There are courts in which there is no right to a jury trial and all judgments are made by the judge. They are called Administrative Courts and the judges are called Administrative Judges. These are run by government agencies or large corporations to give the appearance that they giving a fair trial to those who have a grievance against the government agency or corporation. But, the judge is a government employee deciding about a claim against a government or corporate employee deciding about a grievance against the corporation. Needless to say, the government or corporation is not going to be too happy with a judge who rules against the government or corporation for whom he works. So, the pressure on such judges is to see things the way the government or corporation wants them to see it.

My experience with an administrative court and administrative judges was with the Merit System Protection Board courts. The following information is an account of the injustices which I faced in the Merit System Protection Board Court and the bad representation which I had by my lawyers.

In order to set the record straight, I offer the following account of the facts, including some very pertinent incidents that were not even presented in my case due to the mishandling of my case by my attorney. Though I lost the trial in front of the Merit System Protection Board Judge, I should have won in the appeals court except that my lawyer did not even mention some extremely important facts in his pleading before the Appeals Court.

I was really fired from Kelly AFB twice. The first time, my Washington lawyer, Woodley Osbourne, did good work and won the case. So, I got my job back plus pay for all the time I was not working. I did not think that I would be fired again, but I was wrong. A lot of people think that government employees cannot be fired, but they can; not for incompetence, incompetent employees are promoted if they are well liked by management. People are fired for “not getting along.” I really did good work and got along well with most employees. But, there was a tiny minority of employees who need to gossip and harass another employee if they find him a little strange or different from themselves.

The fact that I had as many witnesses for me as the government had against me before the Merit System Protection Board (M.S.P.B.) Court proves that a lot of my fellow workers thought that an injustice was being done to me. Every one of my witnesses was testifying against their employer, whereas the witnesses against me were doing what their employer wanted. Both of my cases were first heard before an M.S.P.B. judge in a courtroom in San Antonio, both times I was fired. Both times the M.S.P.B. judges ruled against me. The first time, I appealed the case to an appeals court in Washington DC and won.

The M.S.P.B. judges are given the ridiculously long time of six months to make a decision after he or she has heard the case. However, the M.S.P.B. judge who heard my second case took 22 months to make her decision. And, she was the one who was judging me for my fitness to have my job!!!

Now, I went to the same lawyer who won my first case. This time he was very disrespectful. The first time, he charged amounts of money as the case went on. Eventually, the amount came to over $25,000 and he was paid in full. And, I had no complaints. He won the case, so it was worth it. The second time he wanted a retainer of $25,000 to begin my case. One of the government’s witnesses against me in the second case, Burchard Karl Knopf, kept a picture of his father wearing a World War II German uniform in his work area. Now, I do not hold it against him because his father was in the German army in World War II. I had a father-in-law who was in the Japanese army in World War II. But, it is not normal for a person to want to show off the fact that his father was in the World War II German army. And, when this witness was testifying in the M.S.P.B. court, he stated that: “there was no difference between serving in the German army and the American army except that the American army won.” When I heard this, I thought for sure I won my case.

In 2019, Robert Garthwait, a former trustee of Gettysburg College was forced to resign and apologize because somebody in the Judaic studies program discovered a picture of him when he was a student at a fraternity party in 1980 where the theme was “Hogan’s Heroes” (a 1967-71 situation comedy) wearing a German uniform. I do not think he was doing anything wrong because he was wearing a costume which was consistent with the theme of the party. Actor Telly Savalas played Pontius Pilate in “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” but nobody held it against him. He was an actor playing a role. And, he went on to play the hero “Kojak.” But now, the witness against me was not playing a role, but seriously stating his obscene and ridiculous view that there was no difference between serving in the German or American armies except that the Germans lost.

(Click here to see to see a copy of the courtroom transcript where this statement was made.)

My circumstances at Kelly AFB were unique. In this case we had a man showing off the fact that his father served in the German Army in World War II. He should have been told to put the picture someplace off-base. If he had a father who was wearing a KKK robe (there were many black employees at Kelly AFB), he probably would not have just been told to put the picture someplace else, he probably would fired or given a long-time suspension for displaying the picture. Likewise, if he had a picture which offended Hispanic-Americans, he would have been told to put the picture someplace else. Under normal circumstances, Jews are one of the most protected groups. Look what happened to Robert Garthwait when someone in Judaic studies saw a 40 year-old picture of him wearing a German uniform which was just a costume for a frat party. But, I was the only Jew I knew of in my area at Kelly AFB. So, I was isolated. But, that should not have mattered. If only my lawyer had quoted from the transcript of the trial that a witness against me stated before the M. S. P. B Court that there was no difference between serving in the German Army and the American Army except the Germans lost. If this fact had been presented before the Appeals Court in Washington, it would have provided very compelling additional evidence that I believe would have won the case for me.

I was born and raised in a Jewish family. So, I was a Jew by the standards of the Nazis. I would have won my case except that my Washington lawyer made no mention about the man keeping a picture of his father wearing a World War II German uniform in his work area nor his claim that there was no difference between serving in the German or American armies except the Germans lost. I had emphasized to my Washington lawyer the importance of this matter. So, my lawyer did not fail to mention this matter out of negligence, sloth or incompetence. I believe he did this intentionally. I cannot imagine that the appeals judges would have ruled against me if my lawyer had used the facts in his argument that a witness against me kept a picture of his father wearing a World War II German uniform in his work area and had made the statement while on the witness stand claiming that there was no difference between the German soldiers and the American soldiers in World War II except the Germans lost. It would have been obvious that the claims that I was the perpetrator of the disturbances were false when the M.S.P.B. judges ignored a Nazi apologist’s claim that there was no difference between the German and American soldiers in World War II, and my employer was not right in firing a Jew who knew what the Nazi regime did to Jews and allowed one of their witnesses to express Nazi sympathies. I am for full freedom of speech, but what that witness was allowed to do in the workplace showed that disciplinary action was almost totally lacking for their favorites and the reasons to discipline me were completely arbitrary by management and demonstrated a much more severe double standard against me for the purpose of getting rid of me.

This was a USAF Air base, and in World War II Germany was the enemy. What if I had enumerated the achievements of Joseph Stalin. I think that I would have been fired immediately. But, in World War II, he was our friend whom we affectionately called “Uncle Joe.” I am not in any was a supporter of Stalinism nor the Soviet system. I am only this example to show the complete arbitrariness in their enforcement of discipline against different people by the management.

Above: a cute cartoon showing what a good person “Uncle Joe” was

Above: Russian Orthodox leaders meet

during World War II

Above: Priests blessing Russian

soldiers in WW2

Above: Stalin & Churchill all smiles and happy in their meeting

Another matter is that the M.S.P.B. judge who heard the second firing case against me was Marie A. Malouf, a Lebanese-American. The two most well-known Lebanese-Americans are consumer advocate Ralph Nader and the late journalist Helen Thomas. Both have expressed their anger with Israel over the Israeli bombing of Lebanon. And, the excuse which Israel uses for everything they do is the Holocaust, even though the Lebanese and Arabs in general had nothing to do with the Holocaust.

(Click here for ABC News story Helen Thomas link)

Supposedly M.S.P.B judges are randomly assigned to the case which they hear. The percentage of Americans who are of Lebanese descent of 0.79%, less than 1 percent. What a “lucky coincidence” for the government that a Lebanese-American was picked as the judge for this case in which German conduct in World War II would be an issue.

Lebanon is a country which is no threat to Israel, but Israel bombs Lebanon because some anti-Israeli resistance forces hideout in Lebanon; something which Lebanon cannot control. And, a vast majority of American Jews support Israel and are active in efforts motivating the Israeli lobbyists to get the bombs to drop on Lebanon. So, it is not illogical for Lebanese-Americans, as soon as he or she hears “holocaust” to think “here we go again.” So, it is natural to expect a Lebanese-American or anybody else to expect a Jew to be a supporter of Israel and everything Israel does. But, the judge did not know me. I do not practice the Jewish religion, I have never been to Israel and I do not support the bombing of Lebanon. And, the horrific treatment of Jews during World War II is not an excuse for Jews to mistreat anybody else. Also, many practicing very observant orthodox Jews are anti-Zionists

(Click here for a link for more information on this topic).

I think that the government management suspected, (and I think that their suspicions are correct) that some Lebanese Americans harbor resentment towards Jews bringing up the holocaust because of the way it has been used as an excuse for the Israelis to do things like bombing Lebanon.

I hired a Dallas lawyer named John Carney. Although he had plenty of time, he did not perform any requests for discovery needed during the litigation process. So, he got a continuance. But, he still did not do any requests for discovery. Then the judge ordered a mediation. But, how could I negotiate anything without the facts that I should have gotten from the discovery process. And, if nothing was agreed to in the mediation, there was not enough time to do the discovery before the scheduled date of the trial. This seems to me to be a case of lawyer sloth in which Carney wanted me to agree to a “mediated settlement” when I did not have the facts because Carney had not done any of the normal discovery that any competent attorney knows is needed in a legal procedure. Carney sent me his last bill for over $4,000. I did not want to pay it because he had not properly prepared the case for me.

This resulted in a lawsuit between myself and Carney’s collection agency for which I hired Attorney Bryan Sample to represent me. Carney’s collection agency was Meadows Service Corp. which shared the same address as Carney and which I believe to be owned by Carney. Now, while Carney did no discovery for me, Meadows Service Corp. came after me with voluminous requests for discovery. And, my lawyer did not reply in time, for which the judge dismissed my case. So, I appealed the case. But, my lawyer did not put down a sufficient appeal bond. So, the appeals court dismissed my case because of my insufficient appeal bond. So, my case was never heard on the merits of the case, but was dismissed on technicalities for which my lawyer was responsible. And, I ended up having to pay over $8,000. However, Carney must have gotten the idea that he could get away with everything, even tax evasion. However, the IRS did win a judgment of 5.7 million dollars and made him sell his million dollar plus home.

(click here for Dallas Morning News story about Carney)

Click here to see the page from this witnesses’ testimony to prove what I have stated is the truth about the witness against me stating that there was no difference between the American and German soldiers except that the Americans lost. There also was something said about me using the “f-word” in the judgment. I very rarely swear and only used it once in all my time of working at Kelly AFB. And, the “f-word” was frequently used at Kelly A.F.B. So, why would it matter when I used it only once.

Click here to learn about the horrors going on in the probate court.

 Thank you. Sincerely yours, Robert Litoff