Amy's Robot

Amy's Robot exclusive on the

Amy's Robot exclusive on the CWRU shooter case: in 1978, Biswanath Halder, the alleged shooter, apparently sued NCR Corporation for racial/ethnic discrimination when they didn't hire him even though he applied 26 times. NCR won the case. The opinion wasn't published, and it's not on the Internet, but you can probably find it if you have Lexis. (The docket number is 78-3421 at the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.)

More:

• He also apparently sued Digital Equipment Corporation in 1983. Check First Circuit Court of Appeals, docket number 83-1437. He claims he wrote to Presidents Bush (1) and Clinton about it. The letters are here (scroll down).
• It seems he also sued Avis Rent-a-Car for discrimination. [See 541 F.2d 130 (2d Cir. 1976)]. Update: Also, he's sued ITT, the Commissioner of Public Welfare, and a private party (all in MA).
• The case that sparked the shooting involved his suing someone because they deleted files from his website. You can get details on the case here at the Cuyahoga County court. He sued for $25,000 but lost.
• Here's his appeal.
• This is Halder's personal website, on which he posted details of the case.
• Some interesting case details are here.
• Looks like some other people have found his site too: his guestbook is filled with mostly offensive and ignorant stuff.
• He has two other websites: halder.ws and halder.freeyellow.com.
• Here's an angry letter he sent to the city council because the police wouldn't look into the case.
• Here's his My Yahoo! profile. Notice his "favorite quote": "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." -Margaret Mead
• Here's all the Usenet postings that have to do with him. I'm not going to get into them, but there's one he wrote with the subject "Looking For Lawyers Who Have The Ability To Run Over The Professional Criminals Who Run This System".
• Here's a letter he wrote to a newspaper in Florida in 2001. It's about sanctions against Iraq.
• Here's a letter he wrote to the Daily Illini about Pakistan.
• This guy blogged about Biswanath back in 2000. (See August 16 entry, among others.)

Cleveland Plain-Dealer has a good overview of the guy's history and personality.

Want to point out that this is slightly reminiscent of the Mad Bomber case, in which a disgruntled, litigious guy snapped and raged against ConEd in NYC in the 1950s, although that went on for years.

Thanks to my friends who helped me track all this stuff down.

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posted by adm at 11:36 PM | #