Apr 17 2012
Yesterday, I referred to City Mom blogger, Kim Strickland, at Chicago Now as a “self published author”. According to Ms. Strickland, that is libelous as she is not a self published author as her work was acquired by traditional publishers. I’m not sure how calling her “self published” is libelous. I asked for clarification but [...]
Nov 10 2011
In the UK, a self published author is suing a reviewer for panning his book. Chris McGrath, an online entrepreneur from Milton Keynes, who wrote and self-published a little-known book entitled The Attempted Murder of God: Hidden Science You Really Need to Know, has launched libel proceedings against Vaughan Jones, 28. He claims Mr Jones [...]
Sep 11 2010
On Friday, I received a phone call from a lawyer in Utica, New York who represents Red Rose Publishing. RRP is claiming that I defamed them in this post here wherein I summarized the reported complaints of RRP authors and posted the president and owner’s email regarding her displeasure with RRP authors. The lawyer wanted [...]
Mar 18 2010
In France, a business has taken a great dislike to the way it was portrayed in a recent crime novelist’s book and has sued the author for defamation. I know that the laws for defamation tend to favor the alleged defamed (business) than the alleged defamer (novelist) but this case does surprise me. For Walker, [...]
Sep 28 2009
Kate Duffy was the backbone of romance at Kensington. As editorial director, she created the Brava line and discovered a multitude of authors. A no nonsense, tell it like it is, sort of person, Kate was so devoted to her job that illness took no place. Unfortunately, Kate succumbed to a difficult battle she had [...]
Mar 17 2009
see more Lolcats and funny pictures With all the discussion lately about the rights and wrongs of online speech and conduct, I recently discovered a 2003 piece by Clay Shirky, appropriately titled “A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy” (someone posted it in reference to the ginormous Brockmann brouhaha). Shirky’s insightful analysis of online communities [...]
Feb 4 2009
Victor Cretella, a Maryland lawyer, sued David Kuzminski, editor of “Preditors and Editors” for defamation. The statements that Cretella sued over were postings Kuzminski made at the Absolute Write forum. The statements stated that Cretella was engaged in extortion, a crime, and that he had engaged in conduct that could be sanctioned by a disciplinary [...]
Feb 27 2008
Individuals who are, or once were, associated with PublishAmerica are suing the Preditor & Editors site for libel. Barbara Bauer is an agent who claims that P&E libeled her by calling her a scammer. Victor E. Cretella, an attorney with PublishAmerica and a member of the Maryland Bar, is suing P&E for harming his reputation. [...]
Nov 13 2007
“The First Amendment requires that we protect some falsehood in order to protect speech that matters.” Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. NY Times v. Sullivan Beginning in 1964, the New York Times v. Sullivan case began extending greater protection to the right of free speech, arguing that to allow the standard defamation law to continue [...]
Nov 6 2007
One of the things that make defamation cases so difficult is that most of the time, the person filing suit is a public figure. Defamation suits have been crippling to the publishing industry. Newspapers, book publishers and so forth faced extinction at the hands of these suits. Recently a publisher filed for bankruptcy due to [...]
Oct 30 2007
Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, is the immediate jewel of their souls: Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 'twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands; but he that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes me [...]
Oct 23 2007
This is the second part in How to Fling About Legal Insults Like a Lawyer. One of the questions last week wondered whether free speech was simply unfettered. Absolutely not and I don’t mean for this series to imply that, but I do know that over the space of a year and a half, I’ve [...]
Oct 16 2007
Source: Snuffle Guppy It has occurred to me, from my years of online inhabitation, that people love to fling about the threat of a lawsuit but never really follow through. The sad truth is that most people apparently can’t tell their ears from their eyes when demanding reparations. The most frequent accusation that I’ve seen [...]
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