“Red Hat Club” author loses suit over portrayal

A Hall County, Georgia jury has awarded $100,000 in damages to a woman who said that a character in the best-selling novel “The Red Hat Club” was recognizably based in part on herself, and was falsely portrayed as an “alcoholic slut.’ The lawsuit also named New York-based St. Martin’s Press (which, I should mention, is the publisher of my own book The Rule of Lawyers). [Gainesville Times, OnPoint News, decision in PDF]

More: Fulton County Daily Report (per defense counsel, jurors “were essentially instructed that, in Georgia, modeling a fictional character after a real person is a strict liability offense.”)

Filed under: Georgia, libel slander and defamation, publishers

“Insurer Must Defend ‘Douche’ Defamation Suit, Judge Says”

“Calling someone a ‘douche’ may be bad manners but it does not give an insurance company grounds to disavow a policy protecting against defamation claims, a state judge has ruled.” The owner of a public relations firm was sued by a rival after he purchased a domain containing the rival’s name and posted as content on the resulting page a picture of the sanitary product “Summer’s Eve”. [Daniel Wise, NYLJ]

Filed under: insurance, libel slander and defamation

“Judge dismisses lawsuit claiming Miley Cyrus’ pic discriminated against Asians”

“The novel legal claim was filed by Lucie J. Kim in a class action suit against the singer earlier this year that sought $4,000 in damages for each Asian and Pacific Islander living in Los Angeles County.” Kim complained that Cyrus was photographed with an Asian friend and other friends pulling back their eyelids; Cyrus apologized when the photo became public in February. Cyrus sought tens of thousands of dollars in attorneys’ fees for what she felt was a frivolous claim; the request was denied. “Henry M. Lee, Kim’s attorney, said his client is considering appealing the case.”

Filed under: California, discrimination law, libel slander and defamation, Los Angeles, loser pays, Miley Cyrus, sanctions

November 4 roundup

Four California lawyers accused in what prosecutors say is giant insurance fraud ring employing staged or “paper” car wrecks, Mark Geragos is defending [Metropolitan News-Enterprise, Glendale News-Press via ABA Journal]
“Civil Gideon law could overwhelm civil courts”, Ted is interviewed again [Legal NewsLine, earlier]
“Is that a popularly-elected state judge in your pocket?” [What About Clients?, earlier]
Audit Integrity, sued by Hertz over financial risk assessment, takes case to SEC [Felix Salmon, earlier]
OSHA nominee David Michaels, SKAPP and the right to bear arms, continued [David Kopel/America’s First Freedom, earlier and more]
NJ case raises knotty questions of press liability for reporting allegations in lawsuits [WSJ Law Blog]
Washtenaw Jail Diary, which made splash on Twitter earlier this year, now reprinting at Ann Arbor Chronicle (earlier);
“Not every country bubblewraps its kids” [Free-Range Kids on Germany] Background checks for senior-center pen pals and more school overprotectiveness [same]

Filed under: child protection, civil gideon, crash faking, David Michaels, insurance fraud, judicial elections, libel slander and defamation

“Italian politician sues 4000+ YouTube commenters”

Salvatore (“Toto”) Cuffaro, a senator from Sicily, doesn’t seem to take well to criticism. [BoingBoing]

Filed under: Italy, libel slander and defamation, online speech, YouTube

Evony suit against game blogger critic, cont’d

Patrick at Popehat does some digging, in fact quite a lot of it, about a curious suit filed in Australia. Earlier here.

Filed under: Australia, libel slander and defamation, videogames

Trademark claims to silence critics?

Boston software maker Jenzabar has already sued the makers of a Tienanmen Square documentary on defamation theories, which a court dismissed. But it’s kept the litigation going on trademark infringement theories. [Paul Levy, Consumer Law & Policy; Ron Coleman, Likelihood of Confusion; Boston Globe June report linked earlier]

Filed under: Boston, libel slander and defamation, movies film and videos, trademarks

October 15 roundup

“Jury Says No to Libel Claim Over Truthful E-Mail” [NLJ, Ardia/Citizen Media Law; high-profile First Circuit Noonan v. Staples case, earlier here and here]
Transmission of folk music is getting tangled in copyright claims [BoingBoing]
Scientific shortcut? Veterans Department will presume Parkinson’s, common heart ailment are caused by Agent Orange for GIs who set foot in Vietnam [NY Times]
Federal hate crimes bill: yes, courts will consider speech and beliefs in assessing penalties [Sullum and more, Bader]
Texas trial lawyer Mark Lanier’s famed Christmas bash will feature Bon Jovi this year [ABA Journal, background here and here]
Let’s explain our Constitution to her: U.K. cabinet minister thinks Arnie can close private website because it’s based in California and he’s governor [Lund, Prawfsblawg]
Ten best Supreme Court decisions, from a libertarian point of view? [Somin, Volokh]
Cert petition on dismissal of suit against Beretta shows Brady Center still haven’t given up on undemocratic campaign to achieve gun control through liability litigation [Public Nuisance Wire interview with Jeff Dissell, NSSF]

Filed under: California, copyright, guns, hate crimes, libel slander and defamation, Mark Lanier, music and musicians, regulation through litigation, Supreme Court, toxic torts, United Kingdom

“Defamation of the legal profession”

Following the filing of a defamation action in the Indian courts, Bollywood* producers agreed to apologize and remove scenes from a Tamil-language movie that the lawyer-plaintiffs had decried as “opprobrious visual artistic work designed against lawyers and the legal profession” [Times of India and IndiaGlitz via Stephanie West Allen, Idealawg and Robert Ambrogi, LegalBlog Watch; “Sivakasi“]

* Or in this case more accurately “Kollywood” — see comments.

Filed under: India, legal profession, libel slander and defamation, movies film and videos

October 8 roundup

Judge rules Segways not necessary to accommodation at Disney World, throws out settlement negotiated by disabled rights group [Bloomberg, WSJ Law Blog; background here and here] More: OnPoint News (disputing claims of Disney victory).
“Too Many Lawyers or Too Many Laws?” [Somin, Volokh, on Scalia; earlier]
More on the $500K award to woman who escaped first WTC bombing and broke ankle ten days later [John Hochfelder in comments]
$3 million race bias suit against Martha Stewart Living magazine seems to have followed protest over home furnishing item often described as “coolie-hat” lampshade [NY Post]
Skyboxes for the mayor and city councilors who approved the stadium — and this is ethically OK? [Coyote]
Getting kind of meta: “Lawyer Says Lawyer Defamed Him in Press Release About Defamation Suit” [NLJ]
“Free credit score” firm backs off legal effort to identify critical blogger — but who’s this they’ve identified as their foe? [Paul Levy, Consumer Law & Policy, Felix Salmon, earlier]
EEOC says Catholic college “discriminated against women by removing coverage for prescription contraceptives from [its] health insurance plan” [Gaston, N.C. Gazette via LaborProf]

Filed under: bloggers and the law, Catholic Church, disabled rights, Disney, EEOC, libel slander and defamation