Psychic Skeptic War: Legal decisions and Oiuja Boards

Psychic Skeptic War between Renier and Merrell: Legal decisions and Ouija Boards

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John Merrell started investigating police psychic Noreen Renier after receiving a handwritten letter mailed to his home in 1985 signed by Nancy Uzdavinis --- later to be discovered as having been written by Noreen Renier herself!

"It's really mind-boggling when you look at my case," notes Merrell. "I paid $2,000 for a legal handwriting expert to tell me Renier had been deceptive even before filing her original lawsuit." As of June 2008, Merrell has now spent "in excess of $200,000" in his legal battle to showcase the truth. These matters are extensively reviewed by Dr. Gary Posner in a book chapter he wrote about Renier.

Oprah Frey Psychic

Within the 2005 book A Mind for Murder (by Noreen Renier and co-author Naomi Lucks), John Merrell was cited more than 50 times. Renier devotes two entire chapters to her 1986 case against Merrell, never mentioning she was later sued in Florida by Merrell after issuing a press release shortly before signing a 1992 settlement agreement.

Within the new 2008 revised edition of A Mind for Murder all references to Merrell have been removed but without a reason mentioned. "If readers sense the same feeling they got about A Million Little Pieces after questions were raised about its accuracy, they should be totally enraged about the 2005 version of A Mind for Murder. If the facts I've supplied here about a single chapter --- "The Doomed Flight" --- which appears virtually unchanged in both editions are any indication, they should raise equal concerns (or greater) about the chapters that constituted the basis of the lawsuit I just won."

Merrell filed a lawsuit against Renier in December 2005 in the state of Washington, where he now lives. On November 9, 2006 in Charlottesville, Virginia a local overview about Noreen Renier was published by The Hook. On November 23, 2006 in issue 0547, a story titled "Renier slapped: Judge sides with psychic foe" was published after Washington federal Judge James L. Robart granted Merrell's summary judgment against Noreen Renier. Both of these articles were written by Vijith Assar and are certainly the most unbiased local media presentations covering Noreen Renier over the past 20 years. For the first time, (outside the tough investigative inquiries by Dr. Gary Posner of the Tampa Bay Skeptics) a balanced presentation was provided to both skeptics and psychic believers.

Amazingly before the December 2006 federal court loss by Renier, her Seattle attorney Shelley M. Hall stated in The Hook on November 23, 2006 that she's wasn't ready to suggest that Renier write a check to Merrell. "The case is far from over," noted Hall.

Yet Hall not only missed the mark there but found herself paid just $1000 against billings to Renier for $27,214 --- and perhaps numb as Renier on August 28, 2007 filed a 'Chapter 7' bankruptcy petition to dismiss every dime of $26,214 of Hall's remaining unpaid fees.

Merrell notes that "The outcome certainly seems fitting for a law firm who kept up a barrage of litigation responses for over a year even as the actual payments received from their 'super psychic' client ended up averaging about $8.40 per hour against her unpaid legal assistance debts."

Recient Media

Is it common among U.S. law firms to skip rational business procedures and engage in psychic roulette?

Smiling Merrell adds "One might imagine that the Seattle Stokes Lawrence law firm and legal attorney Shelley M. Hall will be awarded Ouija Boards for their next endeavors alongside psychics who speak with the dead."

In reality their psychic client Noreen Renier is a woman who testified to having solved toilets from overflowing after talking with a ghost about an unsolved lawsuit --- and has now filed her second Chapter 7 bankruptcy in eight years with her second largest unpaid creditor listed as the legal firm Stokes Lawrence PS.

By comparison the legal counsel for the Plaintiff John Merrell was paid in full even before the Court's decision was announced. Is that just a coincidence or the result of using common sense attributes over psychic conjecture?

You may view the actual Court legal filings in PDF form under segment 10.