TNA Sends Legal Letter to Jim Cornette: Terroroistic Threats

In an email sent to Terry Taylor (a TNA employee), Jim Cornette makes very strong attacks on current TNA staff especially Vince Russo which also includes threats about Russo's life and other TNA staff. The mail was sent back in March and was intercepted by TNA.

Since the mail sent by Jim Cornette is very harsh in its contents [and very long for this news report], it is not being put here but can be read at the source.

In a legal mail sent on the 9th of April 2010 via Certified Mail, TNA's legals reply:

Mr. Cornette:

This firm represents TNA Entertainment, LLC ("TNA").

TNA has recently intercepted a shocking and appalling email communication (a copy of which is enclosed) which was sent from your email address to the attention of TNA's talent coordinator, Terry Taylor at his TNA email address. Upon review of the content of said email, TNA was so concerned that they have turned the email over to this firm to take appropriate action in order to protect the safety and welfare of TNA's staff and talent.

Your email reads in part: "I despise Vince Russo. I want Vince Russo to die. If I could figure out a way to murder him without going to prison, I would consider it the greatest accomplishment of my life.... I regularly wake up from dreams in which I am in the act of murdering him."

The email goes on to say: "I have sworn to myself that I will willingly go to jail if I ever see him in person again, and he had better pray to his fictitious invisible man in the sky that that day never comes."

It is our view that the foregoing statements constitute "terroristic threats" under virtually every jurisdiction in the country, including under the US Code (18 USC 875) and Kentucky State Law (KRS 508.080). Generally, under both Federal and State Law, a person will be guilty of having made terroristic threats if such person willfully threatens to commit a crime which would result in death or great bodily injury to the victim and demonstrates specific intent to communicate such threat to the victim or to a third party who the perpetrator believes will convey such threat to the intended victim. Your email satisfies all of the foregoing elements and it is irrelevant whether you intended to actually carry out such threat or not. Nonetheless, we must assume the worst. Indeed, the language of the email is so specific, unequivocal and unconditional that Vince Russo (a TNA employee) has understandably experienced extreme fear for himself and his family. TNA management shares his concern, not only for Vince, but for all of it's employees, staff members and talent (some of whom were specifically named in your email as being targets of your anger).

Accordingly, be advised that we have taken action to notify all applicable Federal and State law enforcement agencies and have provided them with a copy of the email, together with your personal information, including your home address, social security number, and other pertinent information which would facilitate their efforts to investigate any violent acts taken against TNA employees, staff members, talent or any of their property. Any further threats to contact Vince Russo or any other TNA personnel (directly or indirectly) shall be viewed as acts in furtherance of such threats and shall be pursued and prosecuted accordingly.

On a related note, it is our understanding that you were recently employed by TNA as an independent contractor and talent and, as such, you had access to confidential/proprietary business information related to TNA (hereafter "Confidential Information"). Your email contained certain statements which discussed internal TNA management decisions and the circumstances surrounding your departure from TNA. Those matters constitute Confidential information. Accordingly, we are taking this opportunity to remind you that the Confidential Information is proprietary and is not to be revealed except as expressly permitted by TNA in writing. As a former talent of TNA, you continue to be bound by your legal obligations and duties to maintain the confidentiality of such Confidential Information in accordance with the terms of your various talent agreements. You cannot share Confidential Information with ANYONE (including current or former TNA talent) and TNA will vigorously enforce it's rights in this regard.

Please be advised that this letter is written without prejudice to any rights, actions or claims otherwise available to TNA (or any of it's employees, staff or talent) now or in the future.

Sincerely,
Guy S. Blake, Esq.
Davis Shapiro Lewit & Hayes, LLP
Beverly Hills, Ca.

Source:  www.jimcornette.com/Commentary.html

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Comments

1. Comment #1

   if he dosen't kill him i will!!!!

   Posted by mortal van dam on Friday, April 16, 2010

2. Comment #2

   I suggest that before posting here you do read his mail - I think that this guy is mad ... I mean, not even if someone attempts to kill my family would I be that insane to send a mail that harsh - its nearly an attempted murder (a virtual one but eh lol)

   Posted by Mortal Van Dam on Thursday, April 15, 2010

3. Comment #3

   Ehh we do not care :)

   Posted by Comment #2 on Thursday, April 15, 2010

4. Comment #4

   Then just dont read - reading any articles on this site is not a must and you earn nothing for doing them so...

   Posted by Mortal Van Dam on Thursday, April 15, 2010

5. Comment #5

   LOL!
   Oh my, this is too much. He really is "The Mouth of The South".

   Posted by TV's Frank on Thursday, April 15, 2010

6. Comment #6

   Self correction. Jimmy Hart is Mouth of the South. Not Jim Cornette.
   Regardless of my error, this is pretty wild. Not sure what to say but just LOL.

   Posted by TV's Frank on Thursday, April 15, 2010

7. Comment #7

   It was a personal e-mail sent to Terry Taylor, someone Cornette thought was his friend of 30 years. Corny has always been colorful with his diatribes and legitimately hates Russo. It was never meant to threaten Russo, was never meant for his eyes, in fact. TNA is making a lot out of absolutely nothing, and even after working with the guy for three years, they still think some legal notice is going to stop Cornette. Dude already has a new podcast up where he gets into the whole thing and rips Taylor & Russo a new one all over again.

   Posted by JLV on Thursday, April 15, 2010

8. Comment #8

   JLV mate you might not know but every mail sent to a company mail (any company) is filtered by people for spam etc... and if it is not sent to a company mail, governments check mails. It is not a "nothing" as you said, Cornette is threatening to destroy everyone working with TNA

   Posted by Mortal Van Dam on Thursday, April 15, 2010

9. Comment #9

   comment 7 although I usually agree with you on anything. It is nto a serious threat. THey shopuld jsut block him from mailing them and be done with it & jsut ignore him. Although Russo does suck a great deal.

   Posted by One & Only on Thursday, April 15, 2010

10. Comment #10

    I am a major fan of Jim Cornette and have ranted on him praising him and his words on his podcasts. On this occassion, I'm STILL siding with Cornette. He has told many many many people that Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara are assholes and shouldn't be working in the company. To send this lawyers letter means that Vince Russo is SCARED of Jim Cornette. I, for one, exactly see what Jim Cornette is doing. By the way, you make very little mention of the email that Jim Cornette sent Terry Taylor. He said that he had NO PROBLEM with ANYONE working in TNA Wrestling. Everyone, BUT VINCE RUSSO. Jim Cornette worked alongside Russo for the good of the company and made it known that he would never be behind Russo and the company. I'm making note of this because this is going in my articles.

    Posted by The REAL Nemesis on Thursday, April 15, 2010

11. Comment #11

    Yes Nemesis you are right - since both texts were too long, i decided to write about the lawyer's letter because it had references to Jim's original and gave the link for everyone to check

    Posted by Mortal Van Dam on Thursday, April 15, 2010

12. Comment #12

    What do hey mean when they intercepted? do they read ppl privet e-mail

    Posted by Fito on Thursday, April 15, 2010

13. Comment #13

    Let Russo and Cornette fight, so long as Cornette is allowed use a loaded tennis racket!

    Posted by ninjamissile3001 on Thursday, April 15, 2010

14. Comment #14

    Imagine it was Mr.Macman(w.e) wwe owner LOOL. Na just kinding but just imagine it was someone from the WWE xD.
    Tna hyping it too much tbh... If they hype it even more eventually they will shut down...
    Then WWE would be 3-0.(TNA,WCW,ECW)when ecw was in the invasion)

    Posted by Spickyo on Thursday, April 15, 2010

15. Comment #15

    how does this constitute terroristic threats? wheres the political motive or the threat or possibility of harm to a general population? either way, don't a lot of people want to hurt Vince Russo anyway? why single him out

    Posted by on Thursday, April 15, 2010

16. Comment #16

    Cornette has always had an issue with running his mouth. While I can see why he's upset at Russo (heck, I'm still upset by Russo for WCW) but in this day and age, what I'm sure he meant as a personal email with vitriol toward Russo does go too far in the death threat department. As invaluable a talent as I've always considered Cornette, he's got to be held accountable for death threats, even if it was likely just him blowing off steam to a friend. Corporations tend to have access to personal email on a company domain (there really is no such thing as a personal email in a corporate environment, it's called a "no guarantee of privacy clause" and is pretty standard in companies the size of TNA/Panda Energy. It's hard to say for sure whether Taylor turned him in, or an IT person monitored the email, seeing it was from a disgruntled ex-employee.

    Posted by Blue Demon Jr. on Thursday, April 15, 2010

17. Comment #17

    It is known Jim Cornett has anger issues, and that he can't stop his mouth from opening up. That's how he got fired from WWE: he slapped Santino Marella in WWE Developmental. Even though he might not intend to really kill Vince Russo, TNA still should press charges, for safety purposes, and to show that TNA means business

    Posted by on Thursday, April 15, 2010

18. Comment #18

    aha, is Cornette on drugs? ahaha... Always respected the guy, but he's just acting stupid

    Posted by Gravedigger Ghoul on Friday, April 16, 2010

19. Comment #19

    Russo and Farrera insulted Cornette's friend, Jim Ross's health condition and made fun of it on a televised WCW show.

    Posted by on Friday, April 16, 2010

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