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."

Comments

Re:Counterstrike? NOPE - waived

[JimDaGeek]

No member of the Corps would mouth off to a Judge.

Huh? I am laughing as I read this. The U.S.M.C is a very unruly bunch, you should have seen me and my buddies when we were in SOI. Sorry, we don't hold a "judge" to be someone we fight/train for. You are not a Marine, so you don't know what you are talking about.

No member of the Corps lies, or will tolerate a liar.

Damn, you have never met a Marine have you? Do you think we pee gold or something? Sorry, your fantasy is not reality. Marines lie, they do things that anyone else does. Period. The only difference is that as Marines we are trained fighters. End of story. So please spare me this "Marines never lie" crap.

I have a 3 year old grandson - and a 14 month old granddaughter and a 27 year old son. I'm proud of them and any one of them can out-think you.

Sure they can... Right... Nice talking out your @ss old-man.

recognize that the rules that keep your 3 year old alive are the same rules you broke in your little municipal case.

Huh? What "rules"? I exercised my freedom of speech, nothing more. The same freedom I was sent to the Gulf for in 1991. I guess as "citizens" we should die for our "rights" but not be able to exercise them? If you have a 27 y/o son, then all I have to say is that your generation is way out of touch with reality. I guess you think the internet is nothing more than a "series of tubes"?