Lawyer Fights Obtrusive Subpoena From Activist

DALLAS (CN) - A Friedman & Feiger lawyer asked a judge to quash harassing subpoenas by an activist who allegedly poses as her in emails to Wal-Mart.

Melissa Kingston sued Avi Adelman in Dallas County Court in September. Kingston represents five neighborhood associations in the Lower Greenville area of Dallas in their negotiations over a new area Wal-Mart. She says Adelman opposes the development, blames Kingston for many of his complaints and registered mellisakingston.com without her consent, according to the complaint.

Adelman allegedly sent out emails from that domain to Wal-Mart and other recipients, stating things such as: "if Maxine Anderson had been speaking for [the Lower Greenville Neighborhood Association], WalMart would be on their knees in a pool of their blood begging for mercy as they planted the trees they were asking for."

Kingston says she now faces subpoenas from Adelman seeking to depose her husband, Phillip Kingston, and a corporate representative of her law firm.

In a motion to quash filed Tuesday, Kingston said the subpoena amounts to harassment. She says it is a "ruse" to delay her deposition of Adelman.

"Plaintiff's husband is not a party, a witness or a lawyer of record in this case," according to the five-page motion before Judge Carlos Cortez. "Plaintiff's law firm is not a party to this case. Further, defense counsel began taking the position that unless and until plaintiff agreed to present these non-parties for deposition, he would not agree to and would continue to quash any efforts by plaintiff to schedule defendant's deposition."

Kingston says such a demand is improper under state rules of civil procedure, and she claims it is unreasonable and places an undue burden on her.

"Plaintiff herself has provided several dates for her deposition, but defendant has not accepted any such dates," according to the motion authored by Kingston's attorney Ryan Lynch with Friedman Feiger.

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