In perhaps a gingerly manner, the Boston Globe profiles Howard M. Cooper, who has established a busy niche as the go-to lawyer for judges who want to sue news outlets for alleged defamation, after getting good results for Judge Ernest Murphy.
Posts Tagged ‘libel slander and defamation’
“Venting Online, Consumers Can Find Themselves in Court”
The Times’s Dan Frosch takes note of litigation aimed at silencing online critics, including the much-discussed T&J Towing and Route 6 Hyundai cases.
May 18 roundup
- Upside-down logic of Supreme Court’s Comstock, Graham cases: imprison youthful offenders for life only if they haven’t had protections of formal trial [Popehat, Pilon, Shapiro, Volokh, Pattis] Kennedy returns to use of international “consensus” as guide in constitutional interpretation [Shapiro, Bader]
- Connecticut AG Richard Blumenthal, noted scourge of misleading ad promotion (as in the Sony ghost blurber case), falsely claimed Vietnam service [Raymond Hernandez, NY Times] Cf. the curious “Harvard swim captain” claims investigated by Chris Fountain. More: AllahPundit.
- Louisiana politico Theriot: my suit against online critics is meant not to shut anyone up but to pick up useful tips on governance [Times-Picayune, Jefferson Report, Volokh, NY Times]
- South Carolina juries not allowed to hear evidence about seat belt use in car crashes [Pero]
- More links on “Lady KaGa” Supreme Court nomination [Cato at Liberty, Ted at PoL]
- Risk of “minor” injuries may result in end to Naval Academy tradition of stunt climb [John J. Miller, NRO]
- “Art of the Steal,” documentary on epic battle over donor intent in case of suburban Philadelphia Barnes collection [Kauffmann/TNR, L.A. Times, CultureGrrl/ArtsJournal]
- “Why Good Intentions are Often Not Enough: The Potential for Ethical Blindness in Legal Decision-Making” [Kath Hall (Australian National University), SSRN via Andrew Perlman, Legal Ethics Forum]
“California Court Rejects Santa Barbara Beach Club’s Attempts to Suppress Criticism”
Free speech wins one in a neighborhood dispute. [Eugene Volokh]
Update: “CEO Arrested For Fraud A Week After Suing Short-Seller”
Funny how that happens [Business Insider, Chris Fountain]
“Judge tosses ‘mother-in-lawsuit’ vs. comedian”
“Sunda Croonquist, whose shtick for years has been to describe her life as a half-black, half-Swedish woman who marries into a Jewish family, was sued two years ago after her mother-in-law, sister-in-law and brother-in-law said her jokes were holding them up to public ridicule.” A federal judge in New Jersey, however, has now ruled that the comedy routines were not actionable: many were opinion, not susceptible to being taken literally or otherwise protected under the First Amendment. [AP/MSNBC, earlier] More: Tim Cavanaugh, Reason “Hit and Run”.
Blawg Review #262
This week the traveling roundup of law-related posts is hosted by a nonlawyer — one who got sued over his blogging — in celebration of World Press Freedom Day. [Public Intellectual via Popehat; earlier coverage of the case]
Two bad tastes, awful together
U.K. libel tourism and blasphemy law, that is: “Up to 95,000 descendants of the prophet Muhammad are planning to bring a libel action in Britain over ‘blasphemous’ cartoons of the founder of Islam, even though they were published in the Danish press.” [Times Online via Andrew Stuttaford, Secular Right]
“Climate Scientist, Heated Up Over Satirical Video, Threatens Lawsuit”
The Penn State professor is steamed about being made fun of in the video “Hide the Decline.” [Ed Barnes, FoxNews.com]
Criminal libel charge over academic book review, cont’d
More on the Karin Calvo-Goller/Joseph Weiler criminal libel case in France, in a Chronicle of Higher Education link that will remain free only briefly. Earlier here.