Thereafter, on or about July 8, 1999, defendant telephoned plaintiff Stephanie Speken and stated that he had settled the Medical Malpractice Action and that plaintiffs were required to sign general releases and appear before the Trial Court immediately.
                Plaintiffs met with defendant later that same day at his office to discuss the settlement. During this meeting, defendant told plaintiffs that they had no choice but to accept the settlement and to sign general releases because, inter alia

                            (a) If plaintiffs did not sign releases, the Trial Judge would immediately "close  down" the   case;

                            (b) The Trial Judge was "corrupt" and therefore it was no use talking to the Judge and trying to do so would only "make matters worse" for plaintiffs;

                            (c) Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center intended to commence a "multi-million dollar" defamation suit against plaintiffs with respect to their website related to the events alleged in the Medical Malpractice Action;

                             (d)  Defendant would not represent plaintiffs in the defense of the
action;

                            (e)  Defendant would have no choice but to resign from the Medical
Malpractice Action if plaintiffs did not accept the settlement and
sign general release

                             (f)  For the first time, defendant stated that he did not have the skills
and was not prepared to try the case, and that Laura Shapiro
[Columbia Presbyterian’s attorney] would "crush me."; and

                              (g)  Defendant had negotiated the settlement in such a way that plaintiffs would be able to keep their website up and running with only "minor" changes (such as changing the names of the doctors).

               Plaintiffs informed defendant that they did not accept the settlement and wished to proceed to trial. Plaintiffs were not prepared to give up their First Amendment rights to talk about the death of their beloved son at the hands of Columbian Presbyterian, and would not agree to "any" changes to the website in which they discussed their son’s death.
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