Category: Bernath

The Florida Record has noticed the legal wrangling that we experienced with Mr Daniel Bernath calling it “a bizarre case”. They don’t know the half of it.

In 2015, Bernath filed a copyright-infringement suit against Mark Cameron Seavey, later amending the complaint to include the infliction of emotional distress. Seavey, an inactive attorney and media specialist, blogger and reporter for the American Legion, answered that suit by filing a claim against Bernath alleging libel and defamation.

The American Legion interceded and filed a cross-complaint.

Bernath alleged that a blog run by Seavey illegally published photos belonging to him and that Seavey was part of a terrorist plot that tortured veterans and hosted child pornography on his blog.

Allegations against Bernath included making false claims about being a former U.S. Navy SEAL, posing as a U.S. Navy chief petty officer and engaging in a harassment campaign against Navy SEAL veterans who exposed him, including cyberstalking.

On Dec. 27, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida awarded Seavey $500,000, special damages of $135,000 and attorney fees of $195,000. The American Legion was awarded $300,000 in general and punitive damages. The total amount was approximately $1.3 million.

I don’t know who this Mark Cameron Seavey is, or what blog he runs, but I’d like to be his friend when Bernath’s estate settles with him.

Here’s the magistrate’s recommendation on the case, if you haven’t seen it;

Magistrate Report on Damages (Doc 270)-1 by JonnLilyea on Scribd

I also have the 166-page insanity saved somewhere, along with the lawsuit he filed against 50 of us in Oregon which was tossed by the court.

Just a reminder that MCPO will be on the Lars Larson national radio show tonight at 7:20 Eastern Time.

Some of you may remember that Lars was a fellow-defendant with us in the 166-page Bernath v. Hyatt, et al. lawsuit a few years back. I’m sure he’ll have something to say about that.

You can listen at the link above.

If you haven’t heard, and even if you have heard, Daniel Bernath was killed in an airplane crash on January 22, 2018 in the afternoon. About 15 minutes after taking off from Page Field in Fort Myers, Florida, the tower received a Mayday call and Mr Bernath went down with his craft in the woods near a golf course in Bonita Springs, Florida. According to reports, the area was so overgrown, rescuers needed a bulldozer and machetes to reach the crash site.

Mr Bernath was the sole occupant of the airplane at the time.

The incident is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board and basically, I’m going to avoid commenting until that investigation has been completed. I ask that you do the same.

As you may be aware, Mr Bernath has accused us of sabotaging his aircraft in the past. Of course, that wasn’t true. No one I know would stoop to that level of stupidity. I wouldn’t know how to even begin to sabotage an airplane and the fact that I’m wheelchair-bound doesn’t make me stealthy enough to pull it off, if I did. I’m sure his accusations will be part of the investigation, though. For that reason, I will not comment publicly until the investigation has ended.

Well, the last piece fell into place today, in Dorchester County, Maryland when Dallas Wittgenfeld talked himself right into jail with the help of the most recent DRG recruit Joe Cryer providing testimony.

Dallas was convicted of violating a restraining order against him placed by the Shipleys. If you remember, Wittgenfeld confronted the Shipleys in the parking lot outside the courthouse several months ago just prior to their court proceedings. The confrontation was witnessed by court officials. So that’s where we pick up the story;

Dallas hired an attorney, a young gal, and she did a pretty good job but the lies they told were too much for the judge.

Those clowns decided they’d tell the judge that they videoed us because of Diane’s history of violence. Joe said he saw a loaded gun in her purse as she was entering the courthouse, never mind the metal detector.

Dallas said he never got closer than 30 feet from Diane and he said she had a gun in her purse. “How do you know that if you were 30 feet away” was the next question?

The judge saw right through that bullshit.

Anyway, Dallas is looking at a 90-day stretch behind bars (which began after the trial) and two years probation, a $500 fine, a psych eval, alcohol intervention and a $100,000 bond if he decides that he wants to appeal.

The trial was lengthy and the courtroom was packed. Dallas was led away, Cryer left the courthouse and Diane and I left a few minutes later with 3 cops. When we walked outside everyone on a break was waiting for us and erupted in applause. Many were black women, dramatic and loudly singing our praises and hugging us.

Cryer, of course, couldn’t even talk in court without his lies about being a retired sailor and that he ran a ministry, which didn’t go over well with the audience.

Since Dan Bernath is cooling his heels at the largest mental health facility in Virginia while wearing his orange coveralls, I guess I’ll let him know that the magistrate has submitted her recommendations in the case of Bernath vs. Seavey in US District Court, Fort Myers, Florida. One of our ninjas downloaded this from Pacer and sent it to us;

Magistrate Report on Damages (Doc 270)-1 by JonnLilyea on Scribd

The line to become Mr Seavey’s best friend forms behind me. I saw him first before he became a member of the monied class. I hear he’s already making plans to dye his hair orange and run for President in 2024.

Anyway, hey, Joe Cryer, do you want a piece of this? How about you, Colt Bulot? Too late for you, Ric Bucklew. I’ll bet Wittgenfeld is glad that his lawyer is Bernath. Think he’ll help bail you out, Dan?

We last updated you on the doings of Daniel A. Bernath in January and events yesterday demand an update. He was brought into Chesapeake, Virginia on five charges of violating protective orders that the court had awarded Mr and Mrs Don Shipley. Three of the charges were dropped because the Shipleys were unable to find the evidence against Bernath in their mountain of evidence. Two charges stuck, though;

365 days in jail was the sentence.

He was in jail for a bit yesterday, but he since he appealed the decision, he’s out on the street – kicking the inevitable can down the road.

According to witnesses in the courtroom, Bernath thought he was the smartest person in the room and he didn’t bother to warn his own lawyer about the evidence against him, so there was no real defense. Bernath thought that he could sow the seeds of reasonable doubt that the emails he sent to the Shipleys weren’t from him. Then he tried to convince the judge that he wasn’t in command of all of his faculties – blaming Agent Orange and his combat service in the waters off of the coast of Vietnam. It didn’t work.

Before you comment, remember that this case is going to appeal and I remind you that most of our legal troubles stem from comments on the blog, not the material we publish. If your comment disappears, it’s because I didn’t want to hear it read to me in a courtroom.

Also, on March 20th, Florida court gave him fourteen days to file an amended complaint against us. I’m not sure what the result of that was, but here’s the court’s decision on his second complaint.

Next up in court, is Joseph Cryer for when he assaulted Mrs. Shipley in Maryland;

Added; Yesterday’s mugshot;

Daniel A. Bernath, came to the military community’s attention when someone noticed that he had declared himself to be a Chief Petty Officer in the Navy, claiming that he had been honorarily promoted by the National Association of Naval Photographers (NANP) to that rank. The NANP replied that they never bestowed that rank on anyone in their organization – that only the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy can bestow that honor.

The picture above of Mister Bernath was on his VFW Posts’ website (that Mr. Bernath made for them). A reverse search on the photo turned up the portrait of Photographer Mate 1st Class John Sheppard. Bernath, who had been accused years earlier of claiming some of Sheppard’s photos for himself, photoshopped his head onto PH1 Sheppard’s portrait and added a rocker to his rank. Bernath also appropriated the badges and medals of PH1 Sheppard. Including the Navy Aircrew Wings, the Navy Expeditionary Medal, and the Navy Good Conduct Medal along with hash marks on his sleeve for twenty years of service – none of which appear in Bernath’s records;

After further internet searches, it was found that Bernath customarily wore awards that he hadn’t earned in public along with self-awarded honorary rank;

It was also discovered that this wasn’t the only time he had photoshopped his head onto a picture of someone else;

This picture he used in advertising for his business – a photo that he hijacked from a fellow lawyer;

Upon further research, we discovered that Lawyer Bernath had been denied permission to practice law in California in 1995 for nonpayment of child support to his first wife. He was reinstated into the California Bar in 1997. By that time, he had moved to Oregon and tried to get admitted to that State’s Bar Association. He passed the Bar Exam there, but the Bar Association denied his admission because “we conclude that applicant has not proved that he possesses the requisite good moral character and fitness to practice law in this state.” Bernath took his case to the Supreme Court of Oregon and they agreed with the Bar Association for the following reasons;

In its recommendation to this court, the Board identified the following findings of the three-member panel that the full Board believed demonstrated applicant’s lack of good moral character and fitness to practice law in Oregon:

“(A) He disobeyed a court order to pay child support.
“(B) He was suspended for over a year in the State of California for failure to pay child support.
“(C) He failed to inform the Board that he was suspended from the practice of law in the State of California and he lied to the Board about his suspension in California, stating that he was not suspended when he was in fact suspended.
“(D) He loaned money to a client, Tamara Varner (‘Varner’), and collected on the loan from settlement proceeds from Varner’s lawsuit without Varner’s knowledge or agreement.
“(E) He signed Varner’s name to a release without Varner’s knowledge and without advising the opposing party or counsel for the opposing party that he was signing the release on behalf of Varner. On that same release he signed as a witness, attesting to the authenticity of Varner’s signature.
“(F) He lied by omission to the Board when he told it that he did not notarize the Varner settlement document.
“(G) He endorsed Varner’s name to the settlement check without Varner’s knowledge and without advising the bank that he was doing so.
“(H) He retained all of the proceeds of the settlement without Varner’s knowledge or agreement.
“(I) He failed to respond to a notice from the Committee on Arbitration of the Los Angeles County Bar Association that Varner was disputing his fee and that there would be an arbitration of the dispute. He also failed to appear at the hearing.
“(J) He failed to advise the Board of the fee dispute or the award in favor of Varner and against him in the amount of $10,000.
“(K) He wrote a letter to Varner after entry of the award against him wherein he misrepresented the law and threatened to sue her if she did not agree to settle with him for $500.
“(L) He destroyed all of his files for all of the cases he handled in California.
“(M) A judgment was entered in California against him in the amount of $34,000 for malicious prosecution.
“(N) He lied by omission to the Board when in his application for admission he stated that the judgment for malicious prosecution was reversed, but did not state that it was reversed by stipulation of the parties rather than on the merits.
“(O) He failed to inform the Board about a lawsuit to which he was a party and which settled in applicant’s favor for the amount of approximately $41,000.00
“(P) On May 16, 1997, he issued subpoenas on which he holds himself out to be an attorney practicing in Oregon
“(Q) Applicant failed to inform the Board about a lawsuit in which applicant was a plaintiff in an attorney fee dispute
“(R) Applicant failed to inform the Board that a motion for sanctions was made against him for appearing at a deposition while carrying a concealed weapon and that a sanction was assessed against him in the amount of $750.”

So, because he couldn’t practice law in Oregon, Bernath started a practice in working for folks who were trying to get Social Security Disability benefits. The Social Security Administration doesn’t require claimant representatives to be lawyers. In that endeavor, he ran into an administrative law judge by the name of Dan Hyatt. Judge Hyatt had little patience with Mr. Bernath’s antics. According to The Oregonian, Bernath had a history of filing Bar complaints against his fellow lawyers when their interests in clients collided.

A collision of some sort is what happened at an elevator in the courthouse one day, March, 31, 2010, between Bernath and Judge Hyatt. Bernath ended the encounter in handcuffs and a charge of disorderly conduct. Prior to this, Federal Protective Officers were required in every courtroom where Bernath happened to be plying his trade because of his short temper and now even more so. He filed six Bar complaints against the judge, all baseless and dismissed. According to the Oregonian, Bernath accused Hyatt of “lies, cruelty and racism, once lampooning him as a hooded Ku Klux Klansman with a Social Security emblem on his chest”.

The upshot was that the Social Security Administration barred Bernath from practicing as a claimant representative.

In 2008, Daniel Bernath intentionally crashed his car into a pallet of soil at his local Bi-Mart Store. According to the Portland Tribune, the store had put some of their wares in a handicap spot. Bernath complained that they were parking the soil in “his” parking space, because he claims to be disabled. He later filed a 17-page complaint against employee-owned corporation. However, there’s doubt if anything came to pass over the lawsuit. For pictures of the incident, he dragged out his medals, his cane and Navy accoutrements again;

For decades, Bernath has used his law school education as an excuse to lie. He lies to the point of bullying. He especially likes to pick on women, to bully women. In court last year, he was admonished by a judge for his language and the way he treated an opposing woman lawyer in a large lawsuit that he brought against 50 people. Some of those people were only screen names on an internet forum, people who he couldn’t identify, so he took a shot in the dark and dragged people into court that had no connection to the case. He dragged businesses that weren’t connected to the forum into court. Of course, the judge dismissed the case eventually.

He recently filed a lawsuit against the two women who prosecuted his case in a hearing at the California Bar Association in Los Angeles. He sued them in Florida and the judge there dismissed the case, too.

Last month, he was in Virginia trying to harass the Shipleys He thought he was going to get away with it, but as the story was told to me, he was boarding his flight in Norfolk when the locals escorted him from the boarding queue and slapped him in irons;

That’s the mugshot at the top of the page.

So, I’m in the hospital, recovering from a bout with pneumonia, Bernath made a call to the local police here and reported my wife for elder abuse.

Maybe it wasn’t him, but if not Bernath, then, who? He’s done the same to others. SWATTING some, reporting others to Child Protective Services.

I know he jealous of my wife, but cheezum crow. I guess there’s no depth he can’t reach.