[12576] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Details on Brock Meeks Case
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Meeks Defense Fund)
Sun May 22 22:36:26 1994
Date: Sun, 22 May 1994 13:19:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: Meeks Defense Fund <fund@idi.net>
To: Paul Robinson <PAUL@tdr.com>
Cc: Everyone Else Lurking on Com-Priv <com-priv@psi.com>,
telecomreg@relay.adp.wisc.edu, roundtable@cni.org,
COMMUNET@uvmvm.uvm.edu, cni-announce@cni.org, cpsr-announce@cpsr.org,
eff-activists@eff.org, alt-activism-d@cs.utexas.edu,
alt-activism@cs.utexas.edu, alt-society-resistance@cs.utexas.edu,
alt-politics-datahighway@cs.utexas.edu
In-Reply-To: <01.1994May22.05h24m27s.PAUL-0100000@TDR.COM>
We and the lawyers are aware of the question of jurisdiction. In
fact,however, the precedent appears to be that one can sue where ever the
defamation is published. With respect to the Net, it gives deep-pocket
folks, like those suing Brock, a giant weopon-- and distinguishes the Net
case from more typical print publications.
I suspect that jurisdiction is goingg to be challenged, but it
will be at uphill battle.
Brock's legal fees are already in excess of $10,000. Suarez's
lawyers are relentless in their pursuit of this matter. There has been a
7 hours deposition in Washington, and a motion hearing in Ohio. The
Suarez people are purusing a case for an injunction first, then they go
into a trial for damages.
Brock's lawyers believe that the Net fund raising effort is
having an important impact by showing support for Brock.
Thanks for the continued interest.
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On Sun, 22 May 1994, Paul Robinson wrote:
> From: Paul Robinson <PAUL@TDR.COM>
> Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA
> -----
> Meeks Defense Fund <fund@idi.net>, writes:
>
> > The recent Internet posting launching a fund raising drive in
> > order to help Brock Meeks defray the legal expenses of a lawsuit
> > brought against his news wire, CyberWire Dispatch, has drawn
> > several inquiries for a summary of the issues involved in this
> > case.
>
> > For those who don't know Brock, he has a long history as a
> > journalist writing in the on-line field, having written for Byte,
> > Wired and other journals over the years. He lives and works
> > today in the Washington, D.C. area writing during the day for a
> > communications trade journal. Cyberwire Dispatch is his own
> > creation. The suit against him was filed in Ohio. Without
> > the generous offer of legal support from his current lawyers, who
> > have offices in Ohio, Brock's situation would be even more dire.
>
> I'm lost here. Why is he being sued in Ohio if he lives in Washington?
>
> I do not understand why the point isn't being made to have this dismissed
> on purely technical grounds of lack of jurisdiction. This is not a case
> involving real property or a contract, so there should only be grounds to
> sue where the defendant is located.
>
> If the defendant was not present and has no agent or representative in Ohio
> at some point, I would think there is a lack of jurisdiction to try the case.
>
> Whether or not there is a libel issue at all is one I'm going to ignore
> for now, but in the absense of some evidence that he has a presence
> there, it should have been simple to get this dismissed, and then if
> there is a trial to occur, that it happen where the defendant lives, not
> where the plaintiff decides to sue.
>
> I would think it would be difficult to argue a cause of action claiming
> that a defamation occurs anyplace where seen. If someone claims they
> were defamed on a local TV show, I would think that they would still have
> to sue in the city where the broadcast occurred even if the station is
> carried by cable to the other side of the country.
>
> ---
> Paul Robinson - Paul@TDR.COM
> Voted "Largest Polluter of the (IETF) list" by Randy Bush <randy@psg.com>
> -----
> The following Automatic Fortune Cookie was selected only for this message:
>
> The probability of someone watching you is proportional to the
> stupidity of your action.
>
>
