Cal Coast News reporter Karen Velie sued for defamation — again. Here’s why

Cal Coast News reporter Karen Velie is facing a new lawsuit accusing her of defamation.

It’s the second time she has been sued for defamation, after she lost a $1.1 million verdict in 2017.

The new lawsuit was filed on Feb. 14 by Jody Bernat, the ex-wife of San Luis Obispo County attorney John Belsher, who accuses Velie of defaming her in a Dec. 30 Cal Coast News article. Belsher is her lawyer, according to court documents.

In the article titled “Is San Luis Obispo Attorney John Belsher using an alias?” Velie accused Bernat of using an “alias” while living as husband and wife in Surprise, Arizona.

In fact, however, she had legally changed her surname from Belsher to Bernat when she moved to Arizona in August.

She told The Tribune she changed her name because she and her husband divorced and she had a violent stalker in San Luis Obispo she wanted to protect herself from.

Despite their divorce, Bernat said she and Belsher have remained on good terms, to the extent they still play pickleball together, and they participated in a tournament in Arizona in December.

When registering, she used her new legal name, Jody Bernat, and she asked Belsher to use a family name, Bailey, so that her former name was protected from the stalker. Belsher said he only used the surname Bailey for pickleball club and tournaments.

“For me, to have to get my name out there all over again is upsetting,” Bernat said. “But at the same time, I have to fight back and I have to do something, because it’s just too much already, and I can’t take another minute of it.”

Bernat filed an identical lawsuit against Steve Cable, the man who gave Cal Coast News the information and is quoted as her neighbor. Bernat said she and Belsher have played pickleball against Cable once or twice and do not know where he lives or whether he was actually her neighbor.

Bernat accused Velie of publishing false information or with reckless disregard for the truth “in an intentional attempt to tarnish her reputation,” the lawsuit said.

The new lawsuit comes eight years after a jury unanimously found Velie and Cal Coast News defamed and libeled local hazardous waste contractor Charles Tenborg in a 2012 article and ordered her and Cal Coast News to pay Tenborg a $1.1 million judgment.

Velie did not respond to The Tribune’s request for comment or to specific questions sent via email.

Woman says she changed her name to protect her identity from violent stalker

Bernat told The Tribune that Velie revealing her new name was the straw that broke the camel’s back in what she said has been years-long attacks and harassment from Velie and Cal Coast News.

In her lawsuit, she claims she is a private citizen, which affords her a lower legal bar to argue for defamation.

Bernat said she first encountered Velie when her husband’s company, PB Companies, began having legal trouble around 2018.

Belsher’s business partner in the company, Ryan Wright, was found guilty of bribing late San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Adam Hill to approve real estate development projects. Wright is currently serving a five-year sentence in federal prison.

“I had nothing to do with the business, and I’ve never had any legal issues,” Bernat told The Tribune.

She said she decided to move to Arizona because she could no longer afford to live in San Luis Obispo due to the costs associated with her former husband’s legal issues, which include several lawsuits.

Bernat lives full-time in Arizona, she said, while Belsher said his full-time residence is in Michigan. He added that he spends time in San Luis Obispo, Arizona and Northern California.

According to the lawsuit, Steve Cable contacted Cal Coast News on Dec. 29, alleging Bernat was using a false name in a December pickleball tournament. He sent Cal Coast News a photo of her homeowner’s association membership and a photo of her on the pickleball tournament roster to back up his assertion.

The assertion, however, was false, the lawsuit said.

Bernat legally changed her surname from Belsher in Maricopa County, Arizona, on Oct. 9, 2024, the lawsuit said.

“Without following even the most rudimentary requirements for ethical news reporting, CCN recklessly assumed the information received about Jody’s identity was correct in order to promulgate a falsehood about Jody Bernat and sell news circulation and advertising revenue based on gossip,” the lawsuit said.

Bernat told The Tribune she changed her name because the violent man who used to date her friend would stalk and confront her after he found out her friend had moved out-of-state while he was in jail.

Because of the article, Bernat said she has been shunned by her local pickleball league leaders and was forced to abandon her software startup company, TreasureSave, the lawsuit said.

The allegedly false article also negatively impacted Bernat’s other business ventures, including movies and books she’s authored and produced, the lawsuit said.

Her identity and location were also exposed to her stalker, she said, which caused additional emotional distress.

Bernat claims Velie’s article was intended to expose Bernat to hatred, contempt and shunning from her pickleball club and other Arizona pickleball circles.

“This impact and injury was intended by Karen Velie as part of her years long campaign to enrich her business by disparaging reputations of community members at the expense of the truth,” the lawsuit said.

Bernat sent a retraction demand to Velie on Jan. 10, which caused Velie to add a correction to the top of the article.

“Jodi Belsher (sic) legally changed her name to Jody Bernat after moving to Arizona, according to John Belsher,” the correction said.

The lawsuit claimed Velie’s false assertions in the article were made with actual malice to further harm her reputation, and it asked for $70,000 in damages, the financial loss Belsher said suffered because of the article.

Husband was a business partner of SLO County developer who bribed Adam Hill

Velie’s article on Bernat’s name was tied to a $3.6 million judgment her ex-husband, Belsher, was ordered to pay to his former business partner.

Belsher’s longtime friend, Jeffrey Chase, and Chase’s wife, Deborah, sued Belsher and Wright in 2018 alleging fraud, contract violations and breach of fiduciary duty after the Chases invested $2.9 million in four real estate development projects with PB Companies, the now defunct company owned by Wright and Belsher, and saw little from their returns.

They also named Belsher and Bernat as defendants in respect to their family trust.

San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Michael Kelley found Belsher was liable for fraud and breaching his fiduciary duty as Chase’s attorney. Kelley ordered Belsher, Wright and PB Companies to pay $3.6 million.

Belsher told The Tribune he has appealed the judgment and said he already promised to pay the Chases $1 million prior to and during the lawsuit.

Belsher told The Tribune he was not aware of Wright bribing Hill to approve their real estate projects. He did help Hill and Wright set up Hill’s consulting company, which was ultimately used by Wright to make payments to Hill.

Federal court documents in Wright’s case said Belsher, Hill and Wright created the consulting company to “protect all three of them.” Wright said Belsher believed “put(ing) a gag order on all three of us (is a) good idea,” because “loose lips sink ships,” the documents said.

When questioned by The Tribune, Belsher said setting up the consulting company was legitimate and public record. He added that it is common business practice to practice confidentiality, especially with large real estate projects.

Belsher said he did not participate in any of the actions that brought criminal charges against Wright. He said he cooperated with the federal investigation and has not been charged with any crimes.

The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment on Belsher’s involvement with the federal investigation.

His ex-wife, Bernat, did not have anything to do with his businesses or law practice, was not named in Wright’s federal case and was not found liable in the Chase lawsuit, he added.

“The judge ruled she did not do anything wrong and specifically found that there was no fraud action by her with respect to our family trust,” Belsher said. “Jody was completely 100% absolved.”

Cal Coast News, Karen Velie ordered to pay $1.1 million for previous defamation case

Velie was sued for defamation for the first time in 2013 because of a 2012 article that accused hazardous waste contractor Charles Tenborg of illegal activity.

Velie lost the lawsuit in 2017, when a jury unanimously found she did in fact defame and libel Tenborg.

She and Cal Coast News were ordered to pay him $1.1 million in damages. Velie was declared personally responsible for $500,000.

Velie attempted to appeal the verdict, but the Court of Appeal denied her appeal and reaffirmed the verdict in 2019, records show.

Velie has claimed on her radio show and in articles that she did not pay the full judgment because she countersued for fraud. Court documents show the fraud lawsuit was dismissed.

A 2021 San Luis Obispo District Attorney’s report, which investigated claims by Velie and her private investigator Carl Knudson that Tenborg had committed perjury and fraud as well as the general allegations in the 2012 article, found most of her claims were unsubstantiated or taken out of context. None of Velie’s nor Knudson’s claims rose to criminal conduct, according to the report.

Tenborg told The Tribune that he found Velie could not afford her part of the $1.1 million judgment after she attended 17 judgment debtors exams, so he agreed to settle for $25,000.

“It wasn’t cutting losses,” Tenborg said. “It was just being done with her.”

According to a court document that opposed Velie paying the $1.1 million judgment filed on June 12, 2019, Velie argued she was “hopelessly impecunious,” meaning she had little to no money.

“Velie cannot and, likely, will never be able to pay any portion of the judgment due to her loss of her business, damage to her reputation as a journalist in the community and loss of advertisers,” the document said.

Nevertheless, Velie’s website has remained active and operational with ads from advertisers.

The $25,000 Velie actually paid came from her settlement of a malpractice lawsuit against the attorney who represented her, David Vogel, Tenborg said. Court records show Velie settled the malpractice lawsuit for $50,000 in 2021.

For Tenborg, he said, the case was never about the money.

He said it was about his reputation and holding Velie accountable for what he called her unethical conduct.

“The reason why we won $1.1 million was because she lied throughout the trial and she was caught at the end in a big lie,” Tenborg said.

Tenborg said Velie testified that she had never spoken with him before publishing the article, but evidence showed the two had a roughly eight-minute-long conversation the day before the article went live.

He said he was not surprised that Velie was being sued for defamation again, alleging she purposefully writes “salacious” articles in order to gain viewership.

“She is a cockroach, an absolute cockroach,” Tenborg said. “You try to deal with them and they keep coming back.”

This story was originally published March 10, 2025 at 5:03 PM.