Judge grants Waterkeeper adversary yet another prison postponement

U.S. District Judge Nelson S. Roman ordered Waterkeeper Alliance nemesis Jeffrey Salt to surrender for imprisonment, again, on Sept. 8 — the 14th such directive in 20 months in an 11-year trademark dispute that has tried the court’s patience.

Waterkeeper is an environmental group formerly based in Irvington that works with watershed groups worldwide and licenses trademarks such as “Riverkeeper” and “Waterkeeper.”

In 2010, the organization sued Salt’s Spirit of Utah Wilderness Inc., an environmental organization that also operated as Great Salt Lakekeeper and Great Salt Lake Water Keepers, for unauthorized use of the trademarks.

In 2015, Roman granted Waterkeeper a default judgment and ordered Salt and Spirit of Utah to stop using the trademarks. He did not stop, according to court records, and in 2017 Roman found him in contempt of court.

Salt continued to defy the court, and in 2019 Roman ordered him to pay $144,800 in fines. Imprisonment is a drastic remedy in civil cases, the judge noted, but he might have to impose prison time if the fines are not enough to motivate compliance with court orders.

Last year, Roman did just that. He ordered Salt to surrender to the U.S. Marshal in White Plains on March 23, 2020, or purge himself of contempt by stopping the use of the trademarks.

Since then, Salt’s attorneys have requested 12 extensions, including postponements because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Salt was supposed to report to prison today (Sept. 10, 2021). But on Sept. 2, court-appointed attorney Joseph A. Vita, Port Chester, requested another postponement.

Vita, who has represented Salt for six months, also asked to be replaced, citing “irreconcilable differences” and “wholly fractured” communications with his client.

The request for an extension was “predicated … upon Mr. Salt’s desire for new counsel and concerns regarding his medical situation and the current Covid-19 delta variant surge.”

Vita said Salt had advised him that he “remains seriously ill,” cannot do routine housekeeping tasks, and has medical appointments scheduled in the next two months.

Waterkeeper’s attorney, Jason L. Libou, urged Roman not to grant another postponement, noting that an order in July said it would be the final extension.

“Salt’s alleged medical ailments are not news to this court,” Libou said in a letter to Roman. “This is nothing more than a bad faith litigation tactic” and “there is simply no reason to believe granting Salt additional time to retain new counsel will lead to a different outcome.”

Roman denied Vita’s request to be replaced.

Three attorneys have asked to be taken off the case since June 2020, Roman says in the order, and each cited irreconcilable differences or Salt’s dissatisfaction with the lawyers.

“Mr. Salt cannot continue to be allowed to create problems with his assigned counsel,” the order states, “in order to receive replacement counsel and further delay his surrender.”

Roman set Oct. 12 as the new surrender date, on the condition that Salt provide documentation by Oct. 4 that he is unable to travel due to a specified medical condition and that he provides proof that he has purged himself of contemptuous conduct.

Salt did not respond to an email requesting his response to the court order.