SLAPP-Blog
Seattle lawyer-and-doctor rating site Avvo wins free speech suit
Seattle-based Avvo has a right to post its ratings of lawyers and doctors online. That’s according to the U.S. District Court in Seattle, which ruled last week that the website, with its health and legal directory and question and answer forum, is protected under Washington state’s anti-SLAPP law. Josh King, PPP Board member and attorney at Avvo said the case “is really a victory for First Amendment rights in Washington.” Read the full article from Business Journal here:read more
BMJ, Brian Deer file anti-SLAPP motion against Andrew Wakefield
About 2 months ago Andrew Wakefield filed a defamation lawsuit against the British Medical Journal, Brian Deer and Fiona Godlee for the series of three articles “The Secrets of the MMR Scare” and public comments made since. In particular, Mr. Wakefield took issue with statements about his research being fraudulent (and variations on that term like “fraudster”, “bullshit” etc.). Mr. Wakefield claimed that the facts presented by the BMJ articles were incorrect...
read moreShirley Sherrod’s suit against Andrew Breitbart likely to continue
“A defamation lawsuit a former Agriculture Department employee filed against conservative journalist Andrew Breitbart is likely to continue despite Breitbart’s unexpected death on Wednesday night at age 43. USDA rural development staffer Shirley Sherrod filed the lawsuit against Breitbart and Breitbart aide Larry O’Connor last February over the pair’s role in publicizing a video of a Sherrod speech which appeared to suggest the African-American Agriculture Department official was biased against white people. The...
read moreRCFP testimony regarding Maryland anti-SLAPP bill
“Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Executive Director Lucy Dalglish testified before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee of the Maryland General Assembly, in support of SB 221. which clarifies and modernizes Maryland’s anti-SLAPP law. SB 221 offers several important improvements to the current law, including the removal of the requirement that defendants show that the plaintiff filed the lawsuit in “bad faith” – that is, with the intent to use it to stifle constitutionally protected expression – in order to...
read moreBillionaire’s Bogus Legal Tactics Against Bloggers Threaten Free Speech
“Recently, Salon’s Glenn Greenwald reported that Idaho billionaire and CEO of Melaleuca, Inc., Frank VanderSloot, has been engaged in a systematic campaign to silence journalists and bloggers from publishing stories about his political views and business practices. VanderSloot and Melaleuca have targeted national news organizations and small town bloggers alike by issuing bogus legal threats alleging defamation and copyright infringement in an attempt to keep legitimate newsworthy information from being released to the public. This...
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