Jeff Lowe Kills Mediation Deal We Had With Joe Schreibvogel

 

Howie wrote this in a future email explaining the sequence of events to Louis Thereoux on 4/21/2021.  The mediation had been on 11/2/2015.

 

The mediation lasted 12 hours.  I asked for modest payments of $5000.  If you do the math, that would never come to $1mm.  But we just wanted there to be some financial penalty.  Joe pointed out that his revenue was seasonal, more in good weather, less in winter when there were fewer visitors.  So I was willing to accommodate him and adjust it to something like $7k in summer, $3k in winter.  I'd have to look up the numbers, but you get the idea.  

 

While we don't believe the other species like primates and bears should be used for petting for all the same reasons, I was willing to let him continue to do that if he stopped breeding big cats.  A very big concession for us and very meaningful to him.  I'd have to go back to the agreement to see what else he asked for that I agreed to.  Contrary to Joe's claim on the phone recording, we did not ask for his mother's house as collateral.  What we did ask for as collateral was her life estate in some Kansas farmland which we, along with the siblings, eventually inherited when she died.  

 

At the end of the long day we had an agreement.  The attorneys had written down the bullet points and all had signed off on those, and Joe and I shook hands.  There was one minor legal point the attorneys were not agreeing on because Joe's counsel was insisting on a nonstandard way that should be done, but had push come to shove we could have lived with it.  The next step was for our attorney to draft the full agreement based on the term sheet, and she and Joe's attorney to go back and forth as needed over the language.  We drafted it, sent it, and heard nothing back from Joe's attorney day after day.  So the Mediator, who was very good, organized the phone call 10 days later to find out the status and resolve any issues.  The mediator expected we were on track, which was reasonable.

 

Then the phone call (11/12/2015).  Joe's main motivation for being willing to mediate and reach an agreement was he was having trouble paying attorneys to continue the litigation.  Clearly, Lowe told him not to honor the agreement, that Lowe would pay the legal fees.  I think on the tape Joe says "I'm sitting next to a wallet" or something like that.   Joe basically reneged on the agreement.  The mediator was furious and later told Lowe's attorneys they were never to bring a matter before him for mediation again.  

 

The statements on the recording about not being able to survive financially without cub petting are nonsense. If 98% of zoos can do fine without cub petting, Joe could have.  Or the zoo could have, if run by someone competent instead of Joe.  As for not affording the $5000/month, he could afford that if he were not paying thousands to have Danny and Vince do his stupid songs, and paying Hollywood magazine to put him on the cover, and buying cars and toys for Travis, etc.

 

There were Facebook posts about Joe meeting Lowe before this.  But I think it is correct to say Lowe's first appearance relative to us and the lawsuits was at this conference call that was follow up to the mediation.  The concessions were made at the mediation 10 days earlier.  Probably every sentence Joe said during the recorded call was false.  So, perhaps something like:

 

Lowe first appeared during a conference held ten days after a 12 hour mediation during which Howard made numerous concessions, including agreeing to modest monthly payments, in order to successfully reach an agreement on terms with Joe that was initialed by the parties and their counsel.

 

Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles