In 1980, acting as "Lewis Brandon" and on behalf of the IHR, McCalden offered a $50,000 reward for proof that Jews were gassed to death in the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. After McCalden declined an acceptance by Auschwitz survivor Mel Mermelstein, a lawsuit was filed by public interest attorney William John Cox. In October 1981, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled that "this court does take judicial notice of the fact that Jews were gassed to death at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland during the summer of 1944." The judge went on to say, "It is simply a fact." McCalden and Carto had a falling out over the case, and in 1981 McCalden left the IHR.