1. Background:
Due to my International efforts in ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution), I was asked by John Ryken, Jeanette Ryken’s father to help convene a family council to discuss the issue and reconcile the family. This session in Chatham, Ontario, Canada on July 13, 2013 was intended to be a mediation but Mr. Ryken’s 2 sons, Robert and John disrespected their father’s wishes and refused to participate or hear their sister’s side of the story.
Realizing that these 2 sons rejected the handshake of ADR, I concluded the only way to have my client’s side of the story on the public record, it was necessary to apply the fist side of ADR. My client, having received this advice from me, she gave the instruction to commence any legal proceedings in Ontario to achieve her legitimate goal as neither Florida Police Authorities nor her 2 brothers made any effort to fairly investigate her side of the story. As Jeanette so vehemently denied all the false allegations against her by her former husband, Miguel Martinez, (whom she divorced in the Florida Courts Dec. 8, 2013) and her 17 yr old niece, Alex Ryken, (daughter of her brother, Rob and his wife, Annette).
Civil litigation against Miguel Martinez was launched Dec. 2014 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
This summary only describes what is contained in the court documents so this information is protected by Qualified Privilege and no opinion or comments are made as Jeanette’s side of story is contained in the following court documents. There is a link provided for each court file documented below.
2. Ontario Supreme Court Of Justice Action, issued out of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, as Court File # 13-59621, Jeanette Ryken, Plaintiff and Miguel Martinez Defendant.
A. This Court Case claims $100,000 in Damages plus Disbursements and Legal Costs. This amount is the maximum in what is called Simplified Rules (SR) which is much less than true Damages suffered by Plaintiff but the objective was to get Plaintiff’s side of the story on the Public Record as quickly and cost-effective as possible.
B. This Statement of Claim (SOC) alleges numerous acts of Criminal Misconduct by the Defendant (paragraph V. 15) Including allegations of ‘Lewd and Lascivious’ Behavior by the Defendant, Miguel with Alex, then 17 years old and a juvenile contrary to Florida Law as that Statute does not allow the defense of ‘consent’ by a minor (under 18 yrs of age).
C. The Statement of Claim (SOC) outlines all the allegations and claims by the Plaintiff, Jeanette against the Defendant Miguel and will not be repeated here to respect the Qualified Privilege Protection of Allegations in a Court Proceeding, not yet proven in court. (This is similar to people making criminal allegations to Police not yet proven in court)
D. The Evidence submitted by the Plaintiff Jeanette to prove the Allegations as assertions of Fact are contained in other legal documents filed as outlined in Para. 6 & 7 below.
3. Court Order of Master McLeod in Ottawa Dated May 14, 2015.
Defendant Miguel, who is self-represented appeared by phone which was allowed for this type of Case Conference.
A. The Plaintiff, Jeanette, was permitted to add 2 other Defendants.
B. The Plaintiff increased the claim for Damages from $100,000 to 1 million which properly reflects the Plaintiff’s position for life-time damages suffered as a direct result of Defendants False Accusations, Libel, Slander and Defamation including Lost Income, General Damages (D)., Special D., Punitive D., Aggravated Damages, plus Plaintiff share of the missing $28,000 US Cash from Boat, Bank Accounts and Value of all Personal Belongings the Defendant never returned. When it came to my attention that the Affidavit of Service of the Defendant 1st SOD was served by Fax by my client’s Brother, Rob Ryken, this inspired the elevation of Damages to its true amount and to add Rob and his wife Annette Ryken as additional Defendants which need not be explained here.
C. Since Miguel would not provide an address for service upon my request, the court ordered that Miguel may be served through his email address which is set out in the order.
D. Miguel was directed by courts if he wished to contest the jurisdiction of the Ontario Court to do it in the proper procedural manner and to file a properly drafted new Statement of Defense (SOD), and to retain Ontario Legal Counsel to insure proper pleadings are filed by the Defendant (Def), and the court even set out the website where the Def. could read and learn and apply himself the Ontario Court Rules of Civil Procedure.
4. Fresh Amended Statement of Claim issued and served on Defendants Miguel Martinez, Robert Ryken and his wife Annette Ryken on July 30th, 2015.
A. Original Statement of Claim (SOC) was amended as described above to increase damages being claimed against the Def. to 1 million plus.
B. As permitted by Court as described above, the Plaintiff added her brother, Robert Ryken and his wife, Annette Ryken as additional Defendants. Immediately after being served with the Freshly Amended Statement of Claim (FASOC), they were served a Notice of Discontinuance since it was never Jeanette’s intention to have a Civil Court Trial with her immediate family, but merely to have her side of the story on the public record in Court Pleadings protected by “Qualified Priviledge”. The comprehensive allegations against them are fully described in the Fresh Amended Statement of Claim (FASOC) (paragraph 65)
5. Plaintiff’s Successful Court Motion to Strike Out Defendants (Def) 2nd Statement of Defense (SOD) filed by Def. in response to Plaintiffs new FSOC. (For this type of motion a Party cannot appear by phone but must appear in person or be represented by a lawyer).
A. The Defendant once again in my view filed improper SOD and improper motion against the Jurisdiction of Ontario Court, so another Court Application, this time a motion, was brought.
B. At the Court Hearing on July 17, 2015? where the Defendant (Def.) although properly served did not appear nor was he represented by a lawyer. The court agreed, Justice Corthorn rendered a 7 pg. Judgment in favor of Plaintiff striking out Def. new Statement of Defense (SOD) without any further rights for Def. in Default and therefore Plaintiff to take next steps for claiming damages.
C. This Court Decision is now part of reported legal cases, the citation of which is Ryken v. Martinez.
6. Order By Court Dated May 29, 2014 allowing Plaintiff to Assess Damages.
A. After the Court Order Striking Out the Def. 2nd SOC with no further right for him to file any further defense, the Plaintiff noted the Def. in default and made what is called a Rule 19 Motion and seek a Judgment for Damages.
B. Plaintiff now has the right to have an uncontested trial to assess damages against Def. which will be done at a later date, which has recently been set by the Court.
C. In Support of these Claim for Damages the Plaintiff filed an Affidavit on Dec. 22nd, 2015 without any exhibits as she wanted to have this Court Rule 19 Application filed before Christmas 2015 wold have been the 3rd Anniversary of the total destruction of her family due to the false allegations by the Defendants and shortly after the passing of her father on Nov. 16, 2015, on which the Plaintiff alleges in her affidavit that his death was hastened by the stress her father and family endured due to false allegations against her which resulted in the splitting up of Jeanette’s immediate family.
D. On Jan. 2016, the Plaintiff filed a Supplementary Affidavit with numerous exhibits in support of her claim for damages which sets out further her side of story in substantial detail with other outside information and evidence, none of which her brothers or any Florida Police Authority chose to evaluate or investigate and in a fair or balanced manner in this debacle.
E. As part of the Affidavit, it is stated that a Senior Officer of the Monroe County Sheriff Dept., Florida confirmed in a phone conversation with me and my client that there were no charges, no warrant for Arrest and that this file should have been closed a long time ago. Furthermore the Police did not have any of my clients belongings or did they have the missing cash from the boat contrary to what the Def. told the Plaintiff.
7. Florida Family Court Dismisses Miguel Martinez Motion for Contempt of Court Against Jeanette Ryken.
A. Miguel in another attempt to avoid the Plaintiff to make a claim for civil damages in Ontario against him petitioned a Florida Court to hold my client in Contempt of court for suing him but Florida Judge Garcia Dismissed that motion.
B. As a result the Ontario and Florida Court upheld Plaintiff, Jeanette’s right to sue Miguel for Damages.
C. As far as I’m aware this is the first case in North America where, instead of waiting for a claim of wrongful conviction, or malicious prosecution, a person has sued for wrongful accusation where the accused/alleged victim repeats false accusations to others, outside Qualified Privilege to Police Authorities.
Threat by Miguel Martinez against EGT
I received an email from Miguel which I took as a veiled threat against me, which was reported to the Ottawa Police Services (OPS) which threat is an exhibit to the SA of the Plaintiff for a Rule 19 Motion to seek a judgment for damages against him. The OPS interviewed me at length and reviewed the email and agreed to look into the situation as long as the Florida Monroe County Sheriff Office felt the matter deserved a file being opened in that Florida Jurisdiction. After connecting with a section of MCSO in fact a Florida Police file was opened which I openly shared with the OPS who in turn opened up an OPS file. I was advised that a Police Officer of the OPS emailed to Miguel that he cannot make any further communication with me unless they are restricted to the court case in Ontario. I have not heard from Miguel since. A few years ago I was interviewed for a study on violence against lawyers which usually happens in family law matters as a number of lawyers, like me, represent women who are abused by their bully husbands or boyfriends for which I as others have experienced serious threats so this threatening email from a revengeful husband like Miguel seeking to destroy a wife who decides to finally divorce him is unfortunately a reality which leads to seeking revenge on the woman’s lawyer as happened to me by Miguel.
A Documentary in the Making
Sometimes a case becomes a cause which has occurred few times in my 40 year career in social justice. This case with Jeanette is one of them. Accordingly a website will be constructed “Injustice in the Legal System”, a registered Canadian Trademark of the ADR Centre (Canada) Inc. for which I am President which will be developed in conjunction with my client as part of the education, a documentary of this story is being pursued. Even the new Chief Justice of the Ontario Supreme Court of Justice stated at the annual CCLA Litigation Conference in 2014 that the notion of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ has taken a back seat in society, even with some Police and Media.
In Canada there is an evolution of new tort law of suing Police for “incomplete, incompetent, and/or biased” investigation. It was my observation that this is part of what took place between the various Florida Police Authorities on Dec. 25, 2012 and onwards, all documented in the public Court Record both in Ontario, Canada and in Monroe County Court in Florida.
Conversation of Miguel being anonymously reported to the Florida Hotline for Juvenile Abuse
In November 2013, I received a phone call from Officer Dave Campbell who had been contacted about an alleged sexual misconduct between Miguel Martinez and Alex Ryken, so Miguel’s name is apparently on this list. Officer Campbell had my name and phone number from before and decided to call me about that serious matter which was never properly investigated among a dozen other allegations of criminal misconduct by Miguel all set out in the court proceedings. Even with a written statement by a half-dozen American Boat Owners at the Blue Water Marina in Tavernier, Florida, who witnessed everything but who never were interviewed by the Police despite their requests and unfulfilled promises by Police to take their statements. Officer Campbell wondered why they didn’t complain before so I reminded him that Miguel had 6 guns, was considered mentally unstable and bragged about how anyone who confronts him has harm come their way or dies and gave examples. Also it was repeated that my client had advised her brother Rob about the notorious and unacceptable relationship between Miguel and Rob’s daughter, Alex but neither Rob or his wife, Annette, Alex’s mother did anything about it as I told the Monroe County Police Officer another theory of why this “teenage fairytale’ as a newspaper described this story (which Miguel admitted under Deposition sounded ‘ridiculous’) at which examination under oath Miguel also answered Jeanette’s attorneys question about his inappropriate conduct with Alex as “disgusting”) was fabricated by them (as described in the Court proceedings) so that Miguel and Alex could keep the boat and marital assets, sail off together and put Jeanette in jail. Miguel was a student of the Nazi’s, and from what I understand, believed in the propaganda techniques to tell a story so ridiculous and keep repeating it until people are convinced it must be true otherwise it is preposterous. Why the made-up story against my client was believed ‘lock, stock and barrel’ by her own 2 brothers, was a mystery to me. I was told that the Coast Guard was going to take over the investigation, headed up by a fellow Cuban national, but my attempts to contact that person were thwarted. Also I heard that Miguel was friends with some of the Police and in fact helped them with gun training for which he received gifts . All of this is rumor and hearsay but comes from reliable sources. Also the Police said they had no clue about the $28,000 US that was on the boat which is part of the lawsuit against Miguel, as my client never received her share. Where did the money go after she was left homeless, penniless and destitute when she was removed by the Police from 5 agencies (MCSO, FBI, HLS, CG and Immigration) Dec. 25, 2012 who swarmed and interrogated her without reading her rights to her. That was the beginning of the devious plot created by Miguel with the participation of Alex Ryken and her parents as detailed in the various Court Proceedings against him and them.
As I write in one chapter of my latest book ‘Is Everyone at the Table’ “How many sides are there to a story”. The answer I wrote from an experience with a Judge was this “There is your side of the story, my side of the story, the facts, how the Judge or Arbitrator decides and then finally there is the truth, only known to the disputants and God”. In fact eventually in Dec 2014, I received an email from Officer Campbell confirming that there was no way to tell for sure what happened (or didn’t happen) that X-Mas Eve Dec. 2012 when Miguel and Alex falsely accused my client Jeanette Ryken, all on her own (even with Miguel being a martial arts black belt expert and military trainer of special forces), make an attempt to throw her own niece overboard then knock Miguel on the head with a 4 inch flashlight, drag his 220 lb body to the side of the boat, pick him up and throw him into the water which one newspaper described as a Hollywood movie scenario.
Ultimately it was discovered that the Police Report only noted the allegation as an assault (battery) to which Jeanette refused to plea bargain as Jeanette asserts she did nothing. It turned out to be a “she said, he said, she said ” story. In the meantime, I warned the first DA as a fellow Officer of the Court that not only as set out in Court Proceedings was Miguel and his team putting the administration of Justice into disrepute, manipulating the Police but was also bringing disgrace to the Good Office of the DA as Robert Ryken told people ‘his’ attorney told him not to participate in any family dialogue which Jeanette’s father attempted to convene with me July 13, 2013 in Chatham, Ontario. As it turned out, Rob was referring to the DA as ‘his attorney’ but the DA’s office is a neutral evaluator of evidence for the State (the People) and doesn’t give legal advice to complainants. Just another example of the games played! To his credit, Rob Ryken in the Police Report twice doubted whether he should give a green light for his juvenile daughter’s accusation to be filed but due to apparent pressure from the Police and his wife Annette, who was overheard by Jeanette’s father to say if Rob didn’t believe his daughter’s story, she would divorce him which meant to me Annette was seeking to Prosecute Jeanette. Rob decided to give the go ahead for the Police to take Alex’s accusation which set in motion all the disastrous consequences. Another DA rightly said ‘someone should face the music’ for this file and I agreed but the people who should be accountable are Miguel Martinez and his conspirators; like I mentioned there should be an internal investigation about how this entire file was dealt with by the Police. My client agreed not to file a formal complaint about the Monroe County Sheriff Office (MCSO) due to our positive conversation with Sergeant Madnick as described.
Jeanette Ryken's Side of the Story 