A Los Angeles media lawyer provides eight strategies for avoiding libel and concludes by saying that retractions and apologies must be done carefully so that you don’t make the situation worse. -db From the California Defamation Law Blog, January 17, 2012, by Gordon Firemark. Full story
Bloggers may win victories in defamation cases since their heated critical commentary is easily identified as opinion rather than fact and not libelous, but the advantage may have a serious down side, writes John Sharkey for the Citizen Media Law Project. Sharkey is concerned that in ruling for bloggers in defamation cases, judges are making disparaging comments about blogging, saying in one case that “blogs are a subspecies of online speech which inherently suggest that
A Pasadena man who had made defamatory statements about the architectural firm hired to work on the renovation of his historic home was entitled to his opinions about the firm but had to correct false factual statements made to a historic restoration group and others. Writing for the court, Justice Steven C. Suzukawa said the man could be required to set the record straight but not to provide a mea culpa. -db From the Metropolitan