4-4-03 CBS files $5 million lawsuit against Dynamic Chiropractic and Donald M. Petersen, Jr. Chiropractic Benefit Services (CBS) has filed a $5 million lawsuit on April 3, 2003, in the Superior Court of the State of Arizona, against Dynamic Chiropractic (DC) and its publisher, Mr. Donald M. Petersen, Jr. for continuing its campaign of misinformation in both the print and electronic versions of the DC newspaper. Petersen, who receives substantial advertising revenue from several of CBS' competitors, has printed and circulated, via e-mail, several articles in the past few months that contain blatantly false and damaging statements about CBS. "The only reason I can think of for him spreading such falsehoods is to damage CBS and hurt the organizations CBS supports, such as the World Chiropractic Alliance," stated Timothy Feuling, CBS president. CBS' lawsuit was filed to prevent Petersen from making further untrue claims about the CBS malpractice program, which has attracted and protected thousands of doctors since it was founded. It remains the only malpractice program owned and operated by a chiropractic family, exclusively for doctors of chiropractic. The attack from Petersen came in an article e-mailed to thousands of chiropractors on March 21, which contained materially false statements about CBS and its insurance program. CBS' complaint noted that, "Numerous statements in the article are materially false," and "The false statements in the article constitute commercial speech that is not protected by the First Amendment." CBS can refute, point for point, each false statement contained in the DC article, showing again and again that the claims made were incorrect and malicious. The most damaging lie in the article was that "Kemper [(the company that underwrites many of the CBS policies)] also is not renewing CBS policies. CBS' complaint states that this "is a blatant and material misrepresentation of the facts." Based on this misrepresentation, any DC reader would be led to believe that Kemper is not currently renewing CBS policies. [This is simply not true.] The fact is that Kemper is currently renewing all CBS policies. In addition, any CBS policyholder reading the Article may logically conclude that he or she needs to terminate their CBS policy and find an alternative insurance carrier. Obviously, such erroneous information would severely damage CBS' reputation and cause irreparable harm to CBS' business." CBS attached several exhibits to its complaint to prove the veracity of its statements to the court. In discussing insurance ratings of various chiropractic malpractice companies, the DC article falsely claims that CBS is the only program that doesn't have a carrier with an "A" rating, yet CBS points out in its complaint that at least two other well-established competing programs have been downgraded as well. Nor does the DC article tell readers that such downgrades have been experienced by many healthy, strong companies in the past few months as a result of the general economic situation and changed accounting procedures. Another statement in the DC article - which implies that CBS policyholders with claims-made policies are not being renewed by Kemper on an ongoing basis - was also revealed as false. The CBS complaint explains: "Put simply, this is just inaccurate and materially misleading. Kemper is renewing any and all CBS policies. Nevertheless, CBS policyholders would be led to believe, based upon D.C.'s reporting, that their Kemper coverage is in imminent danger and thus, their best option is to find an alternative insurance carrier." Again and again, the CBS complaint exposes the inaccuracies and false statements contained in the Dynamic Chiropractic article and e-mail. However, even after being informed of these inaccurate statements, Petersen continued to send articles to his e-mail list. Noted Feuling, "our policyholders know that the accuracy of DC articles has often been questioned in the past. Moreover, they realize or should realize that Petersen has strong economic and political ties with several CBS competitors. Readers can form their own conclusions as to Petersen's motives for publishing articles damaging to CBS' reputation. If any doctor now insured by CBS - or anyone who has been thinking of going with CBS - needs more information about this situation, they can contact me directly." Many observers say it's no coincidence that this latest round of attacks on CBS comes at a time when the World Chiropractic Alliance, an organization closely tied to CBS, has been making tremendous headway in the profession. In the past year, WCA members and leaders have been appointed to prestigious and important federal government committees and the organization has become well known and respected in Washington and around the world. In addition, as a founding member with the International Chiropractors Association and Federation of Straight Chiropractors and Organizations of the Chiropractic Coalition, the WCA recently announced it was withdrawing support for the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) lawsuits and its legal action fund. Dynamic Chiropractic is closely aligned with the ACA and has for years been considered its unofficial communications tool. "Once again, readers can form their own conclusions," stated Terry A. Rondberg, D.C., president of WCA and CEO of Chiropractic Benefit Services. After all, even a cursory glance at DC will indicate how many advertisements are from CBS' competitors and companies associated with or run by ACA leaders." According to Rondberg; „CBS takes its commitment to its policyholders very seriously. Through years of hard work, CBS has developed a competitive chiropractic malpractice program at attractive rates. As always, CBS stands by its program and even more importantly, CBS stands by its policyholders. CBS, therefore, will not tolerate any action that is either intended to damage its reputation or interfere with the goodwill it currently enjoys with its policyholders.¾ For further information about this article or any related matter, please contact Tim Feuling at 1-800-883-0412 or via email at feuling@cbsmalpractice.com .