A Mendocino board game inventor who accused investors of conspiring against him has been ordered to pay them $791,000.
A Mendocino County jury has found that Scott Peterson defamed and inflicted emotional distress on three Mendocino residents who served on his company?s board of directors and had invested in the company, according to their attorneys.
?Our clients feel they have been terrorized by this man for 10 years, both in and out of the court system,? said Santa Rosa attorney John Borba, who, with Charlie Cochran, represented the former board members of the defunct board game venture.
Attorneys representing Peterson and his home insurance company ? which is responsible for paying the jury award ? could not be reached for comment.
Cochran said he believes the jury award ? which includes $400,000 in punitive damages ? is the largest defamation verdict granted in Mendocino County.
Punitive damages are awarded when juries believe the actions were committed with malice, he said.
Peterson ? creator of the board game ?Pirateer? ? launched a libelous campaign against his former board members in 2004, Borba said. He mailed dozens of letters and documents accusing them of transgressions, including embezzlement, defamation and infidelity.
In a letter to Fort Bragg Unified School District board members, Peterson accused a former board member of being an embezzler and liar.
?I am writing this letter to challenge Ron Stark?s integrity as a contractor? for the district, Peterson wrote.
The jury awarded the $791,000 to Stark and to former board members Sally Stewart and Birdie Wilson Holmes. In all, about 50 people invested in Privateer but the legal action focused on the board of directors.
In anonymous letters attributed to Peterson, he allegedly wrote to at least two spouses of board members, accusing the board members of extramarital affairs. The letters were signed, ?A friend.?
Peterson had filed a civil lawsuit that prompted the former board members? winning counter-lawsuit. His suit accused the board members of misappropriating trade secrets, breaching their fiduciary duty and conspiring to ruin his company.
That lawsuit also alleged one of his ex-wives had slandered him by saying he suffered from ?narcissistic personality disorder.?
A psychiatrist hired by Cochran and Borba testified at trial that Peterson did suffer from narcissism, along with paranoia, Cochran said.
Peterson on Thursday declined to discuss the lawsuits and verdict, saying he just wants to put the ill will they created behind him.
?Peace,? he said.
Pirateer, created in 1995, has been out of production since 2002, he said.
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