PRYOR - The rescue of a cat and her six kittens two years ago
has sparked an Internet uproar resulting in a $703 million
lawsuit against a local businessman previously regarded as a hero.
Oasis Corp. claims that Dan Judd, an engineer and computer
software designer, is nothing but a vindictive opportunist who has
cost the water cooler company millions of dollars in lost business.
Based in Columbus, Ohio, Oasis filed the lawsuit Feb. 17 in
federal court there, alleging trademark infringement, defamation
and invasion of privacy. The company, with annual sales of $140
million, claims in a detailed 540-page document that Judd altered
its trademark and used the Internet to conduct a smear campaign.
As a result, Oasis executives have been bombarded with thousands
of letters, phone calls and e-mails from outraged Internet surfers.
The legal mess started simply enough.
Judd, a transplanted Californian from Silicon Valley, was
meeting with potential clients in Pryor on Feb. 6, 1998, when
firefighters were called to a building housing his business,
Electronic Products Development.
When Judd arrived at the scene, he entered his smoke-filled
office and rescued the cats, which were in a back room. Judd had
taken in the pregnant mother cat about a week earlier. She
delivered her kittens a few days before the fire.
The animals have been adopted.
Although his office didn't burn, Judd said the heat melted
backup computer discs holding his company data.
A state fire marshal's office investigator determined the blaze
started in a storage room of Green Country Furniture, near a
doorway adjacent to a water cooler. The cause of the fire remains
undetermined, said fire marshal spokeswoman Shannon Rowland.
But Judd, 42, said insurance adjusters for the building and
furniture store owners told him the Oasis water cooler was
defective. When he tried to collect $57,000 for his loss, Oasis
officials said their insurance company investigators found no
defects in the cooler.
The Oasis insurer, Chubb Insurance Co. of Warren, N.J., denied
the claim, while Judd's insurance paid him $22,000. But it wasn't
enough to resurrect his business.
Thus began the Internet war.
Judd said he made more than 300 phone calls to Chubb and Oasis
officials trying to get some answers. Once, he was passed to 20
different people at Chubb.
Finally, he said a Chubb executive told him by phone in December
1998 that the company "doesn't insure cats" and that if he had the
time to save the cats, he should have also saved his computer tapes.
"I went ballistic," Judd said. "I knew then what I was going to
do."
He launched an Internet campaign, creating nine Web sites with
information about his cat rescue and subsequent fight with Oasis
and its insurer. Most of those Web sites remain and contain such
things as the Oasis trademark, animated with flames.
When the Web site is opened, the Oasis trademark has been
altered to say: "Things certainly do not go better with Oasis water
coolers," an alteration of an Oasis slogan.
Judd's Web site also asks viewers to send e-mail to Oasis and
the insurance company and bombard them with phone calls and
letters. They also ask for a boycott of Oasis products and the
creation of copycat Web sites.
One site, created by an unknown third-party, says Oasis
"provides simple solutions to fried felines."
Hundreds of Web sites sympathetic to Judd have been created as a
result, costing the company thousands of customers, Oasis alleges
in its lawsuit.
Oasis officials said in a prepared statement Thursday that Judd
is waging his campaign "in an effort to coerce a payment" from the
company.
Donna Luvre, spokeswoman for Chubb Insurance, said company
policy prohibits her from commenting on pending claims and
litigation.
Meanwhile, the furniture company and building owner where the
fire occurred is suing Oasis and a bottling company that
distributes its product. That lawsuit is filed in Mayes County
District Court. Judd also is a plaintiff. The parties want about
$400,000 in damages. Judd said he can't afford an attorney for
either lawsuit.
He said he has rewritten his software and revived his company.
He has received hundreds of e-mails from supporters, and even
checks from people wanting to help fund the "Internet cat war." He
voids the checks and mails a copy back to the owners.
"If I take their money, I lose my credibility and honor," Judd
said. "But I'm not removing the Web sites. There's nothing on there
that's a lie or even misconstruing the truth."