Coal Boss Files Total SLAPP Suit Against John Oliver & HBO

["Dave Farber" <dave () farber net>]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Richard Forno <rforno () infowarrior org>
Date: Thu, Jun 22, 2017 at 6:57 AM
Subject: Coal Boss Files Total SLAPP Suit Against John Oliver & HBO
To: Infowarrior List <infowarrior () attrition org>
Cc: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>


Coal Boss Files Total SLAPP Suit Against John Oliver & HBO

from the let's-talk-anti-slapp,-john dept

This one is clearly no surprise at all, given that -- as we wrote about
just a couple days ago -- Bob Murray and his company Murray Energy were
threatening John Oliver with a SLAPP suit if Oliver's satirical report
about the coal industry was used to "defame, harass, or otherwise injure
Mr. Murray or Murray Energy." Of course, Oliver's report did no such
thing... but, alas, Murray has now sued Oliver, HBO, Time Warner... and the
writers of the story. The lawsuit was filed in West Virginia state court.
In my original post, I suggested it might be filed in Ohio, where Murray
Energy is headquartered, but it does also have operations in West Virginia
as well. Either way, as with Ohio, West Virginia is a state with no
anti-SLAPP law.

Unfortunately, I don't have the full lawsuit. The Daily Beast, which first
wrote about the case has chosen -- for whatever reason -- not to post the
document, which is pretty lame. However, having watched the John Oliver
piece multiple times, I can't see how any of it comes anywhere even
remotely near defamatory. It falls into a variety of clearly protected
categories, including opinion, satire and rhetorical hyperbole. The idea
that there were materially false and defamatory statements that were put
forth knowing they were false (or with reckless disregard for the truth) is
laughable. There is no way that this lawsuit succeeds -- but, as we've been
pointing out -- that's not really the point of most of these kinds of
lawsuits. SLAPP lawsuits are designed to create a chill on free speech, by
making that speech costly. Obviously, HBO/Time Warner can afford this, and
have access to great lawyers, so there's almost no chance that Murray wins
the lawsuit, but that's not the point. It will still cost money and lots of
time to deal with the lawsuit and that's a hassle.

Murray Energy put out a bizarre statement that does little to support the
idea that Murray has an actual case here:

< - >

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170621/23430137644/coal-boss-files-total-slapp-suit-against-john-oliver-hbo.shtml



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