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Student Blogger Loses Defamation Case
An anonymous reader writes to tell us about Yaman Salahi, a UC Berkeley student and blogger, who lost a lawsuit brought against him by Lee Kaplan, a journalist for FrontPageMag.com. Kaplan had sued Salahi in California small claims court for tortious business interference and libel, in response to a blog Salahi had set up about him called "Lee Kaplan Watch." Salahi lost in small claims court and then lost an "appeal" — which is essentially a retrial by another small-claims judge. No written opinion was offered with either decision, though all other court filings are available. From Salahi's update on his blog: "...because [Kaplan] sued me in small claims court, I did not have the protections of the anti-SLAPP [Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Policy] statute... I will never know why I lost the initial hearing, or why I lost the appeal, because small claims judges are not obligated to release written opinions with their rulings.... I will never have the opportunity to take this to a real appellate court where my first amendment rights might be protected."
Tag this story: yawn
He was convicted for using a large-scale ad-hominem attack against a journalist he didn't like ... and you ask why he's wining ?
You're kidding right ? Wining without substance is all this idiot knows how to do. That's why he was convicted in the first place.
(hmmm Kaplan seems to be a pretty right-wing blogger. That explains why a leftist nut felt entitled to attack him. Kaplan doesn't seem overly extreme though)
Oh yes, the US doesn't recognize that does it.
Too annoying when you want to violate human rights.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
THERE IS NO PRECEDENT - this is a small claims court. This is not a "fine" it is a "civil judgment."
You are totally ignorant of the law and you are proud of it, to boot.
Mouth off to a judge and you WILL be held in contempt. You can have your say and/or appeal - but NO, you are proud of your experience breaking the rules of civil procedure.
OH, and if you think:
(1) that $7.5k is a lot of money; or,
(2) that it will ever be collected - then you are as dumb as a box of rocks.
Now, if you want a piece of me - fine - I'll grind you into Vegimite. But that Constitution has appropriate time, place and manner restrictions on "free speech" and the famous example is that you have no legal right to shout "fire" in a crowded theater (when there is no fire) thus causing a stampede that injures people.
Now, contempt-boy - repeat after me: this is a BS case that is dumber than the CowboyNeal options in the polls. It will bind nobody else but the twit who started the fight.
Goodnight Gracie.