FC: Public Citizen will defend SavageStupidity.com in lawsuit

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[Our own Thomas Leavitt, a prolific Politech contributor, is the fellow 
getting sued. Glad to know that he's getting first-rate legal help from 
Paul and the other folks at Public Citizen. --Declan]

---

To: declan () well com
From: Earl Hood <earl () earlhood com>
Subject: Public Citizen to defend SavageStupidity.com co-founders against 
$500,000 lawsuit by Michael Savage
Date: Wed, 04 Jun 2003 15:06:01 -0500

Declan,

Your previous posts related to this:
    <http://www.politechbot.com/p-04696.html>
    <http://www.politechbot.com/p-04691.html>


<http://www.savagestupidity.com/pr-06-03-2003-publiccitizen.html>:

  June 3rd, 2003

  SANTA CRUZ, CA - SavageStupidity.com's co-founders, Thomas and Gunilla
  Leavitt, announced today that Public Citizen, a nationally prominent
  non-profit public interest law firm, has agreed to defend them from a
  lawsuit filed by Talk Radio Network, Inc. TRN syndicates "The Savage
  Nation", a nationally broadcast radio talk show hosted by the infamous
  Michael Savage (née Weiner). "The Weiner has demonstrated his contempt
  for free speech by filing this lawsuit, and we intend to dispute it
  vigorously," said Thomas and Gunilla. SavageStupidity.com will also
  be represented by David Bradford, a partner specializing in complex
  litigation at the prestigious Chicago-based national law firm of Jenner
  & Block, who will act as local counsel in the case.

  On May 12th TRN filed a federal lawsuit asking for $500,000 in damages
  due to "lost advertising and business opportunities", in an attempt
  to permanently shut down three web sites containing detailed criticism
  of Michael Savage and encouraging consumer boycotts of advertisers on
  his radio and television shows. Filed in a Northern Illinois court,
  the suit claims that Culligan International Company canceled a contract
  for advertising on "The Savage Nation" worth more than $100,000 after
  receiving "false and malicious" email from the web site owners and their
  readers. Others named in the lawsuit are a John Doe (responsible for
  michaelsavagesucks.com), and Julie Sigwart, owner of Take Back the
  Media (takebackthemedia.com), both of whom also vigorously dispute
  the merits of TRN's claims.

  ...




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