Law Commons^™

Supreme Court, New York County, Themed Restaurants, Inc. V. Zagat Survey Llc, Paula Gilbert

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Silencing John Doe: Defamation & Discourse In Cyberspace, Lyrissa Barnett Lidsky

Lyrissa Barnett Lidsky

John Doe has become a popular defamation defendant as corporations and their officers bring defamation suits for statements made about them in Internet discussion fora. These new suits are not even arguably about recovering money damages but instead are brought for symbolic reasons-some worthy, some not so worthy. If the only consequence of these suits were that Internet users were held accountable for their speech, the suits would be an unalloyed good. However, these suits threaten to suppress legitimate criticism along with intentional and reckless falsehoods, and existing First Amendment law doctrines are not responsive to the threat these suits …

Health Care Law, Sean P. Byrne, Garrett Hooe

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Protecting Defamatory Fiction And Reader-Response Theory With Emphasis On The German Experience, Henry Ordower

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Revenge Porn, State Law, And Free Speech, Paul J. Larkin Jr.

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

The ease of access to the Internet, coupled with the modern practice of sharing intimate digital photos between lovers, has given rise to a disturbing new trend known colloquially as “revenge porn”—that is, the nonconsensual posting of images that were originally given to another with the implied expectation of confidentiality. That act involves a deep personal betrayal and can inflict serious emotional damage on the person whose image has been shared, sometimes resulting in grave consequences to the victim. And once those images reach the Internet, they are often circulated widely; the victims retain no control over who may view …

Reputational Injury Without A Reputational Attack: Addressing Negligence Claims For Pure Reputational Harm, Bryson Kern

Fordham Law Review

This Note examines the unsettled relationship between defamation and negligence. The law of defamation, through the torts of libel and slander, constitutes a well-developed and complex body of state common law and constitutional considerations. However, some claims for reputational harm may fall outside of this framework, as the law of defamation does not account for all of the ways that an individual’s reputation may be injured. Thus, plaintiffs sometimes bring negligence claims to seek redress for damage to reputation.
When a plaintiff brings a negligence claim for pure reputational harm, the court is faced with a variety of options for …

Repairing Online Reputation: A New Multi-Modal Regulatory Approach, Jacqueline D. Lipton

Akron Law Faculty Publications

In today’s interconnected digital society, high profile examples of online abuses abound. Cyberbullies launch attacks on the less powerful, often significantly damaging victims’ reputations. Outside of reputational damage, online harassment, bullying and stalking has led to severe emotional distress, loss of employment, physical assault and even death. Recent scholarship has identified this phenomenon but has done little more than note that current laws are ineffective in combating abusive online behaviors. This article moves the debate forward both by suggesting specific reforms to criminal and tort laws and, more importantly, by situating those reforms within a new multi-modal framework for combating …

Finding The Lost Involuntary Public Figure, Jeffrey Omar Usman

Utah Law Review

This Article follows Aristotle’s guidance that “[i]f you would understand anything, observe its beginning and its development.” That is precisely how the discussion in this Article begins in Part I, through observation of the beginning and development of the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on the constitutional limitations imposed upon defamation actions under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Part II of the Article then briefly sets forth the constitutional framework that the Supreme Court imposed in 1974 on defamation actions in Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. The Article then addresses in Part III how the pressures of the First …

Online Harassment, Defamation, And Hateful Speech: A Primer Of The Legal Landscape, Alice E. Marwick, Ross Miller

Center on Law and Information Policy

This interdisciplinary project focused on online speech directed at women and seeks to provide a primer on (i) what legal remedies, if any, are available for victims of sexist, misogynist, or harassing online speech, and (ii) if such legal remedies and procedures exist, whether practical hurdles stand in the way of victims’ abilities to stop harassing or defamatory behavior and to obtain legal relief. The study concluded that while online harassment and hateful speech is a significant problem, there are few legal remedies for victims. This is partly due to issues of jurisdiction and anonymity, partly due to the protection …

Summary Of Jacobs V. Adelson, 130 Nev. Adv. Op. 44, Kylee Gloeckner

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined whether the absolute privilege rule applies to statements made to the media.

The Forgotten Role Of Consent In Defamation And Employment Reference Cases, Alex B. Long

Scholarly Works

As has been well documented, the fear of defamation suits and related claims leads many employers to refuse to provide meaningful employment references. However, an employer who provides a negative reference concerning an employee enjoys a privilege in an ensuing defamation action if the employee has consented to the release of information concerning the employee’s job performance. Thus, many attorneys now advise prospective employers to have applicants sign consent agreements, permitting the prospective employer to conduct an investigation into the applicant’s work history and releasing from liability anyone who provides information about the employee’s work history. The Restatement (Second) of …

Injury By Algorithm: A Look Into Google's Liability For Defamatory Autocompleted Search Suggestions, Seema Ghatnekar

Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review

Google’s Autocomplete search feature has gained wide popularity as it allows users to perform search queries quickly by suggesting several search terms in real-time as users type a search request in the Google search bar. These generated suggestions change in an algorithmic manner with each additional letter that a user types into Google’s search bar while conducting a search. They are based in part upon predictions made from previous users’ searches as well as several other factors related to the popularity and volume of search queries. As a result, Google claims its lacks complete control over the Autocomplete search results …

On Business Torts And The First Amendment, Richard J. Peltz-Steele

Faculty Publications

A gaping question in free speech law surrounds the application of the First Amendment defense in business torts. The pervasiveness of communication technologies, the flourishing of privacy law, and the mere passage of time have precipitated an escalation in tort cases in which communication, and what the defendant may allege is free speech, lies at the heart of the matter.

When Speech Isn't Free: Legal Barriers And Consequences Of Reporting Sexual Violence, Kevin M. Fleming

Departmental Honors Projects

Incidents of sexual violence continue to be a serious problem for society. Likewise, acts of sexual violence impose severe consequences for survivors. The consequences initially begin at the onset of the survivor’s journey to psychological recovery following the traumatic sexual assault. The consequences take on a unique set of characteristics when the survivor attempts to use the justice system to confront the perpetrator who committed the offense. These characteristics can transform an adversarial process into an isolated battle for the survivor. In the worst cases, the justice system empowers individuals who wish to silence survivors with free speech restrictions instead …

Zombies Among Us: Injunctions In Defamation Cases Come Back From The Dead, Jim Stewart, Leonard M. Niehoff

Articles

Here's a scary thought: an individual, unhappy with negative statements that have been made about him, sues for defamation and persuades the trial court to issue an injunction prohibiting the speaker from engaging in that speech again. An appellate court reviews the injunction and, in large measure, upholds it. This creepy scenario brings shudders to free speech and media advocates, who have long viewed such injunctions as prior restraints that the First Amendment forbids in all but the most extreme and extraordinary cases. As a recent decision from the Michigan Court of Appeals demonstrates, however, decades of United States Supreme …

Material Falsity In Defamation Cases: The Supreme Court's Call For Contextual Analysis, Charles D. Tobin, Leonard M. Niehoff

Articles

In the book The Phantom Tollbooth, one of the characters, Milo, declares that he comes from a faraway land called Context. After a circuitous journey through many strange cities, bearing names that have meanings Milo struggles to understand, he finds himself back at home in his bedroom.

Context, by and large, is the home base for courts in defining the boundaries between actionable and nonactionable speech. Often, after circuitous travels through precedent and logic, courts meander back to the simple notion that the meaning and legal significance of words are determined by their context.

The Qualified Privilege Of Texas Lawyers To Defend Their Reputations., Clement J. Hayes

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

The technology-based society of the twenty-first century offers vast Internet resources that afford individuals easy access to information and means of communication. As a result, people spend substantial time online. Some Internet sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Angie's List and Google, provide consumers an online forum for sharing experiences and opinions. This development, while in many respects beneficial, is not without its drawbacks.