A New York state court has thrown out a libel case brought by a conservative political commentator against President-elect Donald Trump, after he referred to her on Twitter as a “dummy,” and a “major loser,” and claimed that she “begged” him for a job. [More]
defamation
California Supreme Court To Review Yelp’s Case For Not Removing Allegedly Defamatory Reviews
By 9.22.16
Two months after a California appeals court attempted to put an end to a years-long dispute between a lawyer and a former client she accused of posting defamatory reviews by ordering Yelp to take down the comments, the Supreme Court of California unanimously agreed to hear an appeal of the case. [More]
How One Email Set Off A 6-Year Legal Battle With No End In Sight
By 6.30.16
It was a simple email: four sentences sent in early 2010 to a nursing home administrator about the care of one of the home’s residents. Days later, the author of that email — along with his girlfriend, the resident’s daughter — were accused of trespassing, civil harassment, intentional interference with contractual relations, and, bizarrely, defamation; ostensibly because they had exercised their legal right to copy their attorney on the message. [More]
Yelp Ordered To Remove Allegedly Defamatory Reviews Of Law Firm
By 6.10.16
Two years after a California lawyer won a default judgment against a former client accused of posting defamatory reviews of the law firm on Yelp, those reviews remained online. However, this week a California appeals court ruled that Yelp must finally remove these reviews. [More]
Dentist Who Tried To Remove News Story From YouTube Drops Lawsuit, Pays $12K In Fees
By 2.17.16
A few weeks back we told you about a former dentist in Georgia who pled guilty in 2009 to filing Medicaid claims for procedures he didn’t actually perform, and who was trying to sue an anonymous YouTuber over a nearly seven-year-old news story that included allegations of physical assault from some patients. This week, the doctor agreed to withdraw his lawsuit and fork over $12,000 in fees for the unnamed defendant. [More]
Fertility Service Threatens Customer With Multimillion-Dollar Lawsuit For Complaining To Better Business Bureau
By 10.29.15
A New Jersey woman who thought she’d been cheated out of several thousand dollars by a service that connects prospective parents with willing egg donors did something that a lot of ticked-off consumers do: She filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau — not knowing that the company would then threaten her with a massive legal action for daring to speak her mind. [More]
American Apparel Outlines Graphic Allegations Against Founder Dov Charney In Recent Court Filings
By 6.23.15
After getting fired from American Apparel in December for “alleged misconduct and violations of company policy,” former CEO and founder Dov Charney is not going down without a fight. The company is now responding to a recent slew of defamations lawsuits he’s filed against it, outlining some pretty graphic allegations in recent court filings. [More]
Lawmakers Propose Bill To Prevent Businesses From Suing You For Complaining About Them
By 5.18.15
Most of the time, consumer interactions with businesses go just fine. We give a company our money, they provide us with goods or services, and everyone is happy. But sometimes, things go awry. The customer isn’t happy, the business doesn’t make it right, and we complain: not just to the business, but to Facebook, Twitter, or Yelp. And that, too often, is when the story starts to get even uglier. [More]
Should Lawyers Be Held Accountable When Clients Sue Just To Punish Whistleblowers?
By 4.2.15
Deep-pocketed companies have a long history of filing frivolous lawsuits with the sole intent of putting defendants through the expensive legal wringer. This sort of courtroom bullying is known as a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) and several states have Anti-SLAPP laws to deter this type of abuse. Plaintiffs that file these lawsuits can face penalties, but one question being considered by a California appeals court is whether plaintiffs’ lawyers should be held accountable for allowing their clients to behave badly. [More]
Water Company Sues Customer For Defamation Over Video Of Faucet Spouting Yellow Liquid
By 10.29.13
If you look up the definition of defamation in the dictionary — just kidding, we’re not going that route. But it does remain to be seen whether filming yellow water coming out of a faucet counts as defamation, as one utility company in Arizona claims. [More]
Man Sues Google For Defamation & Wins Because He’s Not Part Of Australia’s Criminal Underworld
By 11.13.12 — Updated: 11.14.12
While I might get a bit huffy at Google search results that bring up that other person with my name, since she’s not part of a criminal underworld I’m totally not going to sue Google. But one man whose name pulled up all sorts of unfortunate results linking his name to some seriously shady stuff in Australia had enough with being tied to such negative results, so he sued Google for defamation. And he actually won. [More]
Judge Throws Out Doctor's Defamation Lawsuit
By 5.9.11
A Minnesota judge weighed a touchy healthcare issue in a defamation lawsuit, deciding whether or not a doctor’s right to protect his reputation outweighs the family of a patient’s intentions to publicize their grievances against the doc. The District Court judge sided with the family, tossing out the doctor’s defamation lawsuit. [More]
Lindsay Lohan's $100 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against E*Trade Turning Ugly
By 5.10.10
E*Trade has filed papers in an attempt to move the $100 million Lindsay Lohan defamation lawsuit to Manhattan — and those papers apparently contain a treasure trove of rude comments people have made about Ms. Lohan on the internet. [More]
Towing Company Sues Student Over Facebook Page
By 4.13.10
T&J Towing of Kalamazoo, MI wants to send a message to anyone in the town who feels like complaining about the company online. They’ve filed a $750,000 defamation lawsuit against a Western Michigan University student for starting a Facebook page about them. [More]
Lindsay Lohan Sues E*Trade Over Talking Baby Commercial
By 3.9.10
Does the milkaholic baby named Lindsay in the latest E*TRADE commercial remind you of a certain celebrity? Lindsay Lohan says it’s supposed to be her and is a jab at her own milkaholism, and she’s suing the company for $100 million and seeking an injunction to get it off the air. I agree that the baby playing the milkaholic doesn’t give a very good performance, but I always assumed it was supposed to be Lindsey Buckingham. [More]
BoingBoing Beats MagicJack Lawsuit, Wins $50,000
By 2.23.10
MagicJack sued BoingBoing for defamation after they had the gall to criticize the gadget maker’s EULA, and the blog has won, to the tune of $50,000. [More]
Twitter Defamation Lawsuit Dismissed
By 1.21.10
The burgeoning Twitter libel defense industry was dealt a blow recently when the infamous Twitter defamation lawsuit was dismissed. Apparently, it is quite difficult to craft a Tweet that fits the legal requirements for defamation in this country. [More]
I Wonder Why This Ornament Didn't Sell
By 12.29.09
Josh sent us this photo of an ornament he found on the post-Christmas discount racks a few days ago. He notes, “Just goes to show you that typographic layout matters.”
