Bloggers have long been known for a fairly raw form of discussion. Now a defamation suit may serve as a warning to all bloggers that they are equally vulnerable to lawsuit. A Los Angeles court has cleared the way for discovery in a deposition lawsuit by a friend of Lindsay Lohan, who was accused by a blogger of planting cocaine found in Lohan’s car and setting her up to be photographed under the influence. Samantha Ronson suing Perez Hilton (whose real name is Mario Lavandeira) for a story that appeared on the website celebritybabylon.com.
Ronson is also suing Jill Ishkanian, whose Sunset Photo and News Agency operates CelebrityBabylon.com. It appears however that Ishkanian may have settled.
The first question is whether Ronson is a public figure. It is possible for a friend of a celebrity to become a public figure, which moves them under the higher standard of actual malice. Under that standard, she would have to prove that the blogger acted with knowledge of the falsity or reckless disregard of whether it was true or not. Many bloggers labor under the assumption that they are not subject to such liability. However, a blog is a publication and can be the subject of defamation. For the full story, click here
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My purpose in posting this message is to find a reporter that will write a story about my friend that has been the object of a corrupt U.S. District Court in the 5th Circuit. Everything I am about to say is provable in the court transcripts. The crimes committed against my friend range from conspiracy between judge, prosecutor and public defender, collusion, manufacturing evidence, perjury and all at the local level. Then we have conspiracy between two U.S. Districts and this time the second district has drummed up charges against my friend and he has never been in that district and of course more manufactured evidence, perjury, and collusion. All I’m asking for is a reporter that would like to blow the lid off the corruption within the U.S. Court system. My friend believes that his only hope to get out of jail now is to have someone report on his cases and embarrass the hell out of them.