Corrupted-Justice Article

Lawsuit against Phillip Eide - a.k.a. Xavier Von Erck and Perverted-Justice results in default judgment against Eide after he fails to respond to complaint

New Mexico – In a decision issued on December 27, 2006 by the U.S. District Court for the district of New Mexico, a default judgment was awarded against Phillip John Eide a.k.a. Xavier Von Erck, and the vigilante group Perverted-Justice.com and 60 of its volunteers on behalf of Taylor Marcell, a resident of New Mexico.

The eight-count civil lawsuit against Eide was launched by Marcell after he was targeted in an harassment campaign by Perverted-Justice in February of 2004. The lawsuit (a number of the court documents may be viewed below) cites a number of complaints against perverted-justice, including infliction of emotional distress, defamation, interference with contractual relations, violation of the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) act, and violation of the New Mexico fair practices act.

In the complaint, Marcell states that mass e-mails sent by Perverted-Justice staff and volunteers to his employer, Eastern New Mexico University in Portale accusing him of being a "wannabe pedophile" resulted in "considerable distress" and "ultimately lead to the non-renewal of his contract with E.N.M.U."

Court documents obtained by Corrupted-Justice.com reveal that a process server was engaged to attempt to ascertain the current residential address of Phillip Eide in order to serve him with a summons for the civil lawsuit. Contrary to Eide's frequent public claims that he is "not anonymous", process servers found it necessary to serve five different potential residential addresses for Eide due to their inability to locate verifiable address information for the self-proclaimed "Director of Operations" of Perverted-Justice.com.

As a result of Eide's failure to respond to the summons after all reasonable efforts to personally serve him were exhausted, Marcell's attorney applied for and received a default judgment against Eide and Perverted-Justice.com. To date, the actual amount of damages being sought by Marcell have not been made public and will likely be determined during a future hearing.

In recent weeks, Perverted-Justice and its volunteers and staff have come under considerable public scrutiny and criticism as a result of the suicide of one of its targets in the Murphy, Texas sting as well as an announcement by the Collin County District Attorney’s Office that 24 men targeted in one of their recent "Dateline" stings could not be prosecuted because the evidence provided by the vigilante group did not meet required legal standards. Additionally, a recent wrongful dismissal lawsuit filed against NBC by one of the Dateline "To Catch A Predator" producers alleges very serious legal and ethical issues directly related to the methods used by Perverted-Justice.com during their televised sting operations.

All indications are that the legal troubles may be just beginning for the vigilante group and its participants. Corrupted-Justice has recently seen a significant increase in requests from attorneys looking for information about Perverted-Justice.com staff, volunteers and participants, with many indicating an interest in possible class-action litigation against the group and specific individual volunteers. Attorneys or law enforcement personnel wishing to contact Corrupted-Justice staff may do so via the "Contact Us" link at the top of the page.

Taylor Marcell Lawsuit Documents

Original Complaint - (See below)
Motion requesting permission to serve summons on Eide
Affidavit of Bill Geary, the process server
Additional affidavit of Bill Geary, the process server
Motion requesting default judgement against Eide and Perverted-Justice
Order granting default judgement against Eide and Perverted-Justice

Original Complaint