Tag: Lawsuits

Yesterday I was made aware of an editor of a small newspaper suing a number of readers for defamation because they accused her of "yellow journalism".  Strange turn number one was the fact I have faced the practice myself before, and because I was a public figure, figured they would get away with their efforts to defame my character. And anyhow it hardened me to criticism, complaint, etc. I never would have dreamed in the process that a "free speech" advocate such as a newspaper editor would be one to pursue such stifling procedures to silence an enemy.  Stephanie Buffman reports:

"There was later an Amended Complaint filed in April naming Darlene Thompson as a Defendant in the suit, citing comments that she made online as resulting in similar losses.

The lawsuit asks for compensatory damages in excess of $25,000.

Oh, my. Once my head stopped spinning from the First Amendment Rights vortex my brain was suddenly sucked into, I wondered: What in the world had these people said to pierce the notoriously thick and jaded hide of a newspaper editor?"

The Traverse City Record Eagle is one of those papers that persist in perpetuating the belief that the news is slanted, and editorial bias is more important than actual news.  The editorial page is even worse with frequent attacks and letter limitations that would make the casual observer think this is a leftist community; a non truth if ever there was one.

One of the results seen in a community that is still conservative, and mostly traditional, is that the profitability of such enterprise can be lessened to a degree which puts it continuing viability in peril.  The Record Eagle has become a leftist blog, as partisan and unreasonable as any out there.  It is poised to attack opinions as soon as they are uttered, as long as those opinions don't jibe with their ideological perspective.

I am, as always concerned about collateral damage to a community that has such firepower, loose, and uncontrollable.  Not from a censorship perspective, but one that recognizes the bullying done, and how it will in the end do a disservice to the community, and the owners who expect profitability from their acquisition.

On January 19th, I offered my services to Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., (CNHI) which owns this paper.

Apparently, McCaskill came unglued when he learned that his children had not been selected in the lottery used to select the incoming 2009-10 kindergarten class at Highmeadow Common Campus Elementary School in the Farmington Public Schools. His claim, according to the Detroit News, is that the ballots were never shaken (or stirred, presumably), and that all selections were made "off the top" without reaching into the middle or the bottom.

McCaskill and Gittleman want the Oakland County Circuit Court to issue an injunction voiding the previous lottery and requiring the school district to have a do-over.

Let's all applaud this noble effort and ponder the lessons Mr. McCaskill and his lawyer are teaching the McCaskill children:

1. Never accept any decision you don't like.

2. If you lose at a random drawing or a competition, it's not chance -- the fix was in!

3. If you experience adversity, don't try to make the best of things.

4. Always make sure your first resort is a lawsuit! (Okay, as a lawyer, I actually sort of agree with this one).

The court rightly threw that guy out on his ear, which is exactly what should happen with McCaskill. As for Ms. Gittleman, she should spend some time learning why attorneys are referred to as "counselors."

And oh yeah, I want the last lottery drawing done over!