Facebook threatens to sue British newspaper over false claim about sex and teen-age girls

Facebook is concerned that its reputation was permanently damaged by a claim in the Daily Mail that seconds after 14-year-old girls posted a profile on Facebook that older men could approach them “who wanted to perform a sex act” in front of them. Daily Mail apologized for the error. -db
Guardian
March 11, 2010
By Charles Arthur
Facebook has [...]

Los Angeles: Employee union accuses district attorney of libel

The Association of Deputy District Attorneys accused the Los Angeles district attorney of committing libel in a newsletter that criticized the association. The accusation is part of an ongoing dispute over the district attorney’s alleged union-busting tactics. -db

Metropolitan News-Enterprise
March 10, 2010
By Sherri M. Okamoto
The Association of Deputy District Attorneys yesterday sent a missive to its [...]

Former teacher sues D.C. mayor and the public school chancellor for defamation

After the Washington D.C. public schools chancellor said to the media that she got rid of teachers who hit students and had sex with children in reducing the teaching force, she was sued by a teacher who claimed those statements defamed him. -db

Courthouse News Service
March 8, 2010
By Ryan Abbott
WASHINGTON, D.C. (CN) – A teacher says [...]

Man forwarding alleged defamatory e-mail not liable

A California state appeals judge ruled that a man forwarding an e-mail about a Vietnam War veteran could not be charged with defamation. -db
Courthouse News Service
March 1, 2010
By Avery Fellow

(CN) – A man who forwarded an allegedly defamatory email about a Vietnam War veteran can’t be held liable for defamation, a California appeals court ruled.
“If [...]

British lawmakers urge laws curtailing libel tourism

A British parliament committee said it is time to change the country’s liberal libel laws to discourage citizens of other countries from bringing libel suits in British courts. The committee said changes are needed to eliminate the chilling effect of libel cases on free speech. -db

Telegraph.co.uk
February 24, 2010
By Gordon Rayner
Britain’s defamation laws must be urgently [...]

Federal judge refuses to dismiss defamation claim against Dallas radio host

A U.S. district judge refused to dismiss an airport security guard’s defamation suit filed after radio personality Rickey Smiley called him “gay” on his radio show. -db

Courthouse News Service
February 22, 2010
By Leigh Sanders

DALLAS (CN) – Comedian and radio host Rickey Smiley may have defamed an airport security guard by calling him gay on “The Rickey [...]

Hurricane expert claims he was fired for criticizing Corps of Engineer’s work on New Orleans levees

A hurricane expert says he was fired by Lousiana State University because the university feared losing federal funding for the expert’s criticism of the Army Corps of Engineers mistakes that caused breaks during Hurricane Katrina in the levees protecting New Orleans. -db

Courthouse News Service
February 12, 2010
By Sabrina Canfield

BATON ROUGE (CN) – A hurricane expert claims [...]

Michael Jackson’s dermatologist fights anti-SLAPP to sustain defamation suit against plastic surgeon

Michael Jackson’s dermatologist is fighting an anti-SLAPP motion to keep his lawsuit going against a plastic surgeon he says defamed him for suggesting that he was instrumental in providing the medication that killed the singer. -db
The Los Angeles Wave
February 2, 2010
By Wire Services

A dermatologist who alleges a plastic surgeon defamed him by publicly implying that [...]

Best-selling author wins libel case

A federal judge in Oklahoma dismissed libel claims against author John Grisham and other writers who wrote books about the wrongful convictions of two men in a 1982 rape and murder of a cocktail waitress. The judge said the books were protected speech. -db

Courthouse News Service
February 2, 2010
By Annie Youderian
(CN) – Three public officials from [...]

Libel suit based on tweet dismissed

A Illinois state court dismissed a defamation suit against a tenant who complained by tweet to 20 of her friends that her apartment was moldy. The judge ruled that the tweet was too vague to qualify as libel. -DB

Citizen Media Law Project
Commentary
January 21, 2010
By Sam Bayard

Andrew Wang of Chicago Breaking News reports that an Illinois [...]

EFF: Court order to shut down websites sets dangerous precedent

The Electronic Frontier Foundation argues that when a New Jersey court shut down three websites allegedly running defamatory messages, it  disregarded federal law and ignored the First Amendment. -DB

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Legal Analysis
January 7, 2010
By Kurt Opsahl
Over the holidays, a New Jersey court issued an order requiring upstream providers to shut down three anti-H1-B websites [...]

Diet doctor sues Kim Kardashian over alleged libelous twitters

Observers think that Dr. Sanford Siegal has a weak case in his libel suit against celebrity Kim Kardashian. Siegal created the “Cookie Diet” and subsequently posted that Kim Kardashian had lost weight using the cookie diet. Siegel sued over Kardashian’s tweets that stated it was false that she was on the cookie diet and that [...]

Canadian Supreme Court creates new defense for reporters facing libel charges

The Canadian Supreme Court made it more difficult to sue for libel last month when it made two rulings that allow reporters to cover controversial stories aggressively so long as the stories are considered worthy of public interest. -DB

The Canadian Press
December 22, 2009
By Mike Blanchfield
OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada offered journalists and [...]

Libelous online content not easy to remove

Even though a court found that online statements were false and defamatory, the targets of the statements, an Illinois couple and their daughter, were unable to get them removed as the authors refused a request to do so and the online site running the statements refused as well, saying they were not a party to [...]

Another court decision in favor of online site in defamation case

A federal appeals court has ruled that the site ConsumerAffairs.com is immune from liability for alleged libel posted on its site by third parties. -DB
Online Media Daily
December 30, 2009
By Wendy Davis

A federal appellate court has backed gripe site ConsumerAffairs.com in a defamation lawsuit filed by a car dealers. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled [...]

Women’s group sues Google for bloggers’ defamation

The National Association of Professional Women is suing Google and three other Web sites for publishing bloggers’ statements that say the organization is a scam. -DB

Courthouse News Service
December 31, 2009
By Barbara Leonard

MINEOLA, N.Y. – The National Association of Professional Women claims Google and three other Web sites defamed it by allowing bloggers to publish defamatory [...]

Butler University attempts to discipline blogger for criticizing administration

Facing a libel suit brought by Butler University, a student revealed his identity, but the university still wants to discipline him for criticizing the university administration’s firing of the Music department chair who is also the student’s stepmother. -DB
Tufts Daily
Commentary
December 9, 2009
By Carter Rogers
Criticizing the actions of their college or university’s administration has been a [...]

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. [...]

West Bank man sues for movie’s portrayal of him as a terrorist

A man living near Bethlehem who says he is peace-loving, belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church and has suffered substantial losses owing to a depiction of him as a terrorist in the 2009 movie “Bruno,” is suing for $10 million. -DB

Courthouse News Service
December 9, 2009
By Nick Divito
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A West Bank man wants [...]

Movie star must show allegations of homosexuality actionable defamation

Movie star Ron Livingston will have no slam dunk in his defamation suit against an anonymous Internet user who falsely claimed Livingston was romantically involved with a man. CMLP’s Sam Bayard says there is no firm legal precedent supporting Livingston’s lawsuit. -DB
Citizens Media Law Project
Analysis
December 9, 2009
By Sam Bayard

Maybe I’m a big dork, but I think [...]

Film star brings suit on information on Wikipedia suggesting the actor is gay

Ron Livingston is suing an anonymous person who he says put up information on Wikipedia that claims Livingston has been dating a man. -DB

NBC Chicago
December 7, 2009

Actor Ron Livingston is suing an alleged Wikipedia hacker who reportedly posted information suggesting the actor was gay on his online bio page, according to TMZ.
Livingston, whose most notable [...]

Federal judge in Arkansas dismisses defamation suit against Dixie Chicks

A federal district court dismissed a defamation suit against the Dixie Chicks over a letter on their website that asked for support for the “West Memphis Three”, then teenagers, convicted of murdering three eight-year-old boys in 1993. Two HBO documentaries cast doubt on the guilt of the teenagers. -DB

Citizen Media Law Project
Opinion
December 2, 2009
By Sam [...]

Online debate between candidate’s son and unidentified writer provokes another dispute over anonymous speech

Citizen Media Law Project blogger Marc Randazza says that although a comment made by an adult to a teen-ager in an online debate was malicious and juvenile, it was not defamatory and should enjoy First Amendment  protection given court decisions on the right to speak anonymously. -DB

To read Marc’s full comment, go here:

Citizen Media Law Project

First Amendment panel finds promise, pitfalls in social media

By Donal Brown
The panel on journalists and social media at the First Amendment Coatition Assembly offered wise advice and a few emphatic warnings, chief among them: everything a journalist puts up on Twitter or Facebook or other social media is public.
Speaking at the assembly October 24 in Los Angeles on the panel entitled “Twitter with [...]

State supreme court rejects ‘ownership’ argument in dismissing defamation claim against Facebook

The New York Supreme Court ruled for Facebook in a suit brought by a student against former high school classmates and their parents after the classmates  had posted on Facebook alleged false and defamatory statements about her. The court held that Facebook was protected under the Communications Decency Act, did not own the defamatory content [...]

Jury reinforces tenant that truth is defense in libel cases

In a closely watched trial, a Massachusetts jury found that a truthful mass e-mail criticizing an office supply company employee is not libelous because it was not sent with actual malice. A federal appeals court had found that the truth can be libelous. -DB

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
October 13, 2009
By Cristina Abello
A [...]

Glen Beck’s suit claiming unfair use of a trademarked name garners stiff response

Conservative commentator Glen Beck ferreted out the identity of an anonymous person behind a site that satirized Beck’s rhetorical style for the purpose of filing a suit against the man. The man, Isaac Eiland-Hall, claims that site poses no real threat to Beck’s livelihood but that Beck is filing the suit to shut down protected expression [...]

University of Colorado denies football press passes to websites that post anonymous comments

INDenver Times no longer runs comments on football stories in their online edition in response to University of Colorado’s policy to refuse press passes to websites who allow pseudonymous posts or anonymous comments. The university is concerned about defamatory and irresponsible comments about players and coaches. -DB
Denver Westword
Denver New Blog
September 25, 2009
By Michael Roberts
A sharp-eyed reader [...]

Environmental reporters in Egypt and China face devastating reprisals

It is not an easy life reporting about the environment in Egypt and China as the reporters face fines, law suits, censorship, death threats and prison. -DB
MediaShift
September 14, 2009
By Clothilde Le Coz
Since May 2009, Tamer Mabrouk has held one of the saddest records regarding human rights abuses in Egypt. He is the first blogger to [...]

California case: Middle way may create burdens for those trying to unmask anonymous commenters

The Assistant Director of the Citizen Media Law Project writes that it’s difficult to decide whether a judge’s creative solution in a case involving anonymous commenters is praiseworthy and likens the ruling to Solomon’s “splitting the baby.” -DB
Citizen Media Law Project
Analysis
September 16, 2009
By Sam Bayard
It’s amazing how many times you can hear a phrase [...]

UC Davis case: Judge suggests avenue to determine identity of anonymous bloggers

Although a Sacramento judge ruled substantially in favor of a blog operator who was trying to keep secret the identities of his bloggers, she also said the plaintiff in the case could hire someone to conduct a search for the identities. -DB
The Sacramento Bee
September 14, 2009
By Hudson Sangree
Those anonymous comments you’ve been posting online might [...]

Cash4Gold sues whistleblower

Cash4Gold customer complaints are proliferating on the internet as the company sues on of their former employees for publishing proprietary and defamatory information on the internet. -DB
Citizen Media Law Project
Commentary
September 1, 2009
By Kimberley Isbell
If you’ve spent any time in front of a television screen during the last year, you’ve seen the ads. Even Ed McMahon and [...]

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 [...]

Don’t ban anonymity urges one legal expert

While siding with Google against the blogger who defamed the model by calling her a “skank”, a First Amendment advocate argues that it is important to protect anonymity of some contemptible speakers to safeguard the freedom of others such as whistleblowers and dissenters in totalitarian regimes to remain anonymous. -DB
Citizen Media Law Project
Commentary
August 26, 2009
By Dan [...]

Blogger of venomous insults sues Google for outing her

Legal experts think that a fashion student’s suit against Google has little chance of success. She had anonymously called a model a “shank” and was subsequently identified by Google. -DB
San Francisco Chronicle
August 28, 2009
By James Temple
The blogger who anonymously tarred a fashion model as a “skank” before being outed by Google Inc. under court order [...]

Mother-in-law jokes get comedian in legal stew

A comedian who traffics in mother-in-law jokes may be on the right side of the First Amendment, but that may be little comfort as her mother-in-law sues her for defamation. -DB
Los Angeles Times
August 25, 2009
By John Rogers
LOS ANGELES (AP) – “Take my mother-in-law — please,” isn’t a joke you’re likely to hear often these days [...]

District of Columbia sets bar higher for revealing anonymity of Internet commentators

The District of Columbia high court established new strict guidelines for plaintiffs seeking the identify of online commentators. -DB
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
August 14, 2009
By Rory Eastburg
The District of Columbia’s highest court Thursday announced a demanding new standard that plaintiffs must meet before they can obtain the names of anonymous Internet commenters.
According to the [...]

California buy-out firm chills First Amendment

When the San Diego Reader asked Platinum Equity – who recently purchased another newspaper in town, the San Diego Union-Tribune – the nature of the dismissal of a case of sexual harassment brought by two former employees of Platinum, the firm sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Reader, warning them not to publish the letter [...]