Anyone who goes around saying "I'll sue!" on the Internet is generally regarded as an absolute loser who is utterly out of touch with reality. The person obviously cannot deal with whatever argument they've gotten themselves into, and rather than do so they make empty threats. Hillyard is one of those losers.
He first claimed to be filing suit on July 14 and July 15, 1996 in response to public exposure of the obscene email he had sent to my account and his attempts to stop discussion of his actions by forge-cancelling the newsgroup posts of anyone who did not agree with him. After MindSpring cancelled his account, Hillyard sent email to MindSpring CEO Mike McQuary threatening legal action against me and MindSpring. At one point he said that if my actions (while using their service) resulted in the loss of his job he'd have no choice but to sue me and MindSpring.
In August 1996 Hillyard again threatened legal action against MindSpring unless they canceled my account, claiming I'd been harassing him. I hadn't, so they didn't. He also changed the subject line of a thread to which he posted from "Re: PEDOPHILE SODOMITES; Hillyard & Company on the next Geraldo" to "Re: PEDOPHILE SODOMITES; Turner & Company - Lost Business in Slander Suit" to imply that he was suing Richard Turner (the other MindSpring user attacked with pornographic posts forged as if they came from him).
In September, 1996 Hillyard placed a notice in the .plan file of his inetnow.net account saying that he would share the million dollar proceeds of a lawsuit against me, MindSpring and Richard Turner if they would send all copies of posts, web pages or email from me or the other user to Hillyard. He said he was suing us for slander. I posted a message to atl.general asking Hillyard when I'd receive legal notice of this lawsuit, and he removed the nonsense from his .plan file.
On December 13, 1996 someone posted a message to atl.general using the name "Linda Davis" and offering to pay for any "derogatory information" about me. (S)he said the information was to be used in a "trial and lawsuit." "Linda Davis" quickly disappeared after being publicly ridiculed and addressed as Hillyard by many newsgroup regulars.
On May 5, 1997 Hillyard's wife called the production offices of Unsolved Mysteries threatening to sue them for not giving them "equal time" on their show. (The producer called me after the call.)
On July 17, 18 and 19, 1997 Hillyard (or someone who claimed to be his daughter, Christy) posted messages to atl.general claiming that he was filing suit against me, MindSpring Enterprises, Unsolved Mysteries, and NBC. He said much the same again in August, as did someone who claimed to be his wife and one of his children. Indeed, he or someone claiming to be his wife he said "She has crossed the line, and I personally am going to see that she has her own day as a defendant in court."
On October 28, 1997 Hillyard posted yet another message to atl.general claiming he had met with his attorney that morning and is suing me, Unsolved Mysteries, NBC, and Hard Copy. He said he'd just gotten the tape of the Unsolved Mysteries episode—after previously claiming he'd had it since it aired.
In November 1997 Hillyard claimed, in a fax sent to Illuminations (a UK television production company) that he was filing suit against me. He made the same claim in email sent to them on November 24, 1997, in which he also accused them of "hacking" his web site. When I spoke with Edward Miller of Hard Copy on November 26, 1997, Miller told me that Hillyard had sent multiple letters to Hard Copy threatening legal action against them, and claiming that he'd already filed suit against me and other parties.
I'm told that one of Hillyard's sites claimed that in June 1998, he won "significant damages" in a civil suit (presumably one related to this case), but that as of June 1999 none of the money had been collected because "parties" (the defendant or defendants?) filed for bankruptcy. If that is the case, why didn't he name the defendant, or the court in which the suit was filed, or at least give more specific dates?
An email was forwarded to me by its original recipient that certainly appears to be from Hillyard—it was sent from his ISP of that moment, total-web.net, using an email address of sysop@hotlantaasp.com. In the body of the email it says it's from Kay Hillyard (I honestly doubt that part), and claims that Hillyard "won a 6 figure judgement" when he "went through the court case with the wacko woman." Since the email quotes a message from the recipient in which she was referring people to my website, the implication is that I'm the "wacko woman" from whom Hillyard won a judgement—which isn't true. I've received other reports from people saying that Hillyard has frequently made similar claims on various web-based discussion boards. Yes, that's libel.
I'm not aware of any communication from any lawyer or in regard to any legal action sent to MindSpring, Unsolved Mysteries, NBC or the other MindSpring user Hillyard claimed to be suing. I certainly haven't received any such communications. His threats of legal action are, therefore, increasingly ludicrous. If, however, he has all this "evidence" he claims to have that I have stalked/harassed him, like telephone trace records, traced forged posts, witnesses who say I've driven by his house—I will be happy to answer his charges in court. Those would, however, be criminal charges, and if he had that evidence he would have already taken it to the police and gotten a warrant for my arrest (he couldn't even get telephone company trace records without having filed a police report—which he hasn't done). The fact that he has not contacted the police, and therefore he has filed no police reports and he has gotten no warrants for my arrest proves that he is, again, lying—no matter whose name he's using when he makes those claims.
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