‘Hurt Locker’ producers cite First Amendments protections in dispute with Iraq war vet

Producers of the Oscar winning “The Hurt Locker” have filed a motion to dismiss a suit brought by an Iraq war veteran who said the filmmakers ripped off his life story. -db

Yahoo!News
June 15, 2010
By Eriq Gardner, Reuters
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Producers of “The Hurt Locker” are firing back against the Iraq War veteran [...]

California court rules suit over attorney’s rule violation a SLAPP

A California appeals court ruled that even though an attorney erred in failing to omit identifiers in a court filing of a credit report, the filing was not of a certain type of criminal activity cited in a previous case and therefore was protected activity. -db

Metropolitan News-Enterprise
June 11, 2010
By Steven M. Ellis
An action against [...]

Attorney allowed to sue over allegedly defamatory anonymous messages on Craigslist

A California district Court of Appeal ruled that a Woodland Hills attorney could sue an anonymous poster for accusing him of committing illegal acts. The court said the posts were neither political speech nor in the public interest and did not qualify for protection under the state’s anti-SLAPP law. -db

Metropolitan News-Enterprise
June 1, 2010
By Steven M. [...]

Southern California: Appeals court rules against student for Web site hate speech

A California private school student lost an appeal of a decision against him for death threats he sent to a classmate on the classmate’s Web site. The court said the speech was not protected under the First Amendment since it conveyed serious expression to inflict bodily harm. -db

Courthouse News Service
March 17, 2010
By Avery Fellow

(CN) – A [...]

Time has come for a federal anti-SLAPP law

A lawyer who earns considerable income from defending citizens from Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) says it is time to back a democratic congressman’s bill for a federal anti-SLAPP law to protect citizens’ free speech rights. -db
Citizen Media Law Project
Opinion
March 4, 2010
By Marc J. Randazza

Congressman Steve Cohen, D-TN is our First Amendment Bad Ass of [...]

Massachusetts Supreme Court rules that the state’s anti-SLAPP law does not protect journalists

An ACLU lawyer argues that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court erred in ruling that journalists are not protected by the state’s anti-SLAPP law owing to their role in reporting objectively.  The ruling ignores the role of the reporter in petitioning on behalf of the community. -db
Media Nation
Opinion
February 1, 2010
By Sarah Wunsch

Despite our amicus brief [...]

Rolling Stone Magazine wins ruling in dispute over use of image

A California appeals court dismissed a lawsuit by rock musicians against Rolling Stone over a use of their image that they said implied they sponsored a cigarette brand. The court found that the image was noncommercial speech protected by the First Amendment. -db
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
January 29, 2010
By Cristina Abello
A California [...]

Baseless threats still pose threat to free speech

Attorney Eric Puryear writes that when he posted comments about a case of legal armed self defense in Florida, he received threats from who he guessed was a relative of the person shot dead when committing burglary. The relative made legal threats that Puryear says could have a chilling effect on the speech of non-lawyers. [...]

Court rules anti-SLAPP law not a defense for law firm sued for malpractice

A California appeals court ruled that a law firm could not defend itself in a malpractice suit citing California’s anti-SLAPP laws since the client’s focus was on their attorney’s quality of performance rather than their speech and petitioning activities. -DB

Metropolitan News-Enterprise
December 3, 2009
By Kenneth Ofgang
The anti-SLAPP statute does not protect a law firm from being [...]

Anti-SLAPP law used against citizens legislature intended to protect

The Redding Record Searchlight says that when Shasta County uses an anti-SLAPP law to sue a citizen seeking redress of grievance, it constitutes a regrettable development for a law intended to protect the right of citizens to speak out on controversial issues. -DB

The Redding Record Searchlight
Opinion
October 5, 2009
Leave it to the lawyers.
In 1992, the state passed [...]

Nonprofits step up in fight against use of lawsuits to stifle free speech

OMB Watch writes that nonprofit organizations have made strong contributions recently in curbing meritless lawsuits to silence and punish people entering the public arena. A congressional representative is planning to introduce anti-SLAPP legislation soon. -DB
OMB Watch
September 29, 2009
Nonprofit organizations have recently been active in efforts to prevent the use of lawsuits designed to discourage public participation. [...]

California Supreme Court upholds SLAPP ruling in case against Fox News

The Supreme Court upheld the dismissal of a suit brought by day laborers finding that they were not defamed in a Fox News story. -DB
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
August 27, 2009
A Fourth District Court of Appeal ruling upholding the dismissal of a suit charging Fox News Network with defaming immigrant day laborers in a story about a fight they [...]

SLAPP case: Firm brings more notoriety to itself by appealing suit

A management firm who lost a case against a griper defending himself refuses to let the matter die, appealing the case to the Ninth Circuit. -DB
Techdirt
Commentary
August 24, 2009
By Michael Masnick
from the bad-idea dept
Remember that discussion a few months ago about how most lawyers apparently understood the Streisand Effect, and knew better than to file bogus [...]

California governor signs bill protecting citizens seeking open government

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger singed a bill limiting the ability of state and local public agencies to collect attorney’s fees under the anti-SLAPP law. -DB
California Newspaper Publishers Association
August 7, 2009
A barrier to citizen enforcement of the state’s public records and open meeting laws was eliminated yesterday when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SB 786 by Sen. LelandYee (D-San [...]