Mesa Air Group, Jonathan Ornstein and PlaneBusiness

This lawsuit marks the fourth time Mr. Ornstein or his company has attempted to intimidate, influence, or file suit against Ms. Hegeman for material she has written about him or his company in TheStreet.com, PlaneBusiness Banter, or PlaneBuzz.

Before founding PlaneBusiness Banter, Hegeman was the founding airline industry analyst with the Motley Fool financial website in 1995. She was also a senior contributing editor, where she covered the airline industry exclusively, for TheStreet.com from 1997-2001.

Hegeman is the former President of the New York Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), a member of PRS:NY, a select group of communications professionals based in New York. She is also a member of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW).

Prior to this latest SLAPP suit, in 2000, Jonathan Ornstein demanded that wording concerning the nature of his departure from Virgin Express be modified in a column Hegeman wrote for TheStreet.com. Then, in 2002, Ornstein and Mesa Air Group sued Hegeman and PlaneBusiness Banter for two columns she wrote over a three month period. Though an end was eventually negotiated to that suit, Hegeman was forced to pay substantial legal fees.

In 2003, Ornstein and Mesa Air Group sent Hegeman a "threaten to sue" letter, concerning Hegeman's public comments in PlaneBusiness Banter concerning the airline's failed attempt to takeover Atlantic Coast Airlines.

That effort never went any further, following a letter that was sent by Ms. Hegeman's attorney to the airline and Mr. Ornstein.

Finally, in October of 2007, Hegeman was served with yet another "threaten to sue" letter, filed by yet another law firm representing Ornstein and Mesa Air Group. This letter demanded that three posts that Hegeman wrote in PlaneBuzz, the blog component to PlaneBusiness Banter, be immediately removed from the PlaneBuzz website.

All three posts concerned the then-recent trial involving Mesa Air Group and Hawaiian Airlines. Hawaiian Airlines sued Mesa Air Group, alleging that Mesa had taken confidential business information about Hawaiian -- information Mesa had received under a confidentiality agreement it signed while Hawaiian Airlines was in bankruptcy protection -- and used that information in setting up its own small Hawaiian regional airline operation.

Prior to the trial, Judge Robert Faris, U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Judge, ruled that Mesa Air Group CFO Peter Murnane had intentionally destroyed evidence in the case. Murnane claimed that he had erased the hard drives in question, as a result of his having picked up a computer virus while surfing the net for pornography.

Judge Faris did not buy the "porn made me do it" excuse, and ruled that Murnane had, instead, intentionally destroyed evidence.

Following the trial, Faris ruled that Mesa Air Group did use information that was confidential as part of its planning for its Hawaiian low-fare carrier, go!.

As a result, he ordered Mesa Air Group to pay Hawaiian Airlines $80 million in damages, along with attorney's fees and interest.

In December, Faris refused Mesa's request for a new trial. The airline now says it intends to appeal the Judge's original decision in U.S. District Court in Hawaii. In addition, Faris also set the amount of cash Mesa Air Group had to post while waiting for an appeal at $90 million.

In January, Faris ruled that Mesa Air Group was required to pay $3.9 million in legal fees and costs to Hawaiian Airlines.

On March 3, 2008, Dan Barr, attorney with Perkins Coie Brown and Bain, filed a request for summary judgment on behalf of Holly Hegeman, PlaneBusiness and PlaneBuzz. For the most comprehensive summary of the suit, we recommend you download this entire file.