Criminal Harassment Charges Survive First Amendment Challenge, Even Without The Threat of Personal Injury
This is a criminal harassment case. As recounted by the court, the Johnsons lived on the same street as the victims, the Lyonses. The Johnsons acquired some land adjacent to the Lyonses and sought to develop it, but ended up…
Facebook Putdown Leads to Lawsuit Between Sorority Sisters–Grimes v. Saban
This is an assault case brought by Sarah Grimes against her sorority sister, Kristen Saban. Grimes and Saban went out for a night of partying. Afterwards, Saban and Grimes were allegedly arguing, with Saban telling Grimes “no one liked her…
Stupid Online Teen Banter Isn’t “Disorderly Conduct”–State v. Nelson
We’re revisiting the perennial topic of how to address teens doing stupid teen things online. As we’ve discussed repeatedly, teens constantly test limits online and typically lack the wisdom and perspective of adults. In my era, typical offline teen pranks…
Will A ‘Cast Of Thousands’ Become A ‘Cast Of Thousands…Of Plaintiffs’? A Preview of Garcia v. Google (Forbes Cross-Post)
[Note: I wrote the following post on Monday before the oral arguments. I haven’t had a chance to view Monday’s oral arguments, but from the news reports and Twitter feeds, it sounds like Kozinski and McKeown will be squaring off….
First Amendment Bars School Discipline For Student’s Rap Video About School Coaches
Bell was a student at Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, Mississippi. A few female students told Bell that two male athletic coaches had made inappropriate comments toward them. Bell, an aspiring rapper, made a video about the two coaches….
Lawyer Disciplined for Sending Facebook Message to Adverse Party
An 18 year old had sex with a co-worker and ended up pregnant. She gave up the baby for adoption, but the biological father did not consent. The mother had signed an adoption consent form. Prior to the date of…
Legal Blog Faces Defamation Liability for Mischaracterizing Prior Legal Proceedings–Huon v. Above the Law
Plaintiff, a lawyer, was charged with assault in 2008 and charged in 2009 for cyberstalking and witness harassment (based on one of his blog posts?) involving the same alleged victim. He was acquitted of both charges. His charges and trial…
Appeals Court Affirms Harassment Order Based on Vague Testimony of Indirect Contacts
This is a civil harassment case. Kwan and Murcia both worked at CVS but at different stores (both as managers). Kwan filed a request for a harassment restraining order against Murcia, alleging that he was cyber harassing her and texted…
Section 230 Precludes Injunctive Relief Against Message Boards–Medytox v. InvestorsHub
We’re celebrating #ThrowbackThursday today at the Technology & Marketing Law Blog! InvestorsHub runs message boards on financial topics. A user, Hawley, posted several messages on InvestorsHub about Medytox and its principals. Medytox and the principals sued Hawley for defamation and…
When Does Social Media Chatter Become Criminal? Previewing The Supreme Court’s ‘Elonis’ Case (Forbes Cross-Post)
Social media combines the power of printed words with the immediacy of oral conversations. While social media frequently enriches our lives, it also enables incivil behavior such as the threats of violence against others. Should we interpret a social media…