Federal judge dismisses ‘cyber libel’ suit

A federal district court judge ruled that the federal Communications Decency Act protected a news station from charges of libel after it allowed readers to post comments about a news anchor’s arrest for cocaine possession. A grand jury subsequently voted not to indict her. -db
Online Media Daily
September 1, 2010
By Wendy Davis
A federal court [...]

Florida: Losing politician sues newspapers for libel

After losing a hotly contested battle in the Democratic primary election for the U.S. Senate, a Florida businessman is preparing a lawsuit against the St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald charging they libeled him in reporting his business activities which cost him the election.  -db
The New York Times
August 31, 2010
By Jeremy W. Peters [...]

Lawyer wins bid to depose ‘Law & Order’ producers in libel suit

Attorney Ravi Batra can question “Law & Order” producer Dick Wolf in connection with a $15 million libel action the lawyer filed in 2004 against 35 defendants, including Wolf and NBC Universal, a New York judge has ruled.
The New York Law Journal
September 1, 2010
By Noeleen G. Walder
The suit centers around a “Law [...]

NFL cheerleader wins $11 million libel suit

A gossip website has been hit with an $11 million judgment for libel and slander after posting false accusations about a northern Kentucky teacher who sidelines as a Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader.

August 26, 2010
By The Associated Press  LOUISVILLE, Ky. —The judgment against Dirty World Entertainment Recordings, which [...]

San Bernardino: Wife of ex-sheriff ruled a private citizen in libel suit

In a multimillion-dollar libel suit against Valley Wide Newspapers, the  plaintiff,the wife of a former sheriff won a ruling that she was not a public figure, athough she had a contract with San Bernardino County to provide counseling services to sheriff’s deputies. -db
San Bernardino Sun
August 23, 2010
By Mike Cruz
A Superior Court judge ruled that the [...]

Federal appeals court tosses libel suit by cat breeders against Internet service provider

The 8th Circuit dismissed a libel suit by Cozy Kittens Cattery against an Internet service provider that ran what they said were defamatory comments about their cat breeding business. -db
Online Media Daily
August 11, 2010
By Wendy Davis
A federal appellate court has upheld a ruling dismissing a libel lawsuit by cat breeders against the Internet service [...]

Cyberbullying case gets no traction in New York state

A New York state judge has ruled that cyberbullying does not constitute defamation and dismissed her suit against her high school classmates who wrote scurrilous statements about her on FaceBook. -db
Cyberbullying case gets no traction in New York state
Online Media Daily
July 26, 2010
By Wendy Davis
Writing that a classmate contracted a sexually transmitted disease and morphed [...]

California appeals court overturns defamation award against labor union

The Third District Court of Appeal ruled that a Superior Court judge erred in failing to apply the actual malice standard when it awarded Sutter Health a $17 million judgment against a labor union. db
California appeals court overturns defamation award against labor union
http://www.metnews.com/
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
July 22, 2010
By Kenneth Ofgang
The U.S. Supreme Court’s “actual malice” standard applies [...]

Elena Kagan on the First Amendment: Evidence from Her Confirmation Hearings

U.S. Solicitor General and Supreme Court Justice nominee Elena Kagan on First Amendment, cameras at the Supreme Court, campaign finance restrictions, libel and antitrust rulings. -SMD
Find Law: First Amendment
Commentary
July 6, 2010
By  Julie Hilden
During last week’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings, U.S. Solicitor General and nominee Elena Kagan made a number of comments relating to the [...]

Tech blogger says premature to announce death of libel

With a dearth of libel suits against leading news outlets, some say libel is dying now that multiple platforms exist for stating a case. But TechDirt’s Mike Masnick says that libel suits are alive and well directed at online suits to coerce deletion of comments. -db

TechDirt
Opinion
June 18, 2010
By Mike Masnick
A few folks have sent over [...]

Online news provider settles libel suit with motorcycle manufacturer

Calling a libel suit “trival”, Gawker Media agreed to a settlement with Confederate Motors wherein Jalopnik deleted a post saying Confederate faced so many lawsuits it couldn’t conduct business in New York.-db

Online Media Daily
June 16, 2010
By Wendy Davis

Gawker Media has settled a libel lawsuit filed against Jalopnik by deleting a post alleging that Confederate Motors [...]

First Amendment: Federal judge protects anonymity of online critic of Pennsylvania corporation

A federal judge not only scuttled a subpoena to out an online critic of USA Technologies but also ruled that the critic’s charge that the company’s pay packages were “legalized highway robbery” was protected  speech under the First Amendment. -db

Electronic Freedom Foundation
Press Release
May 19, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO – A federal judge in San Francisco has quashed [...]

Federal law protects newspapers from liability for online comments posted by third parties

Although federal law protects newspapers and other interactive service providers from libel charges, many newspapers are devising policies to mitigate third party vitriol, profanity and defamation while considering whether to allow anonymous comment. -db

MediaShift
May 12, 2010
By Jeffrey D. Neuburger
A desperate, weeks-long search in 2007 for missing Purdue University student Wade Steffey yielded a number of [...]

New York Times settles defamation claim in Singapore

The New York Times Company settled a claim brought by leaders in the Singapore government apologizing and paying over $100,000 to the leaders. Singapore leaders have a history of bringing defamation claims for statements that would be considered protected under the First Amendment in the United States. -db
The New York Times
March 24, 2010
By Richard Pérez-Peña [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

California state Court of Appeal revives attorney’s libel suit against employer

The First District Court of Appeal revived a San Rafael attorney’s suit against her law firm charging that an e-mail sent to the entire staff libeled her. -DB

Metropolitan News-Enterprise
January 14, 2010
By Sherri M. Okamoto
The First District Court of Appeal yesterday revived a San Rafael attorney’s libel action against her former law firm based on an [...]

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 [...]

England considering changes in libel laws

British lawmakers are conducting hearings and proposing legislation concerning their libel laws considered  to strongly favor those bringing defamation suits and consequently hazardous to free speech. -DB
The New York Times
December 11, 2009
By Sarah Lyall

LONDON — England has long been a mecca for aggrieved people from around the world who want to sue for libel. Russian oligarchs, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]