Defrocked rabbi must pay bloggers' legal fees

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Paul Levy <plevy () citizen org>
Date: October 12, 2006 4:29:58 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Defrocked rabbi must pay bloggers' legal fees

We have obtained a SLAPP ruling against New York rabbi Mordechai  
Tendler, who brought proceedings first in Ohio and then in California  
to try to identify several anonymous bloggers who commented on  
charges  that he abused his position of relgious authority to get  
sexual contact with women who had come to him for counseling.  After  
we got into the case to get the subpoane quashed, he dropped the  
case, got the clerk to take the SLAPP motin off calendar, and even  
filed a motion to "substitute counsel" with himself as a pro se  
lawyer (without providing any address or telephone number by which he  
could be contacted), in an apparent effort to evade our SLAPP motion.

The judge has now granted our request for attorney fees, and we and  
EFF, which worked with us in California to defeat Tendler's slimy  
legal tactics, are going to find him and make him pay the judgment.   
We have got to find a way to communicate to the people who bring  
these baseless libel cases as a ploy to identify their critics -- and  
to the lawyers who advise them -- that it is a foolhardy tactic.

Paul Alan Levy
Public Citizen Litigation Group
1600 - 20th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009
(202) 588-1000
http://www.citizen.org/litigation

> > > Angela Bradbery 10/12/2006 4:15 PM >>>
PUBLIC CITIZEN PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: 			               Contact:  Paul Alan Levy  
(202) 588-1000
Oct. 12, 2006 			          	                                           
Angela Bradbery (202) 588-7741

Defrocked Rabbi Must Pay Anonymous Bloggers' Attorney Fees

Judge Says Rabbi's Petition to Disclose Bloggers Was Brought Without  
Basis

	WASHINGTON, D.C. - A California Superior Court judge ruled today  
that a rabbi's petition to disclose the identities of anonymous  
bloggers who wrote on the Internet about his alleged sexual  
misconduct was brought without basis and that the rabbi must pay the  
bloggers' attorney fees incurred in protecting their anonymity.

	Orthodox rabbi Mordechai Tendler, who served a congregation in New  
Hempstead, N.Y., was accused of sexual abuse and harassment by some  
of the women whom he had been advising. The controversy garnered much  
mainstream media attention when Tendler was expelled from the  
Rabbinical Council of America in March 2005, was sued by one of his  
accusers in December 2005 and was dismissed from his rabbinical post  
by his congregation in 2006.

	Many blogs also covered the investigation of Tendler's alleged  
misconduct. In an effort to fight back against the accusations,  
Tendler has sought to reveal the identities of four bloggers who  
anonymously wrote about his case on the following Blogspot sites:  
www.rabbinicintegrity.blogspot.com, www.jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com,  
www.jewishwhistleblower.blogspot.com and  
www.newhempsteadnews.blogspot.com.

	Tendler filed a petition in February 2006 in Ohio to identify three  
of the bloggers, stating that he had been the subject of false and  
defamatory statements but identifying no particular statements and no  
evidence that the postings were false, a requirement to prove  
defamation. After the Ohio court granted his petition, Tendler filed  
a new case in San Jose, Calif., to obtain enforceable subpoenas  
directed to Google, which operates Blogspot, compelling it to  
disclose information identifying four bloggers.

However, Public Citizen agreed to represent the three bloggers who  
had been originally sued and filed a special motion to strike the  
California case under California's anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits  
Against Public Participation) statute. In an apparent attempt to  
evade the statute, Tendler withdrew the subpoenas, dismissed the case  
and dismissed his attorneys. Today's ruling by Judge Neal A. Cabrinha  
of the California Superior Court for Santa Clara County rejected  
those maneuvers and held that Tendler is responsible for the  
bloggers' attorney fees.

	"The right to criticize anonymously on the Internet is a fundamental  
free speech right and an important tool for whistleblowers and  
consumers who speak out about the misconduct or corruption of big  
companies or public figures," said Paul Alan Levy, the Public Citizen  
attorney who filed the motion. "Those who want to intimidate their  
critics with the threat of identification, but who have no real basis  
for suing, should learn from this case that they cannot file suit and  
then expect to withdraw if the critics are ready to fight back.  
Companies and powerful individuals who try this trick should be  
prepared for the financial consequences."

	Corynne McSherry of the San Francisco-based nonprofit Electronic  
Frontier Foundation serves as local counsel for Public Citizen. To  
view the motions, visit http://www.citizen.org/documents/ 
Tendler_memotoquash.pdf and http://www.citizen.org/documents/ 
Tendler_SLAPPmemo.pdf.  The SLAPP ruling can be viewed at http:// 
www.citizen.org/documents/tendlerorderonmotion.pdf.

Public Citizen has a strong record of defending the First Amendment  
rights of Internet users. To learn more, visit http://www.citizen.org/ 
litigation/briefs/IntFreeSpch/.

###

Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy  
organization based in Washington, D.C. For more information, please  
visit www.citizen.org.




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