- “Stamp Out Online Misogyny?” [Wendy Kaminer, Brendan O’Neill]
- Jacob Mchangama of Danish think tank CEPOS on blasphemy laws and Islam-critical speech [Nov. 4 FedSoc., PDF]
- Niall Ferguson to sue LRB scribe? “If he won’t apologise for calling me a racist, I will persecute him until he does” [Guardian; more, Atlantic Wire] New York judge quashes subpoena seeking to identify anonymous bloggers in rabbi-defamation suit [Paul Alan Levy]
- “If bullying has gone down, how can it be a pandemic?” By broadening its definition to include such behaviors as “eye-rolling” and pointed non-invitation [Hans Bader/Examiner, Neal McCluskey/Cato]
- “I strongly recommend an umbrella policy for all bloggers. Defending myself cost nearly $100,000, thankfully paid by insurance.” [@DianaHsieh]
- Federal crime under CFAA to lie on the internet? [Kerr, more, yet more, Balko]
- “Will Canada Repeal its Hate Speech Law?” [Peter Worthington, Frum Forum]
Posts Tagged ‘libel slander and defamation’
Update: ousted Congressman sues opponents for “loss of livelihood”
Updating our story of last December: A federal judge has given the go-ahead to former Rep. Steve Dreihaus’s suit against the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List for allegedly falsely characterizing his stands on issues during last year’s race, thus causing him to lose. Earlier, Driehaus had filed a complaint against the Anthony List under Ohio’s remarkable False Statements Law, “which criminalizes lying about public officials” and has been assailed by the ACLU among other groups as inconsistent with the First Amendment. [Seth McKelvey, Reason; Peter Roff, U.S. News]
“Supreme Court of Canada Stands Up for the Internet: No Liability for Linking”
Sighs of relief after a decision in a defamation case (Crooks v. Newton) reported on earlier. [Michael Geist] Justice Abella:
I would conclude that a hyperlink, by itself, should never be seen as “publication” of the content to which it refers.
Adventurous litigants in U.S. defamation cases have occasionally argued otherwise. On Canada, see also proposals to criminalize links to so-called hate speech.
“It’s sad that we can’t…report on experiences freely”
Reader Helene G. writes: “I recently joined our local mother’s club, and I received this message. It’s sad that we can’t use the mother’s club forum to report on experiences freely, without risk of being sued”
“Our forums are a great help to many in our moms community. However, we have a very specific guideline relating to negative comments about an individual, company or indeed health clubs.
Specifically, if you’ve had a negative experience with a vendor or individual, you need to use this format below. NO MATTER HOW BAD THE EXPERIENCE.
——-
Message Title: Negative Experience atMessage: I had a negative experience with
. If you are thinking of hiring/using this vendor, please contact me.
——-I’m sorry that in some instances we cannot have more relaxed guidelines, but we have to protect our group. Thanks for understanding.”
(& welcome Elie Mystal/Above the Law readers)
September 14 roundup
- Large newspaper group drops RightHaven; “it was a dumb idea” [Kravets/Wired, more] Courtroom reverses for copyright aggregator assume a comic tone [BoingBoing, Slashdot, Corporate Counsel]
- Dan Snyder drops suit against Washington City Paper [WCP, Wolfman/CL&P, Adler, earlier here, here, etc.] More reactions to TSAer’s lawsuit threat against columnist/blogger Amy Alkon [Treacher, Balko, Bader]
- Jury declines to credit testimony about when victim took Children’s Motrin [Beck]
- Mississippi high court strikes down widely noted $7 million lead paint verdict in Sherwin-Williams vs. Gaines [AP, Freeland, LNL, opinion]
- “Is suing the bar a new drunk driving trend?” [NJLRA]
- Decline of chemistry sets tells a story of fear and liability [John Browning, SETR, earlier]
- “Expectedly pleasing,” that’s me [Katherine Mangu-Ward, Reason]
Donald Trump, bully-ionaire
An appeals court has upheld the dismissal of Donald Trump’s long-running defamation suit against author Timothy O’Brien, whose 2005 book, citing anonymous sources, had “reported the real estate maven/TV personality’s net worth was only a fraction of public claims.” [WSJ Deal Journal; earlier here]
September 7 roundup
- Truth through intimidation? U.K.: “Chronic fatigue syndrome researchers face death threats from militants” [Guardian] Nanotechnologists are target of Unabomber copycat [Chronicle of Higher Education]
- Blogger (and frequent Overlawyered commenter) Amy Alkon criticizes intrusive TSA agent by name, agent threatens $500K libel suit [Mike Masnick/TechDirt, Mark Bennett]
- NYT fans “pill mill” hysteria, heedless of the costs [Sullum]
- Patent litigant “pursued baseless infringement allegations in bad faith and for an improper purpose.” More loser-pays, please [NLJ, PoL]
- Great moments in link solicitation [Scott Greenfield] Quality bar at feminist lawprof blog may not be set terribly high [Popehat]
- “Wow, this photo got over 475 views from being reposted on Overlawyered” [Erik Magraken]
- “Popular Comic Strip Has Fun With Wacky Warnings” [Bob Dorigo Jones]
Sued over harsh review of day-care center
“I felt I had a right to say it because it was a review,” said Erinn Richard. How wrong she was! The school has filed at least two other suits against persons who have criticized it online. [Cincinnati Enquirer via Gillespie]
“$60,000 Damages for Blogging the Truth About Someone, Intending to Get the Person Fired”
Eugene Volokh predicts that a Minnesota jury’s award will not stand; not only are people “constitutionally entitled to speak the truth about others, even with the goal of trying to get them fired,” but the “First Amendment constrains the interference with business relations tort, just as it constrains the infliction of emotional distress and other torts.” [Volokh Conspiracy]
September 1 roundup
- “Massage Parlor Mistrial Declared After Masseuse Recognizes Defense Lawyer as Client” [ABA Journal]
- Paying opposing expert to leave country? “Drug company lawyer taped trying to foil lawsuit” [AP]
- What anti-business crusades have in common with the War on Drugs [David Henderson] Some of those “oil and gas subsidies” aren’t [Coyote]
- Nocera on NLRB v. Boeing [NYT] A contrary view [Hirsch]
- Science finds no link between WTC dust, cancer? Then science will just have to give [Jeff Stier, Reason; but see later study on firefighters at the scene]
- Per Maureen Orth at Vanity Fair, the widow of designer Oleg Cassini has been in at least 15 lawsuits. Guess who’s named in number 16? [AW]
- Stop competing with us! Lawyers claim online-legal-form provider LegalZoom is engaged in unauthorized practice of law [WSJ, Dan Fisher, ABA Journal]