Posted on 09/26/2011 5:50:52 PM PDT by Bigtigermike
This headline at ABC News is misleading:
Sarah Palin Threatens to Sue ‘Rogue’ Book Publisher
It is misleading, because there is no “threat” in the letter. Rather, as Governor Palin’s lawyer John Tiemessen clearly states, the legal prerequisite for a defamation suit under Alaska law:
“[S]ince both your company, and the author, clearly knew the statements were false, admitted they had no basis in fact or reality, but decided to publish in order to harm Governor Palin’s family, you and Mr. McGinniss have defamed the Palins. This letter shall serve as written notice . . . that a claim may be brought against you, your company and Mr. McGinniss for knowingly publishing false statements.”
While I am not specifically familiar with Alaska’s libel law, I am familiar with libel law in general — as every journalist should be — and what Tiemessen has sent Random House is what’s known as a “demand letter.”
A publisher is put on notice by such a letter that the lawyer’s client considers himself the victim of libel. Notice of intent is required for several reasons. In the newspaper business, if somebody calls your office and bitches about a story, OK. But the minute they say “lawsuit” or “lawyer,” you end the conversation and refer them to the newspaper’s attorney. If the complainer is actually serious about libel suit, their lawyer sends a demand letter, and the newspaper’s attorney then considers whether the complainer has a case. If the lawyer says retract, you retract.
Printing a retraction is a humiliating thing for a newspaper to do, but it’s cheaper than taking a libel suit to court. Retracting a book is not so easy, which is why book publishers have lawyers on retainer whose job is to vet manuscripts like McGinniss’s.
For many years, it has been part of my business to know the difference between the mere threat of a libel suit – threats are a dime a dozen — and such letters as Tiemessen has sent Random House. This is not a “threat,” and the executives at Random House damn well know it. They clearly failed to perform “due diligence” in fact-checking, and no cleverness in attributing lies to anonymous sources can protect them.
What the hell were they thinking, hiring a writer of such notoriously bad judgment that he would hang out with Jesse Griffin?
Looks like Sarah may be getting the house next door.
This is great. Sarah Palin doesn’t suffer liars, fools, and creeps lightly.
David Kernell, the punk son of the Tennessee Democratic lawmaker was found guilty of obstructing justice and unauthorised access to a computer for hacking her email account. The last I heard Kernell faces up to 20 years in prison for the first charge and one year for the charge of hacking.
She may wind up with Random House.
Random House’s hatred for conservative Americans has blinded their judgement. Pure raw hatred will do that... Has anyone heard an apology from the haters? Or are they too good to apologize to a conservative woman or child?
Normally Sarah Palin as a public figure couldn’t sue anyone for defamation, but the willing and reckless behaviour of Joe and Random House as well as the nature of some of Joe’s claims make it a pretty good case for Sarah. Joe and Random House are screwed unless they can prove truth, which obviously they cannot. I hope she takes them to the cleaners. No settlements Sarah, please.
On Friday RH was defending the book but i think they are singing a different tune TODAY as they are in serious trouble - usually these libel cases are difficult to prove but Nutty Joe has that damning ‘email’ and discovery and released of all of RH emails to Palin’s lawyers could be enough to settle the case
Good.
By the time RH pony up the dough to SP, there would be millions for her campaign. McGinniss thought he could get away with sh*t, and I hope SP tags Levi along on the lawsuit.
The lamestream media with their silly Tina Fey SNL skits of three years ago thought they had successfully "Dan Quayle'd" Sarah Palin. But like all bullies eventually do, they picked on the wrong person.
Get the popcorn ready, this is going to be fun to watch.
This could get interesting.
I was wondering why Joe McPenis was whining Mourning Joe of PMSNBC and Olberman at Current TV along with other lefty venues were canceling interviews with him? Now it becomes clear, with that one letter from Palin’s Lawyers, they dast not expose their deep pockets by getting involved in the McPenis lies.
Yea....once that email came out, all of the leftist media backed away, what does that tell you how RH really feels about that email being out in the public? Hmmmm!
In order for someone who is a public figure to prevail in a libel suit, he must prove “actual malice.”
Actual malice is defined as “knowledge that the information is false,” or that it was published with “reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.”
It’s a tough standard, but not impossible to prove.
Sounds to me like Sarah can prove actual malice in this case.
I would guess that Random house are dirty filthy democrats
And as the demand letter makes abundantly clear, ol Joe blew his lawyer client privileges when he disclosed to a third party in email what he and RH lawyers were discussing. That opens of a whole new magnitude of whoop ass, as the RH lawyers will have to disclose all correspondence they and Joe had on the entire matter.
I very much doubt RH wants all their dirty laundry aired in public. They may just retract, pull the book, and offer Palin an out of court settlement.
Jon Meachem from Newsweek is the head guy over there and a rabid leftist
I don’t think there is any fun in this at all. The bastards have sought to literally destroy the Palins. Do you think the hell the Palins are going through is the least bit fun? Is it fun for her husband and kids - was it fun for Bristol to listen to that creep scream at her “you mother is a whore” Is it fun that this is probably the end of her running for POTUS - which I believe she wanted to do? Instead she has to defend herself from a pack of lies. This is similar to those ethics complaints when she had to take action against what the insane rats were doing to her. That one cost the people of Alaska their governor. This one may very well have cost the USA a really good POTUS.
NOT fun!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.