I was traveling last week and missed the brouhaha over sexual harassment allegations against TV host Bill O’Reilly, precipitated by his pre-emptive lawsuit charging that the demands of accuser Andrea Machris and attorney Benedict P. Morelli amounted to extortion. The controversy has been covered well by others, however, including Jim Lindgren and Eugene Volokh at Volokh Conspiracy, Oct. 13, who discuss the fine line between extortion and “normal” litigation behavior with reference to the example of the Cosby case; William Dyer (“Beldar”, Oct. 13 and Oct. 16), who is critical of the O’Reilly camp’s strike-first legal approach, and much else besides; and Jacob Sullum at Reason “Hit and Run” (Oct. 15), who writes from a standpoint opposed to harassment law in the first place. Attorney Morelli was last seen in these columns Nov. 23, 2003, regarding his representation of Wall Street complainant Christian Curry in another sensational case. More: Radley Balko also comments. Update Oct. 29: case settles.

Filed under: harassment law