14
June 2015
Judge
Robert Hess
Los
Angeles Superior Court
Department
24
111 N.
Hill Street
Los
Angeles, California 90012
Re: Kelley Lynch – Case No. BC338322
Dear
Judge Hess,
I am
writing to confirm that I prepared and provided Kelley Lynch with the
declaration attached hereto. I was
unavailable to provide the actual physical signature on this document prior to
the date Kelley submitted her Motion for Terminating Sanctions. I therefore provided her with my limited
power of attorney which authorized her to conform my signature on the
declaration. I also provided her with
the signature page which I understand she now intends to submit to the
Court. I can attest hereto that the
attached declaration, which is identical to the declaration submitted to this
Court with Kelley Lynch’s Motion for Terminating Sanctions, was initially
submitted with my full authorization and consent. I am willing to provide the Court with a
notarized copy of this declaration if necessary.
I would
also like to confirm that I was willing to testify telephonically at the
January 17, 2014 hearing in this case. I
live in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and was and remain unavailable to attend
any hearings in Los Angeles, California.
If you
have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly at REDACTED.
Thank
you.
Very
truly yours,
/s/
Daniel J. Meade
DECLARATION OF DANIEL J. MEADE
I, Daniel
J. Meade, do state and declare as follows:
1.
I am a citizen of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. I was
born and raised in the United States.
I am a close
personal friend of Kelley Lynch’s. I am
over the age of 18 years. I have
personal knowledge of the facts contained in this declaration and if called
upon to testify I could and would testify competently as to the truth of the
facts stated herein.
teacher, appointed me to the
position of Executive Director to the Philadelphia branch of Vajradhatu
International Buddhist Organization. At
that time, I was also quite close with her first husband, Richard Dallett. In fact, when Kelley was married to Mr.
Dallett, I worked with him on numerous projects. My wife and I spent a great deal of time
socializing with Kelley and Richard Dallett.
3.
Kelley's volunteer work with Philadelphia
Dharmadhatu included serving as my personal
secretary and administrative
assistant for approximately 2-1/2 years.
I was always pleased with her professional demeanor and diligent work.
4.
Kelley Lynch and I have remained extremely
close friends to this day. I view her as
one of my
dearest friends. We have stayed in close and constant contact
consistently for over 35 years.
5.
I also
know Kelley's parents, grandparents, brother, sister, sons and second husband,
Douglas
Penick, who is also a friend
of mine. Kelley has a very close
relationship with her family.
6.
In all the years I have known her, I have
appreciated her kindness and generosity towards me and
others, as well as various
organizations and Buddhist causes. His
Holiness Kusum Lingpa appointed Kelley Lynch to be his lineage holder. Kelley and Oliver Stone sponsored a Tibetan
Buddhist center for Kusum Lingpa Rinpoche and he evidently also appreciated
certain qualities that she embodies.
7.
Kelley is a quick wit and possesses a great
sense of humor. I would like to share a
story about
her with the Court: Approximately 13 years ago, my long term lady
friend, also a friend of Kelley's, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. For the next 4 months, Kelley called me every
day to check in about my state of mind as I was the primary care giver. Her support during this period of time was
invaluable and greatly appreciated.
After my friend's death, Kelley generously flew me out to Los Angeles to
visit and recuperate. My son also joined
us. She took a bit of time off work to
tend to my needs. I was able to spend
time with and became intimately acquainted with her sons, Rutger and Ray. I found the home environment to be very
loving, uplifted and dignified in a particular sort of Buddhist style. Kelley was a great host and obviously a good
and decent mother. It was a very
pleasant 5-6 weeks for me. But, during
my stay I witnessed a few rather unpleasant incidents: I was well aware that Kelley worked as
Leonard Cohen's personal manager. I had
been a fan of his music and poetry since the age of 13. One day the phone rang while Kelley was in
the shower, I picked up and Leonard Cohen asked “Is Kelley there?” I responded by asking “Who are you?” He replied “I am Leonard.” I then simply said “Leonard who?” and his
response was to become angry. He then
hung up on me. I actually meant this as
a joke. Of course, I knew it was Leonard
Cohen. His voice is very
recognizable. Later that morning, Mr.
Cohen emailed Kelley a very personal and vicious letter. She read it to me and I could not believe
what an abusive, humorless, and aggressive asshole he was to her. My little dream of the man who wrote these
profound song lyrics immediately went down the local toilet in Los Angeles at
that time. I asked Kelley to give me a
copy of this letter so I could share it with the world at large and inform them
about this man's true nature. I was in
disbelief at his level of hostility particularly given the fact that he holds
himself out to the world as some sort of religious sage. He was clearly jealous of my presence. Kelley discreetly declined to provide me with
a copy of this exceedingly disturbing email.
I do not believe she refused to give me the letter simply to protect her
position as Mr. Cohen’s personal manager.
I believe she declined out of a sense of respect for Leonard Cohen and
may have been trying to keep his weaknesses and unconscionable conduct towards
her private.
8.
The second unpleasant incident I would like to
share is as follows: One day, while
visiting Kelley
and her family, I was relaxing
by the pool. Kelley's great home care
assistant, Elena, had brought
me food. Elena was a delightful individual who took
great care of Kelley's sons and home while she was at work. Kelley was extremely busy working as Cohen’s
personal manager and also owned a greeting card company. She devoted a tremendous amount of time to her
sons, work, and charitable work. Kelley
is a tireless individual. Elena would
help with the boys when they returned from school or other activities, assist
with meal preparations, and appeared to love Kelley and the boys. Elena’s presence in the home was important. Kelley home-schooled her older son and
carpooled her younger soon. She had an
office in her home and worked there in the afternoons and on weekends. There were always numerous children and
teenagers in her home. Kelley provided a
stable environment for these young people but was very careful with boundaries
and discipline. Kelley was essentially a
single mother, raising her children with the assistance of her parents, and
wanted an adult present in the household at all times. Suddenly, out of the blue, Steven Lindsey
showed up unannounced - meaning he did not call or email asking if it was an
appropriate time to drop by. Steve
Lindsey is the father of Kelley’s younger son, Ray. I suppose he felt entitled to behave in this
manner because he was Ray's genetic father and felt he could do as he liked, in
an arrogant fashion, as rich people tend to do. Kelley was not pleased with the
invasion and from what I witnessed neither were her sons or Elena. I was sitting by the pool, clueless as to
Lindsey's arrival, when he sat down next to me.
He tried to be nice about the death of my girlfriend. The aggression Steve Lindsey brought into
that home was, from my perspective, overwhelming and loud. After helping to calm things down inside,
Kelley came out and made a few dark jokes about death, in a Monty Python sort
of way. She was trying to help me
through my grief in her playful fashion.
Steve Lindsey became offended by Kelley and my interactions. He stormed off angry and, from what I could
hear from outside, Ray was in the house quite upset. I asked Kelley – “Does he always invade your
home unannounced?” She replied, “Yes,
whenever he wants to.” I thought “How
sad for Ray and Rutger and you.” Kelley and
her sons were very, very close.
9.
It is my personal belief that both Leonard
Cohen and Steve Lindsey were obsessed with Kelley,
extremely possessive of her,
privately conducted themselves in a jealous and hostile manner towards her,
becoming angry, paranoid, and vicious when she was unable to immediately tend
to their specific needs.
10. In the
35 years I have known Kelley, I never once heard that she and Cohen were in a
brief,
intimate statutory required dating
or engagement relationship. I have, on
the other hand, heard first hand that she felt Cohen’s conduct towards her was
harassing, uncomfortable, and thoroughly unprofessional. At times, throughout the years, Kelley and I
have been involved in an intimate dating relationship and I feel absolutely
confident that had she been involved in a similar relationship with Cohen she would
have shared that information with me.
Kelley and I have a very direct and honest friendship.
11. Since 2005, when Leonard Cohen filed his lawsuit
against Kelley, she has consistently maintained
that she was not served the
lawsuit. This has been extremely
frustrating for her. Kelley and I have
discussed the tactics Leonard Cohen has used against her, the unprofessional
conduct of his representatives, slanderous comments to the news media, and
fraudulent restraining orders to discredit her.
Kelley has no interest in Leonard Cohen whatsoever. She has an interest in resolving the legal
issues, obtaining tax and corporate information she requires, and maintaining
the private and simple life she always have.
12. In the
35 or so years I have known Kelley (who is from Pennsylvania), it was never my
understanding that she was a
friend of Neal Greenberg’s. Greenberg
lived in Boulder, Colorado and perhaps they ran into one another briefly at a
Buddhist or social event.
13. I have
spent a great deal of time in religious retreats. In fact, when I was quite young I was in a 6
month retreat. I have never heard of a rigorous Buddhist “retreat”
where an individual has a work room, computer, fax, phone, keyboard,
participates in documentaries and interviews, records albums, and comes and
goes as one pleases.
14. These
are my thoughts about what a good person Kelley Lynch is. I have no fiduciary concerns
here. She is simply an old friend of mine and I am
concerned about her welfare and the welfare of her sons.
I declare
under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the
foregoing is
true and correct and that I executed this
Declaration on the 4th day of March 2015 at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
___________________________________
Daniel
J. Meade
Unable to upload PDF of Dan Meade's signature page.
