href="http://www.jailhurwitz.com/cronies/CAST_of_CRONIES/AFFINITO_Lilyan_H/AFFINITO-KMART_Board.txt">AFFINITO-KMART_Board.txt</a></td><td align="right">30-Sep-1998 19:09</td><td align="right">2.3K</td><td> </td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="http://www.jailhurwitz.com/icons/text.gif" alt="[TXT]" /></td><td><a href="http://www.jailhurwitz.com/cronies/CAST_of_CRONIES/AFFINITO_Lilyan_H/AFFINITO-MTA_Board_attend.txt">AFFINITO-MTA_Board_attend.txt</a></td><td align="right">30-Sep-1998 19:09</td><td align="right">5.8K</td><td> </td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="http://www.jailhurwitz.com/icons/text.gif" alt="[TXT]" /></td><td><a href="http://www.jailhurwitz.com/cronies/CAST_of_CRONIES/AFFINITO_Lilyan_H/AFFINITO-Tambrands_Board.txt">AFFINITO-Tambrands_Board.txt</a></td><td align="right">30-Sep-1998 19:09</td><td align="right">1.6K</td><td> </td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="http://www.jailhurwitz.com/icons/folder.gif" alt="[DIR]" /></td><td><a href="http://www.jailhurwitz.com/cronies/CAST_of_CRONIES/AFFINITO_Lilyan_H/SIMPLICITY_PATTERN-Affinito/">SIMPLICITY_PATTERN-Affinito/</a></td><td align="right">30-Sep-1998 19:09</td></tr></tbody></table> ==