Clik here to view.
How India Deals with Twitter Defamation
Pooja Bedi I recently reported on a Twitter defamation case in Australia, and how strange things can get without a law the Communications Decency Act. Now comes a case out of India. India has a police...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Judge Orders Man to Apologize to Ex-Wife on Facebook
Clients sometimes ask me to seek a letter of apology as part of a defamation settlement. I have managed to do so on a number of occasions, but I usually recommend a letter of retraction as opposed to a...
View ArticleMorris & Stone Victory — $200,000 from Defendant Who Failed to See Wisdom of...
Perhaps because the adrenaline and endorphins flow during a courtroom battle, I become very thoughtful in the calm that follows. I won a small but satisfying court victory recently in an Internet...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Peer Review Process for Doctors is a Protected Activity Under SLAPP Statute
The California Court of Appeal recently ruled that I know what I’m talking about when it comes to SLAPP law, and that I have saved many doctors from filing actions that would have been met with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Show Some Love for California’s Anti-SLAPP Statute
Not the coach in question. I get frequent calls from people who have run afoul of the anti-SLAPP statute, basically asking, “what can we do about this terrible law?” Here’s the deal. Every law...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Twitter Defamation Victory – “Tweeter” Pays $5,977 per Word
Chris Cairns, obviously very happy with his court victory We are seeing more and more Twitter defamation cases. Many have the false impression that they can say anything on the Internet, and for some...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Facebook Defamation — Free Speech Deserves Respect and Responsibility
I occasionally post stories here that highlight what it is like to live in countries that do not recognize freedom of speech. My perhaps naïve hope is that if we recognize what a tremendous gift we...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Morris & Stone Defamation Victory – Hair Transplant Doctor Stipulates to...
Our client in this case was Spencer Kobren, a well known Consumer/Patient Advocate, author and the Founder of The American Hair Loss Association. Besides hosting a weekly radio broadcast, Kobren also...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Morris & Stone Wins $1.5 Million for Internet Defamation Victims
In this case, we represented a business and the individual who owns that business. The defendant, a medical doctor named Pankaj Karan, was starting his own business, MDTelexchange, and traveled to an...
View ArticleSaying Your Letter Cannot be Published Does Not Make it True
In a prior posting, I discussed how ineffectual cease and desist letters are, and how some recipients of such letters will even post them as a sort of badge of honor. In an apparent attempt by some...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Court Finds that Statement about Cause of Suicide is an Opinion
An interesting defamation case out of New York, involving the world of music and illustrating the burden of proof. As explained here on various occasions, truth is a defense (a point sadly lost on...
View ArticleUnderstanding the Wall of Wrong — Shaheed Sadeghi v. Delilah Snell
I just wish counsel would run their defamation cases past me before filing. Here is a tale of a SLAPP that should have been spotted a mile away. The tale starts with an article in OC Weekly. The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It’s Not Defamation if No One Knows it’s You
As the old saying goes, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?* In the context of defamation law, the saying could be, “if no one knows it’s you, is the...
View ArticleReporting a Fact is Never Defamatory
It is never defamation to report a fact, even if that fact is that a person was charged with a crime they did not commit. I understand why callers sometimes don’t understand this distinction. The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Chink in Armor of Communications Decency Act?
Former Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader Sarah Jones won her defamation lawsuit against the gossip website TheDirty.com on Thursday in federal court, winning an award of $338,000. Whether she will ever...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Anti-SLAPP Victory: Reality Television is Free Speech
The reality show “Storage Wars” has created a case that offers some important anti-SLAPP (and litigation) lessons. In December, David Hester filed a lawsuit against A&E Television Networks alleging...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Defamation is Bad, but it Doesn’t Justify Chilling Free Speech
Our neighbors to the North are very American-like, until you get to issues of free speech. Most view Canada as the “least protective of free speech in the English-speaking world.” Reasonable minds can...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Yelp Sues the McMillan Law Group, Claiming it Posted Fake Reviews
I get probably two calls a month from potential clients, complaining that after they refused to subscribe to Yelp’s services, Yelp responded by removing most or all of their positive reviews. If true,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Anti-SLAPP Motion Does Not Dispose of Action as to Unprotected Claims
In a ruling that makes perfect sense, the Fourth District Court of Appeal held that an anti-SLAPP motion can be used to excise some allegations in a cause of action that involve protected activities,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
“Revenge Porn” Now a Crime in California
I get a number of calls about this every month, and I now have a better means to deal with this form of cyber-stalking. The scenario is almost always the same. A girlfriend (foolishly if you ask me)...
View Article