http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont....2bd48105.html
Hundreds who posted views on sex assault trial targeted in Tarrant suit
04:39 PM CST on Saturday, February 7, 2009
By CHRIS HAWES / WFAA--TV
FORT WORTH — Hundreds of people who posted their opinions of a sexual assault trial in an online forum are now the targets of a lawsuit.
The authors of those comments on a Web site thought they were anonymous, but this week, a judge ruled their names should be revealed.
Mark and Rhonda Lesher lived quietly in northeast Texas; Mark practiced law, Rhonda ran a beauty salon.
Then, last year, a woman accused the couple — along with another man — of sexually assaulting her. That's when the anonymous comments started appearing on Topix.com.
An estimated 1,700 statements were too graphic to be included in this story, going far beyond the criminal charges.
"They were perverted, sick, vile, inhumane accusations," said Mark Lesher in a telephone interview from Clarksville, Texas.
The Leshers' attorney, William Pieratt Demond, labeled the comments "a form of persecution."
Last month, the couple got their day in court. A jury found the Leshers, along with their alleged accomplice, not guilty. But in the online forum, it seemed, the trial had no end.
"It just ... basically made us both feel like common criminals," Lesher said. "It's like someone had basically raped us of our reputation and our standing in the community over and over and over again."
And so this month, the Leshers sued 178 anonymous posters on the Web site. A Tarrant County judge ordered Topix to turn over potentially identifying information about the users listed in the lawsuit.. The site has until March 6 to comply with the ruling.
"We do not just give up people's privacy," said the Web site's CEO Chris Tolles. "We're very, very careful about that."
But Tolles said the discussions are not necessarily a license to run people through the mud. "If there is a line that's been crossed from a libel standpoint — and it seems reasonable — we do, in fact, cooperate with the courts."
This lawsuit was brought in Tarrant County because it appears at least one anonymous poster lives here.
Internet libel suits have had success in the past. A few years ago a North Dakota professor was awarded $3 million over claims a student Web site defamed him.
The moral of the story hear is to never talk about a lawyer on line. I think the number of people who agree with FWD is going to go through the roof. It also leaves me wondering if Kori and LJ would roll on us if the courts came calling or if they'd willing to do time in the name of the members of this board.
And I'd be remiss if I didn't add that Mark and Rhonda Lesher are terrific, super, great, awesome people whom I would never, ever say a bad word about. Ever.
That's lame. How can you sue someone for this?
I love everyone here at Spurstalk.
IM (untrained legal) O, there's no way that suit stands up. I would hope that they appeal that court order to turn over the info. That suit lacks the legitimacy to pull this .
ing Dallas people man. Can we just give that city and the whole region to Arkansas and Oklahoma?
I'm not a lawyer, but from what I gather libel supersedes First Amendment rights. Proving libel isn't trivial as a result. One of the key requirements for something to be libel is that it be published (and malicious, and willful, and ...) ... so do internet message boards cons ute "publications"? Apparently in the case of the professor who won a case, the judge/jury said yes.
Maybe FWD will enlighten us. "Libel" gets tossed around - like the time we wrote a letter to our church board expressing concerns about something a staff member had done. Next thing we knew we had a "cease and desist" letter from said staff member's lawyer accusing us of libel, saying they'd take us to court if we didn't take back what we said, etc. Fortunately we knew the head of a big law firm (from our previous church, LOL) who wrote back (on letterhead, where his name was first of the 20 or so lawyers listed) that there was absolutely no case and that they'd rep us if it went any further. Last we heard of that.
itd be worth the laugh to watch the hillbillies and rednecks fight over it
Hahaha, Mark and Rhonda Lesher are sexual deviants . . . I don't have much money they can go after. But, I'd be pissed if they took my four-slot toaster.
I love me my waffles.
if I wrote a note on a piece of paper and gave it to my friends so they can all see it, there is nothing the court can do. I can say anything I want to in an unofficial way, as long as it's not illegal.
Libel/slander only works when a publication is involved, and writing on a piece of paper or internet forum in an unofficial, to my friends way does not cons ute that. i can have my opinion, as long as it's not illegal.
I'm not a magazine or newspaper.
trial won't hold up.
Last edited by MiamiHeat; 02-10-2009 at 01:17 PM.
There should be a message board where no one keeps score, so no one ever gets their feelings hurt. Because everyone is a winner, gosh darnnit!
what a bunch of s
Because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and gosh darn't. people like me!!
Anonymous should be scared.
oh wait, we ain't scared of .
-Mars
on behalf of Oklahoma thank you but you can keep it.
IANAL, but my understanding is that anonymous opinions are generally well-protected by the courts.
But if this keeps JoeChalupa in line, I'm all for it because nothing else we have tried has worked.
Kori and LJ are honorable people and I'll bet you anything that they would rather go to jail than to name all the intelligent and sensitive posters on this wonderful board.
Me on the other hand would be handing out printouts of the IPs before the would get to say the "I" in "FBI"
You are SOOOOOO wrong. Libel can be take any form (written or verbal) and all that needs to be established is truth/untruth and damages.
I am unfortunately somewhat of a libel expert having been sued.
The facts:
I was at a friends housewarming party.
I was sitting outside on a swing talking to his dad.
His dad was widowed and wealthy and he had a new "younger" girlfriend that wasn't at the party yet.
When she arrived, she came out on the back porch to find her "boyfriend"
She was clearly checking me out. My friends dad was sitting in the swing on my right and she was standing on my left. After she was introduced to me she told my friends dad she was going inside to get a drink.
She leaned across me with her s in my face to give her boyfriend a peck on the cheek.
Meanwhile she ran her left hand up the inside of my thigh and checked out my package with a long rub/squeeze. She gave me a BIG smile, told me how NICE it was to meet me and then winked and went inside.
I was a little freaked and left the party shortly afterwards and told the other people riding with me what had happened.
I didn't tell my friend or my friends dad.
About a year later my friend and I were sitting around a campfire at the ranch and he was telling me what a his dads new girlfriend was and how much trouble she was causing between them. I swore him to secrecy and told him what happened to me.
He told his dad. His dad wasn't sure what to believe and demanded to talk to me personally. I agreed and told him the story.
He still didn't know what to believe and confronted the girlfriend.
She sued both me and my friend for slander.
It was an enormous pain in the ass. We went all the way to depositions and about to schedule a court date. It really came down to a he said/she said thing and there were no other witnesses.
Both our insurance companies wanted to settle and the got 10K X 2 from our insurance companies.
Is the still alive?
LOL...yeah, like they wouldn't know who to look for?
Seriously, the actual ending was even better. My friends semi-senile, wrinkly old dad kept that on the hook for almost 10 years getting blow jobs, never married her, and did a generation skip trust with all his assets and the didn't get a dime.
Another frivolous lawsuit. I bet they are democrats sueing
I'd be surprised if the courts can even order the website to delete the posts. Since the people didn't start with that step, one can safely assume that they're more concerned about getting money than they are about salvaging their reputations.
Cosmic Cowboy, i have never heard of a libel case so absurd in my life
because of hearsay? the judge should have thrown her case out and told her to grow up.
that's ridiculous. are you telling the truth? because it doesn't make any sense that she would get 20k total just because you said something about her.
Kori and LJ are honorable people and I'll bet you anything that they would rather go to jail than to name all the intelligent and sensitive posters on this wonderful board.
Me on the other hand would be handing out printouts of the IPs before the would get to say the "I" in "FBI"
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