The United Kingdom announced new measures to provide its courts with powers to stop wealthy individuals or large businesses, as well as Russian oligarchs, from abusing the UK legal system to silence critics.
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From Chris McGuinness at New Times:
"Was your dinner served cold or undercooked? Was the waitress rude? Did the mechanic who fixed your car overcharge you? These days, letting the whole world know about your dissatisfaction with a business is as easy as jumping on a laptop or smartphone and leaving a scathing review.
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A flooring company brought a defamation lawsuit against a Colorado couple for negative reviews they left on Yelp. The parties eventually settled the suit, but the dispute cost the defendant $65,000 in legal fees.
Read MoreIn a paradigmatic CyberSLAPP, Butler University in Indiana brought suit against an anonymous poster who had made comments about the school’s dean. The school filed a libel suit, which some commentators called “hopeless,” in January of 2009.
Read MoreIn 2009, The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M) and its co-founders Robert M. Goldman and Ronald M. Klatz sued Wikimedia Foundation and ten anonymous posters for defamation in New York state court over comments appearing on A4M’s Wikipedia page.
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In November of 2009, Miami law professor Donald Marvin Jones sued the popular website Abovethelaw.com, along with its parent company and editor David Lat, alleging $22 million in damages. Jones had been arrested on suspicion of soliciting an undercover officer for sex, and Abovethelaw commented on the arrest, calling Jones the “Nutty Professor.”
Read MoreIn Maryland in 2006, a real estate developer brought a defamation lawsuit against an internet newspaper company, Independent Newspapers, Inc. (INI), and three John Doe defendants in state court. The lawsuit arose from statements criticizing the developer for selling his historic home to another developer and accusing him of maintaining a dirty Dunkin’ Donuts establishment.
Read MoreIn August of 2008, the law firm Jones Day sued Chicago’s BlockShopper site, a site that reports on real estate transactions, often with descriptions of those buying and selling homes. Jones Day alleged trademark infringement and unfair trade practices based on Blockshopper’s use of Jones Day’s service marks, links to the Jones Day site and the use of its lawyers’ photos.
Read MoreIn September of 2008, New York attorney Marina Tylo filed a lawsuit against blogger Andrew Lavoott Bluestone of the New York Attorney Malpractice Blog, seeking $10,000,000 in damages for libel, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and tortious interference with prospective contractual relations. Tylo’s lawsuit arose out of a neutral statement on Bluestone’s blog stating only – and truthfully – that Tylo had been sued for malpractice.
Read MoreIn an unusual SLAPP, Kathleen Seidel, a New Hampshire blogger on vaccine and neurological issues, was served a subpoena commanding her to appear for deposition and to comply with exceedingly broad document production in a personal injury lawsuit she had written about on her blog.
Read MoreIn 2001, Idaho company Medinex Systems, Inc. sued fourteen John Does who criticized the company on a Yahoo! message board. Medinex alleged defamation, tortious interference with business relationship and wrongful interference with a prospective economic advantage, and then issued a subpoena to Yahoo! in California seeking the identities of their critics without first proving any illegal actions.
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