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Times Union

By Alan Wechsler, Times Union, Albany, N.Y.

Sep. 27--ALBANY -- A year after health-book author Kevin Trudeau filed a lawsuit against the state Consumer Protection Board, pretrial letters give a clear indication of where the case is going.

And how slowly.

Trudeau is the author of the book "Natural Cures 'They' Don't Want You to Know About," which he sells via half-hour infomercials broadcast nationally. A year ago, he filed suit after the state Consumer Protection Board wrote to television stations around the state suggesting the stations pull the ad or run a disclaimer against it.

The state attorney general, representing the board, has said Trudeau has failed to provide any documents that would show how he's lost any money as a result of the state's action. Meanwhile, the Trudeau camp says the state is going after the writer's personal beliefs when, they say, the case has nothing to do with that.

The state's position is that the $30 book makes health claims that have no medical value. Trudeau got a court order to block the state's letters, but the order was made too late to prevent the state's mailing.

Trudeau sued after 10 stations pulled the ad. He's claiming $30 million in damages to sales and character.

In a letter written March 29 but only added to court records in late July, Assistant Attorney General Bridget Holohan says Trudeau has failed to provide necessary data that show sales figures.

She also wants to include information that was generated during a separate lawsuit that Trudeau filed against a company that ranks the success of infomercials. In that lawsuit, Trudeau accused the company of ranking his commercials lower than they should have been, hurting sales, Holohan says.

Since that suit takes place during the same period, Holohan says, the state had the right to determine whether there were other factors that could have hurt book sales besides the pulling of infomercials.

The state also is seeking all correspondence between Trudeau and any agents or other parties discussing sales from 2000 to the present. Trudeau's lawyer, Daniel Hurtado, called the request over-broad.

At the same time, however, Trudeau's side has been reluctant to submit studies that could prove -- or disprove -- how effective his remedies really are, according to Holohan.

"Trudeau alleges defendants have defamed him, thus placing the accuracy of the infomercial into controversy," Holohan wrote. "Thus, he cannot now claim that the studies are irrelevant."

In response, Hurtado said the plaintiffs have provided plenty of sales documents. But some documents the state has asked for, such as tax statements, are more than Trudeau should have to provide, he wrote. "Mr. Trudeau is entitled not to have his personal tax returns publicized by CPB and/or the media," he wrote.

In regard to the correspondence dealing with sales figures, Hurtado said that would take hundreds of hours of sifting through thousands of documents and e-mails. However, he said he would be willing to submit all correspondence with vendors of the book.

"We are baffled by the CPB's statement that 'plaintiffs have failed to disclose a single relevant document demonstrating (their) alleged loss,'" he wrote. "Calculating these lost costs will require expert consultation to make projections based on the historical performance of the stations that terminated the infomercial."

Hurtado did not return a call Tuesday. Christine Pritchard, a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office, said that since the letters were written, the two parties had agreed on which documents and studies would be made available for the case.

The case is not expected to go to trial until February at the earliest.

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