Arizona pickleball player says he can’t be sued for defamation over Cal Coast News story
The Arizona pickleball player accused of providing false information to Cal Coast News reporter Karen Velie claims he cannot be sued for defamation in California because he resides in Arizona.
Steve Cable was sued by his neighbor, Jody Bernat, at the same time she also filed a lawsuit against Velie for defamation in February. Velie published a story claiming Bernat, the ex-wife of San Luis Obispo County real estate attorney John Belsher, was living in Arizona under an “alias.” Belsher is Bernat’s attorney.
It’s the second time Velie has been sued for defamation, after she lost a $1.1 million verdict in 2017.
Cable, a pickleball club colleague of Bernat in Surprise, Arizona, was attributed as the source in Velie’s article.
The original article, which was published on Dec. 30 and can be viewed on the Internet Archive’s WayBack Machine, shows Velie wrote, “Steven Cable, a neighbor of John and Jody Belsher in Arizona, told Cal Coast News the Belshers introduce themselves as a married couple using the aliases Jon Bailey and Jody Bernat.”
Velie has since changed the the term “aliases” to “names” and added a correction to the top of her article that stated, “Jodi Belsher legally changed her name to Jody Bernat after moving to Arizona, according to John Belsher.”
Bernat said the article not only negatively affected her business relationships and reputation, but also put her in danger because she had changed her name to avoid confrontations with a “violent stalker.”
Acocrding to a March 19 court filing, Cable claimed he reached out to Velie after a fellow pickleball club member texted him an article about Belsher’s court trial where he and real estate developer Ryan Wright, formerly Ryan Petetit, were accused of defrauding investors Jeff and Debra Chase.
Belsher and Wright lost that lawsuit and were ordered to pay $3.6 million. Belsher told The Tribune in March that he has appealed the judgment and said he already promised to pay the Chases $1 million prior to and during the lawsuit.
Cable recognized Belsher in the photo accompanying the article as Jon Bailey, who he had met at the Arizona pickleball club. Cable said he continued to research Belsher, found several articles about his legal issues and decided to reach out to Velie.
“I told her that I had seen the articles about the guy owing millions to defrauded investors,” Cable wrote in the court filing. He said he told Velie he believed Bernat and Belsher were renting a home in his neighborhood and that he and his wife had played the two in pickleball.
When Cable introduced himself and his wife to Belsher, Bernat walked up and identified her self as Belsher’s wife. Velie called Cable back a few days later and told Cable the Chases wanted to speak with him, and Cable agreed and ultimately gave the Chases a declaration of what he told Velie.
Cable quoted the current version of the article that uses the term “names” instead of “aliases” in attribution to him, but stated the statement was true. Cable said he never said Belsher or Bernat were using “aliases.”
Bernat confronted Cable at the picklball courts in January and told him the Chases were “out to get them and that Cal Coast News is a rag or malicious blog.”
He claims he never said Bernat or Belsher were “running from the law” or were “criminals.”
Bernat also sent out a 12-page email in her and Belsher’s defense to several members of the pickleball club after the article. The email also said Cable is to blame for her name and location being revealed to her stalker.
“Her safety here in Arizona is no longer ensured, and she must now deal once again with potential threats from this stalker, if not far more serious actions,” the letter said.
In Bernat’s response to Cable’s motion to quash the lawsuit on the grounds that he cannot be sued in California, Belsher argued that Cable reaching out to Velie in California made him legally responsible for the fallout here.
Bernat told The Tribune she has attempted to serve Velie several times since February, but the efforts have not been successful.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for June 16.
