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Ah, that’s different then. I am sympathetic to your viewpoint but unfortunately it seems that we no longer are playing on a level field.

akerl_ 2y ago
We have never been on a level playing field. The entire reason that many legislators have implemented anti-SLAPP laws are to provide avenues for this kind of legal action that attempts to use the courts to punish entities for expressive activity.
- ipython 2y ago
  It’s objectively gotten worse over the past decade+. Unfortunately the anti-slapp laws are fragmented and therefore don’t have the intended effect. Plaintiffs can easily venue shop, and there is no slapp protection in federal court. Even if you do live in a state with an anti-slapp statute, you may still end up with hundreds of thousands of legal fees if the plaintiff just dismisses the suit (essentially a legal DoS). See for example https://horwitz.law/victims-of-slapp-suits-cannot-recover-their-legal-fees-if-plaintiffs-withdraw-their-claims-before-hearing-holds-tennessee-supreme-court/ https://horwitz.law/victims-of-slapp-suits-cannot-recover-th... Not to mention the very lawmakers who need to pass such laws on a national level are the very ones abusing the courts. Devin Nunes is one of the most egregious offenders. https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/truth-social-ceo-devin-nunes-suffers-another-loss-in-defamation-suit-after-judge-found-it-substantially-and-objectively-true-that-his-family-farm-employed-undocumented-immigrants/amp/ https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/truth-social-ceo-devin-... At this point I feel that this is as close to an end run around the 1a as you can get.
  - akerl_ 2y ago
    I wish you'd take the extra couple minutes to type out your thoughts before submitting, rather than rapidly sending a 2 line reply and then immediately going back to flesh it out into a full thought. I think we generally agree more than we disagree, but it's difficult to have a dialog when while I'm typing a response, your existing comment morphs underneath me.
    - ipython 2y ago
      Sorry. I am typing on my phone and researching on a tiny screen is difficult. I don’t have any anger toward you- I am passionate about this subject (although not sure what I personally can do about it) I’m curious to hear more about your viewpoint. I’ll refrain from editing my comments.
      - akerl_ 2y ago
        I think the things you're calling out are accurate. There are more people, and especially more prominent/influential people, who are willing to press the seams of the justice system to use it for personal grievances or vendettas. The existing protections against this are not sufficient: where anti-SLAPP laws exist, they're often not expansive enough to cover the novel ways that the courts are being weaponized, and where they don't exist, plaintiffs continue to venue shop to improve their position. That still doesn't suggest to me that the solution is for otherwise well-intentioned actors to steer into the skid. At best, Lego/Nestle/etc would make a political point and then lose their case. At worst, they would win, setting damaging precedent for future suits by the very people they're trying to oppose.

akerl_ 2y ago

We have never been on a level playing field. The entire reason that many legislators have implemented anti-SLAPP laws are to provide avenues for this kind of legal action that attempts to use the courts to punish entities for expressive activity.

ipython 2y ago
It’s objectively gotten worse over the past decade+. Unfortunately the anti-slapp laws are fragmented and therefore don’t have the intended effect. Plaintiffs can easily venue shop, and there is no slapp protection in federal court. Even if you do live in a state with an anti-slapp statute, you may still end up with hundreds of thousands of legal fees if the plaintiff just dismisses the suit (essentially a legal DoS). See for example https://horwitz.law/victims-of-slapp-suits-cannot-recover-their-legal-fees-if-plaintiffs-withdraw-their-claims-before-hearing-holds-tennessee-supreme-court/ https://horwitz.law/victims-of-slapp-suits-cannot-recover-th... Not to mention the very lawmakers who need to pass such laws on a national level are the very ones abusing the courts. Devin Nunes is one of the most egregious offenders. https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/truth-social-ceo-devin-nunes-suffers-another-loss-in-defamation-suit-after-judge-found-it-substantially-and-objectively-true-that-his-family-farm-employed-undocumented-immigrants/amp/ https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/truth-social-ceo-devin-... At this point I feel that this is as close to an end run around the 1a as you can get.
- akerl_ 2y ago
  I wish you'd take the extra couple minutes to type out your thoughts before submitting, rather than rapidly sending a 2 line reply and then immediately going back to flesh it out into a full thought. I think we generally agree more than we disagree, but it's difficult to have a dialog when while I'm typing a response, your existing comment morphs underneath me.
  - ipython 2y ago
    Sorry. I am typing on my phone and researching on a tiny screen is difficult. I don’t have any anger toward you- I am passionate about this subject (although not sure what I personally can do about it) I’m curious to hear more about your viewpoint. I’ll refrain from editing my comments.
    - akerl_ 2y ago
      I think the things you're calling out are accurate. There are more people, and especially more prominent/influential people, who are willing to press the seams of the justice system to use it for personal grievances or vendettas. The existing protections against this are not sufficient: where anti-SLAPP laws exist, they're often not expansive enough to cover the novel ways that the courts are being weaponized, and where they don't exist, plaintiffs continue to venue shop to improve their position. That still doesn't suggest to me that the solution is for otherwise well-intentioned actors to steer into the skid. At best, Lego/Nestle/etc would make a political point and then lose their case. At worst, they would win, setting damaging precedent for future suits by the very people they're trying to oppose.