Blogger Wins Free Speech Battle

Court admits that telling the truth isn't really punishable

The Minnesota Court of Appeals overturned a $60,000 award a local blogger was ordered to pay for a post that got a man fired, claiming that the blogger cannot be found liable for interfering if the information is true and protected under the First Amendment.

The decision issued Monday in a case that garnered attention from free-speech advocates came a year and a half after a Hennepin County jury said that Minneapolis blogger John "Johnny Northside" Hoff owed Jerry Moore $60,000 in damages for a scathing post on his well-read blog, "The Adventures of Johnny Northside." The post resulted in Moore's firing from the University of Minnesota.