California Defamation Law Blog : Los Angeles Defamation & Anti-SLAPP Lawyer & Attorney : Adrianos Facchetti Law Firm

"The day was September 19, 2006, a Tuesday.  It was a little before 2:30 in the afternoon and the weather was sunny in beautiful Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The surf was up just down the street and my stomach was riding a wild wave as the jury of six somberly filed into the nearly empty courtroom.

I had no idea what to expect. David leaned a little closer and whispered, "Well, this is it . . . " I wished for something I could hold onto besides his words since my legs weren't feeling very steady as the bailiff, a very kindly looking older man, intoned, "All rise."

The Honorable Judge John Luzzo, in flowing black robe and wearing his duties with appropriate dignity, took his elevated seat on the bench and asked the foreman, "Has the jury reached a verdict?"

"We have, Your Honor." She handed their verdict to the bailiff, who gave it to the judge--he nodded in seeming approval--then back it went from the judge to the bailiff to the foreman. The air was trapped  in my lungs and the pound of pulsing blood was in my ears as she began to read, line by line, the jury's unanimous decision.

Suddenly I was crying and I couldn't stop the tears that were streaming down my face . . ."

The reason Sue Scheff was crying was because she had just been vindicated. She had just won the largest internet defamation verdict in history in the staggering sum of 11.3 million dollars! But even more important than the substantial award, she had been able to present her story to 6 objective individuals who came to understand her and her terrible situation.

This is the story of Sue Scheff in her book, Google Bomb.

First off, let me say that this book has my highest recommendation. This is the first book review I have done on this blog, and for good reason. I only present extremely high quality information to the readers of this blog. Period.

And this book fits the bill.

Now let me discuss specifically what I enjoyed about the book and why you should buy it right now.

There are two authors.  Sue Scheff and John W. Dozier, Jr. Sue Scheff shares her personal story and all the emotions and feelings that she experienced as a result of being defamed online. She also discusses the litigation process from her point of view, which is eye-opening and instructive for laypersons and lawyers alike.

John W. Dozier, Jr., writes about the legal aspects of a Google Bomb attack and offers expert tips to protect one's reputation online.  John is perhaps the foremost expert in internet defamation law in the country and I respect him tremendously. I believe he is on the right side of this debate and when he writes/talks people listen.

The book is chock-full of expert tips and strategies to manage your reputation online. Pages 203-208 alone are worth the cost of the book.

I would love to write more about the book but I don't want to give away any of the extremely valuable information in there.

Click here right now to add this book to your library.

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An absolute privilege exists for statements made "[i]n the proper discharge of an official duty" under California Civil Code section 47(a). An absolute privilege is defined as a "privilege that immunizes an actor from suit, no matter how wrongful the action may be, and even though it is done with an improper motive."  Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Ed., p. 1215.

This means that any publication of a statement made by a person in the proper discharge of an official duty is absolutely immunized.

So when does this defense/privilege apply?

First, the statement must be made by a public official (in other words, only government officials). The official duty privilege does not apply to private individuals. For example, a court held that a district attorney was acting in the discharge of an official duty when he issued a press release regarding alleged violations of the Brown Act.

Second, the statement must be made in the public official's official capacity. If not, the privilege does not apply.

If you liked this post please subscribe to the California Defamation Law Newsletter to receive a FREE copy of the "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide To Defamation Law."

Related Posts:

What Are the Defenses To A Claim For Defamation?

Truth Is A Defense To A Claim Of Defamation

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Many of us work incredibly hard to establish an outstanding reputation both in our personal life and in our business.

We spend countless hours learning and honing our craft.

We spend time away from our family and friends all in the name of developing our skills. We make the kind of sacrifices that only one of us would understand. We work really hard.

And then the unthinkable happens.

A negative review pops up on the internet about your business. The review appears to be written by a competitor and is incredibly libelous and untrue. You write to the website operator asking them to remove the comment but they decline. Now what do you do?

Or perhaps a scathing story is written about you in your local newspaper. The story is incredibly damaging and untrue. But everyone seems to believe the story including people you know. You speak to the reporter and tell him your side of the story but he doesn't care. Now what do you do?

Perhaps you should do nothing.

Perhaps you should do lots of things.

But one thing you should not do is let the defamation rob you of your joy.

Because ultimately it doesn't matter.

People forget. Memories fade. And ultimately in most cases you are remembered for your body of work.

Remember that.

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I'm having way too much fun creating educational videos using a cool site I found called www.xtranormal.com.  The site allows you to create animated videos, which is a lot of fun. I also think it's a great way to continue to share excellent content with you regarding California Defamation Law and so you can "see" what a defamation lawyer looks like.

You can check out the following  videos I made on my NEW Defamation Law Channel on Youtube:

Internet Defamation Lawyer: Introduction

Internet Defamation: Dealing With Negative Customer Reviews

How To Avoid Being Sued On Your Blog

If you liked this post please subscribe to the California Defamation Law Newsletter to receive a FREE copy of the "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide To Defamation Law."

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Celebrity defamation is a growing trend. Don't believe me? Click on any of the links below.

• Roger Clemens
• Courtney Love
• Perez Hilton
• Kirstie Alley
• Demi Moore
• Britney Spears

There are a number of reasons for this.

The Rise of Social Media

No one can deny the awesome rise of social media and its ability to influence our culture. Millions of people use tools like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn every day to consume and share information and as a means of interacting with other like-minded people.

It is also an incredible information delivery system. That delivery system allows celebrities to communicate with their fans (to influence them) without resort to traditional media, which gives celebrities new found power.

The Immediacy of The Internet 

Everyone knows the Internet allows for instantaneous transmission of information. But people forget that publication of information on the Internet is permanent and potentially far-reaching. 

The Fiction of Invincibility

People feel invincible on the Internet. They write and post information they would never say in public. They also act in ways they would never do so in public.

I know this is hard to believe, but take a look at Twitter. How often have you seen someone tweet about their exact location; especially celebrities (I've been guilty of this myself). Well, shouldn't people be worried about disclosing their location to others? This is both a privacy and personal safety issue. Yet people tweet freely about where they are.

The Public Relations Bump

"There is no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary." - Brendan Behan

Celebrities believe that all publicity is good. Is it good for business to start a fight with another celebrity on Twitter? You betcha.

The next post in this series will examine whether different rules apply to celebrities with respect to internet defamation.

If you liked this post please subscribe to the California Defamation Law Newsletter to receive a FREE copy of the "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide To Defamation Law."

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WARNING: This post contains profanity.  If you find profanity objectionable please do not continue reading.

Someone must have hacked into Kirstie Alley's Twitter account. At least, I hope so for Alley's sake.

Yesterday in response to a tweet from one of her followers, Alley wrote that "PH" (presumably Perez Hilton) was "like a closet pedophile drawing nasty stuff on young girl's photos...makes me vomit."

But Alley did not stop there.  Then she wrote the following choice tweets:

Then Alley purports to compare Hilton to Nazis:

You would have thought that Alley would have given it a rest but she started up again tonight! Check this out (read in reverse order: scroll down).

Terms like "pornographer," "pedophile," "child pornography creep," are all serious allegations which could get Alley into some serious hot water.  And even though Hilton is a public figure, there may be some evidence of actual malice since Alley wrote she vowed to take Hilton down.

But Hilton did not take these Twitter attacks lying down.  Here's what he wrote (in reverse order: scroll down for the earlier tweets).

This incident seems to be a trend among celebrities. Instead of using tabloids to trash each other they've turned to social media tools, most notably, Twitter.

I expect a lawsuit to be filed within a week.

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