"Baby Monkey Case" Leads to Lawsuit

Long-time readers of IPPL News will be familiar with the "Baby Monkey" shipments of 1997. At least two shipments, each consisting of over 250 monkeys, and each containing babies as young as 3-4 weeks old, reached O'Hare Airport, Chicago, USA in April and May 1997.

The monkeys had started their trip in Indonesia and were on their way to the firm LABS of Virginia, with its facilities based at Yemassee, South Carolina.

LABS had been in existence for three decades. In May 1996 the Bionetics Company purchased LABS from then-owner David Taub. The company took the name LABS of Virginia. Taub stayed on as President.

Part of the town of Yemassee is in Beaufort County and part is in Hampton County.

At the time of the 1997 shipments, LABS had over a thousand monkeys on Morgan Island in St. Helena Sound, over 1,000 in the town of Yemassee, and over 1,000 at a compound in the rural community of Early Branch in Hampton County.

The dismissal of three employees led to lawsuits against LABS which are still in progress.

Court documents filed in connection with this litigation showed that LABS has received federal funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Center for Research Resources, and the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

LABS' primary occupation is to import, quarantine and breed monkeys for sale to research facilities.

IPPL has recently learned that two of the three dismissed employees won a huge $2.3 million court judgment against LABS.

Although IPPL has worked on the "Baby Monkey" case since May 1997, we were not informed that there was any lawsuit filed as a result of the case.

Unfortunately we do know that nobody has been indicted after three years of purported US government "investigation."

Mother and baby, Photo by Shirley McGreal

LABS Employees Dismissed

On 5 December 1997 LABS animal caretaker Keri Holmes was fired by David Taub, who was at the time President of LABS and Mayor of the small town of Beaufort.

On 9 December 1997 LABS scientist Dr. Patrick Mehlman sent a letter to David Taub and other LABS officials protesting Holmes' dismissal. On 12 December 1997 Mehlman and his wife Alecia Lilly were fired. Lilly's letter explained that she was being fired "in light of Patrick's termination."

Mehlman alleged that, after his dismissal, Taub circulated a poster stating that, if Mehlman were ever seen on LABS property, this should immediately be reported.

Lawsuit Filed In early 1998

Mehlman and Lilly filed suit against LABS of Virginia and David Taub. The suit was numbered 98-CP-25-64. Court documents show that the defendants viewed their dismissal as related to the "Baby Monkey" investigation by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Mehlman and Lilly asked LABS to produce many documents, including:
List of individual animals, with weights and ages, for all Macaca fascicularis (cynomolgus) monkeys exported from Indonesia to LABS of Virginia in 1997. Include list of dates of each shipment, port of entry and copies of Fish and Wildlife importation permits...

LABS' Lawyers Quit

The Ogletree law firm of Charleston initially handled LABS' defense but asked a judge for permission to withdraw from the case in June 1999.

The judge allowed the firm to leave, agreeing that LABS had refused to pay for the firm's legal services and that LABS had refused to sign a conflict waiver.

The same law firm was representing both David Taub and the company and law firms do not like to defend two parties in the same case.

Lawsuit Documents

In its defense LABS alleged that the plaintiffs used "shock collars" on two monkeys and that they had practiced unauthorized veterinary medicine, including by using "non-approved disinfectants."

LABS further alleged that Dr. Mehlman "performed many disloyal acts while still employed by LABS in an attempt to cause Defendant LABS to lose business."

LABS also alleged that Mehlman had downloaded pornography from the Internet; that Lilly had failed to report Keri Holmes getting bitten by a monkey; and that Lilly had buried, rather than incinerated, some dead monkeys she liked - and that she even held funerals for some of the animals.

"Shock Collar" Investigation

In January 1998, shortly after Mehlman, Lilly and Holmes were fired, LABS organized an "Investigation of the Alleged Inappropriate Use of Shock Collars at LABS." The incident in question had occurred in late 1996.

The investigation was conducted by an "ad hoc investigative committee" consisting of Jefferson Carraway, DVM, Richelieu Johnson, and William Roudebush, Ph. D, of the Medical University of South Carolina. Roudebush is also Treasurer of the International Primatological Society.

Twelve current employees of LABS were interviewed.

These included Mary Kay Izzard Ph.D, a strong supporter of LABS, who reported back to LABS when IPPL asked her what was going on after first hearing of the "Baby Monkey" shipments (we had, apparently mistakenly, thought she might be concerned); two veterinarians; and several administrative staff, veterinary technicians and animal caretakers.

All the people interviewed, except for the LABS "Head of Security" and the "Head of the Operations Division" were taken by surprise.

On entering the interview room, people to be grilled were "presented with a written request from Dr. Taub to cooperate with [the committee's] enquiries."

The committee concluded that two collars of the type used for remote control of aggressive behavior in dogs had been used on two highly aggressive pigtail macaques over a 2-4 week period and that Lilly had tried the collar out on herself.

LABS filed a counter-suit against Mehlman and Lilly. All the charges were thrown out by the case judge.

Taub Settles

In January 2000, just before the trial of the case began, Taub was dismissed as a defendant. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Taub had obtained a doctor's note to get out of a second examination. His doctor, William Besterman, noted that:
[Taub suffered from] "severe anxiety and depression...the stress of a deposition would aggravate his condition at this time...I would expect this to apply for 3-4 more months.

Taub was apparently able to perform his duties as Mayor of Beaufort.

LABS Tries to Exclude Witness

The trial date was set for 10 January 2000. Animal dealer Paul Houghton, who is active in Indonesia, agreed to serve as a witness in regard to the "Baby Monkey" shipments. LABS fought hard to get Houghton excluded, stating:
In the years prior to the termination of the plaintiffs, the defendant imported a breeding colony of monkeys. The importation of foreign-born animals is highly regulated and can only be done in concert with various divisions of the United States Government.

During the course of one of the shipments of monkeys, the US Fish and Wildlife Department became concerned that certain regulations concerning shipment of unweaned infants may have been violated. It is anticipated that the Plaintiffs may contend that they were fired because they might be viewed as an impediment to future shipments.

As an initial point there is no evidence supporting this conspiracy theory. More importantly, for this theory to be advanced, the court must allow the jury to assume that the importation was illegal, a conclusion which has not yet been reached by any court or prosecuting agency.

The plaintiffs will seek to overcome this fact by introducing the testimony of monkey broker Paul Houghton, that in his opinion the importation violated the laws of Indonesia and the United States. Such evidence is irrelevant.

LABS also claimed that the evidence would be prejudicial to the company and continued:
The Defendants respectfully request that the Court issue an Order excluding any evidence relating to or regarding governmental investigations into LABS' importation of animals into the United States, as well as any evidence, including expert witness testimony, regarding the legality of LABS' importation practices.

In another document LABS complained:
From the inception of the government's investigation two and a half years ago until the present day, no charges have been filed, no indictments brought...Despite the fact that the government has never formally accused LABS of any wrong-doing (indeed the fact that no charges have been filed indicates the opposite) the Defendants anticipate that the plaintiffs will attempt to introduce evidence regarding the government's investigation.

Despite LABS' lawyers' efforts to suppress testimony about the "Baby Monkey" shipments, the judge allowed it.

Jury Selection

In an effort to keep out jurors who might be concerned about animals, potential jurors were asked:
Are you or is any member of your family a member of any animal rights group? What?

Do you or any members of your family hold any strong beliefs as to the use of animals, in particular monkeys and apes, for any medical research?

The Trial

IPPL had no knowledge that there was any ongoing lawsuit about the "Baby Monkey Case." The trial took place from 10-14 January 2000 in Hampton County despite LABS' efforts to move it to Beaufort County (Taub was Mayor of Beaufort and probably felt he would get a more sympathetic jury there).

The plaintiffs' exhibit list suggested the ground to be covered: it included 46 items, many of them pertaining to the monkey shipments.

Paul Houghton and others testified during the week-long trial.

The Verdict

The twelve jurors decided that Mehlman and Lilly had been wrongfully fired and awarded Mehlman $1.6 million and Lilly $602,000, for a total of over 2.3 million dollars.

Motion for New Trial

LABS was obviously very unhappy. Two weeks after the verdict, the company requested a new trial. The company said that the jurors' verdict was the result of "caprice, passion, prejudice, or other undue influence."

Crab-eating macaque. Photo: Shirley McGreal

LABS protested Houghton's testimony:
The court improperly allowed the plaintiff's expert, Paul Houghton, to testify as to the law of the United States and Indonesia over the objection of defendant. This was the only evidence introduced in this case that the importation of feral monkeys violated Indonesian law, which formed the basis of plaintiff's theory of discharge and which constituted plaintiff's claim that the Lacey Act had been violated.

The court improperly allowed Paul Houghton to publish portions of the law and to testify that the defendant had violated the criminal law of the United States and Indonesia...

The Court failed to grant a mistrial after the introduction, through Paul Houghton and later Patrick Mehlman, of the existence of a grand jury investigation...

LABS was forced to contend with a mini-trial on its guilt and innocence premised entirely upon innuendo...

Repeated vague references to violations of Indonesian law flamed the caprice, passion, prejudice or other undue influence that resulted in the insupportable damages award...

Because it so greatly influenced the nature and result of the trial, LABS is entitled to a new trial...

All of the evidence permitted to go before the jury regarding LABS' alleged criminality was in itself prejudicial and taken cumulatively was devastating to LABS.

New Lawsuit Filed

On 9 February 2000 Mehlman, Lilly and Keri Holmes filed a lawsuit (2000- CP-25-83) in the federal court in Charleston against Charles Stern and Curtis Henley, both senior LABS officials residing in Virginia; David Taub, former President of LABS; Rick Davis, Director of Operations at LABS; LABS of Virginia; and Bionetics.

The grounds for the Mehlman, Lilly and Holmes lawsuits were "Conspiracy, Wrongful Discharge in Violation of Public Policy and in Violation of the South Carolina Unfair Trade Practices Act."

The plaintiffs charged that:
The Defendants entered into a conspiracy to import cynomolgus monkeys from Indonesia into South Carolina in violation of international and federal law...

Defendants Stern, Henley and Taub entered into a conspiracy to purchase and illegally import the monkey colony motivated by greed and anticipation of profit.

Before entering into the agreement to purchase the colony, Defendants Stern, Henley, Taub and LABS of Virginia sent Dr. Mehlman on a fact-finding trip to Indonesia to meet Agus Darmawan [Indonesian animal dealer who used to supply US dealer Matthew Block with monkeys - in 1994 Block pled guilty to orangutan smuggling] and to check out the colony of monkeys.

Upon returning from Indonesia, Dr. Mehlman sent a written report to Stern, Henley and Taub of his observations, including statements that the colony was made up - at least in part - of feral (or wild-caught) monkeys and that importation of wild-caught monkeys was a violation of Indonesian law.

Plaintiff Mehlman further stated that Agus Darmawan appeared to be bribing or "in cahoots" with the Indonesian government responsible for regulating exportations from Indonesia and that importation of the colony of monkeys would violate the spirit of the laws...

Defendants Stern, Henley, and Taub and Bionetics proceeded with the importation of the Indonesian colony of monkeys despite Dr. Mehlman's statements...

After information was leaked to the public, animal rights groups and governmental agencies concerning the illegal importations, Defendants wrongly began to suspect Dr. Mehlman and Dr. Lilly and Keri Holmes as being the source of the leaked information.

Defendants Stern, Henley, Taub, Bionetics and LABS conspired to wrongfully terminate, and did terminate [the plaintiffs'] employment with LABS in furtherance of the conspiracy to illegally import monkeys from Indonesia in violation of federal and international law.

The plaintiffs alleged illegal activities by LABS in the monkey deals;
* "Illegally importing wild-caught monkeys from Indonesia in violation of international and federal laws,"
* "Illegally importing monkeys with 3rd trimester pregnancies from Indonesia in violation of international and federal law,"
* "Illegally importing unweaned infants from Indonesia in violation of international and federal law,"
* Using paperwork that the defendants know or should have known was "false and fraudulently obtained."

Holmes claimed that she was,
Wrongfully terminated in retaliation for leaking information about Defendants' alleged violations of federal and international law.

All plaintiffs charged that;
Potential exists for further illegal actions and additional retaliatory terminations arising out of said illegal importations.