The lawsuit seeks an injunction restraining the defendants from "making further terroristic threats" or "encouraging, soliciting, directing, abetting, or attempting to induce others to engage in similar conduct or to harm Plaintiffs or their family." In other words, the Weinsteins, who have already been subjected to numerous death threats and attacks on their home, want the court to stop Gordon Klingenschmitt from "trolling for assassins," as Frank Shaeffer described it when talking about the danger of disseminating imprecatory prayers against an "enemy" to an audience that could include any number of unstable individuals who might take these prayers literally and act on them, thinking they're doing God's work.
The Weinsteins' lawsuit was filed in Dallas County, Texas because this is where Jim Ammerman resides, and where the CFGC, Klingenschmitt's chaplain endorsing agency, is located.
Klingenschmitt, a resident of Colorado, answered by filing a "special appearance" (a hearing to dispute the jurisdiction of one state's court over a defendant from another state) in the Dallas County court. Klingenschmitt also filed a motion to dismiss the case. The Dallas County court found that, under Texas court rules, by filing this motion to dismiss the case on its merits, Klingenschmitt had already entered a "general appearance," thereby waiving his "special appearance." So, Klingenshmitt's "special appearance" was denied. Klingenschmitt appealed this decision.
On Friday, March 18, the Court of Appeals, Fifth District of Texas at Dallas, upheld the Dallas County court's decision, agreeing that: "In addition to its finding of fact that Klingenschmitt has extensive and systematic contacts with Texas and its conclusion of law that Klingenschmitt has continuous and systematic contacts with Texas, the trial court concluded that Klingenschmitt's motion to dismiss and motion for reconsideration of the motion to dismiss sought dismissal of the Weinsteins' claims on the merits and that Klingenschmitt waived his special appearance."
Barring any further attempts to throw up procedural roadblocks, Friday's ruling by the Court of Appeals means that the lawsuit against Gordon Klingenschmitt, Jim Ammerman, and the Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches will move forward in the Dallas court, and it will now be up to jury to decide if recklessly issuing imprecatory prayers against an individual or individuals, whether it's a private citizen like Mikey Weinstein or the President of the United States, is a potential incitement to violence or protected free speech.
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