Law Commons^™

Permanent Injunctions In Defamation Actions, Hilary Young

Dalhousie Law Journal

Permanent injunctions prohibiting defamatory speech are increasingly sought and ordered following a finding of liability. This may seem unproblematic since a court will have found the particular speech to be unlawful—defamatory and likely false. However, there are good reasons to be cautious in permanently enjoining defamatory speech. This article shows that courts have recognized a test for permanent injunctions in defamation cases based on a misinterpretation of the case law—a test which is inconsistent with first principles of equitable relief. It then proposes a number of guidelines and principles for permanent injunctive relief in defamation actions. Most proposals relate to …

Destroying Defamation, Leslie Y. Garfield Tenzer

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Fake News is destroying defamation. The recent proliferation of rushed journalism, online conspiracy theories that almost every news story is, in fact, “Fake News,” have created a desert of veracity. Widespread public skepticism about even the most mainstream Internet reporting means plaintiffs will have difficulty convincing jurors that third parties believed any reported statement to be true. Without such proof, it is almost impossible for a plaintiff to prove the elements of defamation.

To establish defamation, a plaintiff must show defendant published an assertion of fact that is false and damages the plaintiff's reputation Hyperbolic language or other indications that …

Personal Injury Tort Claims As Core Proceedings In Bankruptcy Courts—Broad, Narrow, And Intermediate Approaches, Brigid Lynn

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

Under 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(1), “bankruptcy judges may hear and determine all cases under title 11 and all core proceedings arising under title 11.” Core proceedings are those concerning the administration of an estate and the confirmation of plans, among others listed in the statute. However, not considered core proceedings are those regarding “the liquidation or estimation of contingent or unliquidated personal injury tort . . . claims against the estate for purposes of distribution in a case under title 11.” Personal injury tort claims are instead reserved for the district court in which the bankruptcy case is pending …

Defaming The President, Douglas B. Mckechnie

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

Henry V. Media General Operations, Inc., 254 A.3d 822 (R.I. 2021), Stefanie D. Fischer

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fuoco V. Polisena, 244 A.3d 124 (R.I. 2021), David Marks

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Absolute Immunity From Defamation Suits In Private Quasi-Judicial Proceedings, Nat Stern

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

No abstract provided.

Moving Unit Video Television (T/A Muvi Tv Limited) V. Francis Mwiinga Maingaila Scz Selected Judgment No. 18 Of 2019, Chanda Chungu

SAIPAR Case Review

This case dealt with an employee of Muvi TV Limited who was accused of defiling an under-age girl whom he had had offered accommodation to. He was videoed being arrested by a police officer and the news read as follows “Journalist defiled a 13-year old girl”. This news story was repeated on several subsequent news broadcasts by Muvi TV.

This story was published before any conviction was made in criminal proceedings. A medical report revealed that the girl had not been defiled and this was available before the story was released. However, despite the medical report being available, before the …

Proving Racism: Gibson Bros. Inc. V. Oberlin College And The Implications On Defamation Law, Liam H. Mcmillin

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Unidentified Wrongdoer, Ronen Perry

Georgia Law Review

This Article addresses the untheorized and under-researched problem of strong unidentifiability in tort law, namely the victim’s occasional inability to identify the direct wrongdoer, or even an ascertainable group to which the wrongdoer belongs, and bring an action against him or her. This Article offers a systematic analysis and a general theoretical framework for the appraisal of possible solutions to strong unidentifiability problems, which undermine liability and frustrate its goals.

Part I presents the main legal models developed and used to overcome these problems in different contexts and various legal systems: adherence to direct liability with creative procedural identification tools, …

Mypillow Lands Hard In Judge Wright’S Court, Michael K. Steenson

Faculty Scholarship

In Smartmatic USA Corp. v. Lindell, Smartmatic sued Michael Lindell and MyPillow, Inc. in Minnesota federal district court, alleging defamation and violation of Minnesota’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act based on Lindell’s claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election, including that Smartmatic voting machines were rigged. This post focuses on Smartmatic’s defamation claim against Lindell and MyPillow.

The Duty Not To Continue Distributing Your Own Libels, Eugene Volokh

Notre Dame Law Review

Say something I wrote about you online (in a newspaper, a blog, or a social media page) turns out to be false and defamatory. Assume I wasn’t culpable when I first posted it, but now I’m on notice of the error.

Am I liable for defamation if I fail to remove or correct the erroneous material? Surprisingly, courts haven’t settled on an answer, and scholars haven’t focused on the question. Libel law is stuck in a time when newspapers left the publisher’s control as soon as they are printed—even though now an article or a post can be seen on …

Absolute Publishing Power And Bulletproof Immunity: How Section 230 Shields Internet Service Providers From Liability And Makes It Impossible To Protect Your Reputation Online, Victoria Anderson

Seattle University Law Review SUpra

No abstract provided.

The Scope Of Canadian Defamation Injunctions, Hilary Young

Dalhousie Law Journal

Free speech is engaged when courts enjoin defamatory or allegedly defamatory speech on an interlocutory or permanent basis. This paper explores the justifiable scope of defamation injunctions and compares that to what courts do.

The study reveals that Canadian defamation injunctions regularly go far beyond what is justifiable. For example, 16% of defamation injunctions involved orders not to speak about the plaintiff at all, which is overbroad since that includes true and otherwise lawful speech. Other orders prohibit saying disparaging (as opposed to unlawful) things—again overbroad. Orders not to defame may be vague because it is unclear whether, in context, …

Rescuing Our Democracy By Rethinking New York Times Co. V. Sullivan, David A. Logan

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Public Official, Figures, And Controversies In Minnesota Defamation Law, Michael K. Steenson

Faculty Scholarship

In Minnesota, the plaintiff in a common law defamation claim is entitled to recover presumed damages in libel and slander per se cases. Those rules change when the First Amendment is injected into defamation cases when the plaintiff is a public official or figure or is a private person involved in a public controversy. A plaintiff who is a public official or figure must prove not only the elements of the common law defamation claim, but also that the defamatory communication was a false statement of fact and prove by clear and convincing evidence that it was made with actual …

Rosen V. Tarkanian, 135 Nev. Adv. Op. 15 (December 12, 2019), Andrew Brown

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

This issue was whether several of Jacky Rosen’s statements about Danny Tarkanian made during her political campaign constituted defamation. The Court determined that Rosen’s political statements were made in good faith and, therefore, the case was reversed and remanded with instructions for the district court to grant the special motion to dismiss.

The Case Against Expanding Defamation Law, Yonathan A. Arbel, Murat C. Mungan

Faculty Scholarship

It is considered axiomatic that defamation law protects reputation. This proposition—commonsensical, pervasive, and influential—is faulty. Underlying this fallacy is the failure to appreciate audience effects: the interaction between defamation law and members of the audience.

Defamation law seeks to affect the behavior of speakers by making them bear a cost for spreading untruthful information. Invariably, however, the law will also affect members of the audience, as statements made in a highly regulated environment tend to appear more reliable than statements made without accountability. Strict defamation law would tend to increase the perceived reliability of statements, which in some cases can …

Law School News: Logan To Serve As Adviser On Restatement Third Of Torts 11-07-2019, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Remedies, Neutral Rules And Free Speech, David F. Partlett, Russell L. Weaver

Russell L. Weaver

In general, plaintiffs’ ability to obtain substantial damages against media defendants is directly proportional to their ability to obtain so called “publication damages.”...In future cases, the courts may be forced to deal more straightforwardly with the First Amendment issues. In Sanders, the court avoided those issues because they were not raised. As a result, the court left open the possibility that, even in an intrusion case a media defendant might be allowed to show that the invasion of privacy was “justified by the legitimate motive of gathering the news.”...Moreover, the very existence of the litigation undoubtedly has a negative impact …

Ventura V. Kyle And American Sniper; The Anatomy Of A Public Figure’S Lawsuit, Michael K. Steenson

Faculty Scholarship

Chris Kyle's book, American Sniper, detailed his exploits as a prolific Navy SEAL sniper. In a book subchapter Kyle detailed an encounter with a "Mr. Scruff Face" in a San Diego Bar. The book states that Ventura made certain statements that were demeaning of the United States and the Navy SEALS. Scruff Face was subsequently identified by Chris Kyle as Jesse Ventura, former governor of Minnesota. Ventura sued Chris Kyle for defamation, appropriation, and unjust enrichment. Relying on trial court documents, briefs, and the opinions in the case, this article probes those theories of recovery with an emphasis on the …

Facebook V. Sullivan: Public Figures And Newsworthiness In Online Speech, Thomas E. Kadri, Kate Klonick

Scholarly Works

In the United States, there are now two systems to adjudicate disputes about harmful speech. The first is older and more established: the legal system in which judges apply constitutional law to limit tort claims alleging injuries caused by speech. The second is newer and less familiar: the content-moderation system in which platforms like Facebook implement the rules that govern online speech. These platforms are not bound by the First Amendment. But, as it turns out, they rely on many of the tools used by courts to resolve tensions between regulating harmful speech and preserving free expression—particularly the entangled concepts …

Facebook V. Sullivan: Public Figures And Newsworthiness In Online Speech, Thomas E. Kadri, Kate Klonick

Faculty Publications

In the United States, there are now two systems to adjudicate disputes about harmful speech. The first is older and more established: the legal system in which judges apply constitutional law to limit tort claims alleging injuries caused by speech. The second is newer and less familiar: the content-moderation system in which platforms like Facebook implement the rules that govern online speech. These platforms are not bound by the First Amendment. But, as it turns out, they rely on many of the tools used by courts to resolve tensions between regulating harmful speech and preserving free expression—particularly the entangled concepts …

Gossip And Gore: A Ghoulish Journey Into A Philosophical Thicket, Sean Hannon Williams

Michigan Law Review

A review of Don Herzog, Defaming the Dead.

Group Defamation, Power, And A New Test For Determining Plaintiff Eligibility, Jeffrey Greenwood

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

In the fall of 2014, Rolling Stone Magazine published an article describing the rape of a woman at a University of Virginia fraternity house. The story turned out to be false, and members of the fraternity sued for defamation. The suit raises an interesting question: under what circumstances may anonymous individual members of the fraternity recover? This Note describes the case, related common and constitutional law, as well as differences in group defamation doctrine across jurisdictions. After detailing problems with the existing paradigm, the Note proposes a new method for performing the analysis.

Defamation And Privacy In The Social Media Age: What Would Justice Brennan Think?, Stephen Wermiel

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

What’S In A Name?: Proving Actual Damages For Reputational Harm In Texas Defamation Cases Will Only Get Harder, Austin Brakebill

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Dark Side Of Social Media Romance: Civil Recourse For Catfish Victims, Armida Derzakarian

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

No abstract provided.

Where's The Power - Defamation And Wrongful Interference In The Restatement Of Employment Law, Ruben J. Garcia

Scholarly Works

In this article, Professor Ruben Garcia argues that the Restatement of Employment Law ("REL") misses the opportunity to address power relations between employers and employees as part of the "law as a whole" in the torts of the workplace. He argues that the omission shows the limits of restatements generally. However, there were other roads not taken by the drafters that might have acknowledged these power differentials in the final draft. Professor Garcia also argues that the normative choices that are made by the REL about the doctrine of compelled self-publication are based on questionable footings. "[A]cceptance of the doctrine …

A Curious Motion: The Uncertain Role Of Anti-Slapp Statutes In Federal Courts, Markus A. Brazill

Prize Winning Papers

No abstract provided.