Heaney v. Government of Spain and Adolpho Gomero

FRIENDLY, Chief Judge: James C. Heaney, a lawyer, brought this action in the District Court for the Western District of New York against the Government of Spain and its consular representative Adolpho Gomero. The complaint alleged that in 1968, having learned that Mr. Heaney had initiated civil rights litigation on behalf of residents of Northern Ireland against the British Government before the Human Rights Commission of the Council of Europe, the defendants contacted him through their agents while Heaney was visiting Northern Ireland. After Heaney returned to New York, he was allegedly advised by the defendants that the British Government had violated Spain's sovereign rights in Gibraltar and that the defendants ""wished to assist him in his various efforts to publicize, on a world wide basis, in the United Nations, in the Council of Europe, in the American Congress and in other governmental agencies, the British suppression of civil rights in Northern Ireland and the lack of free elections in that area"" since this ""would be of benefit to the defendants and would help them to bring about the expulsion of the British government in Gibraltar.""