Palin Threatens Defamation Lawsuits

Woman ordered to pay $2.5M for online defamation

(NEWSER) - In what could end up being very bad news for outspoken bloggers across America, a federal judge has decided that a blogger was not acting as a journalist when she accused an Oregon lawyer of acting unethically and illegally as a trustee in a bankruptcy hearing. The judge denied Crystal Cox's request for legal protections customarily offered to journalists, and a jury subsequently ordered her to pay $2.5 million for defaming lawyer Kevin Padrick and his company. More»

Publisher, author printed info they 'knew to be false,' says attorney

(NEWSER) - Here's something that's bound to get more people reading The Rogue. Sarah Palin is threatening to sue author Joe McGinniss and his publisher for his tell-everything tome about the former Alaska governor, which includes gossip about drug use and adultery, reports ABC News . The work was roundly criticized in the press for repeating unsubstantiated rumors . The book "contains a series of lies and rumors presented as fact and combined with 'anonymous' sources," charges Palin attorney John Tiemessen in a letter to the head of the Crown Publishing Group. Tiemessen quotes an attached email apparently written by the author which “clearly describes the fact that Mr. McGinniss researched and investigated many false and scurrilous allegations, and concluded that there was absolutely no evidence anywhere backing these allegations," he writes. More»

Judge ruled Taiwan woman didn't have the evidence to declare them salty

(NEWSER) - Be careful what you blog about in Taiwan. One woman, identified only as Mrs. Liu, learned that lesson the hard way recently, after she complained on her little-read blog about the Sichuan Flavor Beef Noodle Restaurant in Taichung. The place, she wrote, was full of cockroaches, the owner was a “bully,” and the noodles were “too salty.” The enraged owner sued for defamation, the Telegraph reports. More»

David Weigel, ousted for bashing Matt Drudge, speaks out

(NEWSER) - When he got the call asking him to comment on yet more emails he had written—this time bashing Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich—David Weigel knew he was screwed. The Washington Post blogger had already apologized for leaked emails in which he said Matt Drudge ought to light himself on fire. Now he was being asked if he hated conservatives. It had “a physical impact,” Weigel writes for Esquire . “I instantly realized that I was no longer a reporter—and had become an Embattled Reporter.” More»

Critics kicked out of hometown 'Going Rogue ' event

(NEWSER) - Dying to attend one of Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue book signings? Better make sure you’re not on the banned list first. It includes four names so far, one of whom hasn’t been identified. The first three:

• Jesse Gryphen: An Alaska kindergarten teacher who posted Palin divorce rumors on his blog, refusing to take them down even after Palin’s lawyer threatened to serve him with libel papers in front of his class. He tells the story of being kicked out of the book signing on his blog .