My cohost Jane Bambauer and I are joined by Prof. Lyrissa Lidsky (Florida), who is also a co-reporter for the American Law Institute's Restatement (Third) of Torts: Defamation and Privacy.
If someone was prosecuted (and later pardoned) for being an unregistered foreign agent for Iran, is it defamatory to say he was prosecuted for "spying"?
"The Defendants intentionally or recklessly invited public critique and scrutiny over Plaintiff's title as an exorcist by repeatedly asserting that the Plaintiff is not an exorcist."
President Trump "complained that, by using the phrase 'Big Lie' to describe his claims about the 2020 presidential election, CNN defamed him."
The speaker's comments, the Virginia Court of Appeals held, "comments constitute non-actionable opinions based on fully disclosed facts."
The lawyer's claims that plaintiffs had violated federal law were opinions based on disclosed facts, the court concludes.
"[P]ersistent and unfounded branding of a man as a 'rapist' cannot be easily dismissed as anything other than sex-based harassment."
Jimmy Keene, on whom the Apple TV miniseries Black Bird was based, sues Google alleging its AI hallucinated accusations that he's a convicted murderer serving a life sentence.
"The complaint continues ... with much more, persistently alleged in abundant, florid, and enervating detail." "[A] complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective—not a protected platform to rage against an adversary. A complaint is not a megaphone for public relations or a podium for a passionate oration at a political rally or the functional equivalent of the Hyde Park Speakers' Corner."
The president claims The Wall Street Journal inflicted "billions of dollars" in reputational damage by confirming a well-established relationship.
"For a public figure like Dershowitz to prevail, defamation law has long required proof of a speaker's actual malice: knowledge of or reckless disregard for the falsity of a statement. But here, the available evidence points to the reporters’ sincere—if mistaken or even overwrought—belief in the truth of their accusations."
It also rejects Hunter Biden's invasion-of-privacy counterclaim, on statute of limitations grounds.
The remaining claims are for impersonation and portraying Morris in a false light by quoting out of context.
... there had seemingly indeed been suspicious DMCA takedown requests targeting criticism of plaintiffs, though it's not clear whether they were submitted with the plaintiffs' approval.
Plaintiff alleges Defendant engaged in "a coordinated online campaign making false statements," such as "accusing Plaintiff of design/invention theft, racism, ... and encouraging the public to report Plaintiff's online shopping platforms on sites like Etsy, Shopify, and TikTok as fraudulent and/or ... [as] selling counterfeit goods.'"
"Malicious prosecution," which covers the bringing of civil and administrative quasi-judicial complaints and not just criminal complaints, becomes especially relevant given a recent Colorado Supreme Court decision limiting defamation claims.
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