The cover story in today's USA Today is about the extension of libel and slander laws to the blogoverse and how some bloggers apparently think they're judgment proof. That's almost certainly not the case, particularly when you try something like this: Rafe Banks, a lawyer in Georgia, got involved in a nasty dispute with a client over how to defend him on a drunken-driving charge. The client, David Milum, fired Banks and demanded that the lawyer refund a $3,000 fee. Banks refused. Milum eventually was acquitted. Ordinarily, that might have been the last Banks ever heard about his former client. But then Milum started a blog. In May 2004, Banks was stunned to learn that Milum's blog was accusing the lawyer of bribing judges on behalf of drug dealers. At the end of one posting, Milum wrote, 'Rafe, don't you wish you had given back my $3,000 retainer?' Banks, saying the postings were false, sued Milum. And last January, Milum became the first blogger in the USA to lose a libel suit, according to the Media Law Resource Center in New York, which tracks litigation involving bloggers. Milum was ordered to pay Banks $50,000. * * * Milum says he considers himself a muckraker and exposer of corruption in local officials. In the recent libel trial, his attorney, Jeff Butler, described his client as a 'rabble-rouser' whose inspiration was 'public service.' Milum lost in court because he could not meet the basic defense for libel claims: He could not prove that his allegations that Banks was involved in bribery and corruption were true. Keep in mind that opinion, particularly on important political or social matters, is one thing. But slinging accusations of criminal and unethical behavior at another person on a blog is just as likely to get you in trouble (if not more so) than if you said it at the local pub.* * This should not be construed in any way as me giving legal advice. After all, it's pretty much common sense that you shouldn't verbally write checks that your ass can't cash, right?
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Bloggers Beware
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2 comments:
I liked this post. I'm stealing it. Hope you don't mind.
I also find it ironic that on the same day that I posted my rant about the distinction between "oral" and "verbal" you use it in a post the night before. No, I was not writing it with you in mind ... honest!
I am supposedly the first blogger to lose a lawsuit. The loss is because a very dishonest judge allowed a mis-informed Jury to award damages when the judge himself instructed the jury twice that they couldn’t award unless they found malice, which they didn’t in a written verdict. I am a Christian man who simply told the truth but was prevented by the crooked judge in this case from letting my two lawyer witnesses and one past sheriff to speak. I happen to live in the most corrupt county in Georgia.
I'd not be so quick to judge if I were you. Consider that it might be you who is set up next in some corrupt court where defense witnesses cannot even qualify themselves. Did that happen in Banks v. Milum? It sure did! When two local attorneys attempted to tell jurors what knowledge they had on Forsyth County, Ga. judicial corruption the judge slammed the lid on them both.
When a past sheriff took the stand to tell of how several Forsyth County judges and a county commissioner attempted to bribe him that same lid was dropped on his testimony. The judge would not let the sheriff tell of his prior history in crime fighting or his military service. The Jury never heard the true merits of this case but what they did hear was a well-orchestrated fake trial that had no justice in it.
Of course there were no documents to prove that bribes were passed between parties but there was plenty of circumstantial evidence that the Jury never got to hear. Lawyers take care of their own else they themselves are harmed down the road.
Banks v. Milum was a shame to protect crooked judges in Forsyth County, Ga. PERIOD!
David Milum
www.aboutforsyth.com
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