August 12, 2014
A Bit of Good News
Brett Kimberlin, a cyberbully and convicted terrorist has lost his defamation suit against several bloggers who pointed out that he is a genuinely nasty piece of work. This was an important case as it threatened to set a troubling precedent with regard to the ability of individuals to shut down online free speech via lawfare and intimidate those with different political views . Additionally, some of the defendants in the case had endured death threats and SWATTings.
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Popehat has a roundup. It is particularly pleasing to me that this was not just a legal victory for the defendants. It was also a thorough, total and ignominious defeat for Kimberlin. Sometimes the good do win.
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1
Yay!
Posted by: Mauser at Wed Aug 13 03:45:50 2014 (TJ7ih)
2
That is, indeed, good news. What this guy was able to get away with, for years, is ridiculous.
Posted by: Ben at Wed Aug 13 10:25:02 2014 (S4UJw)
3
He ain't stopped getting away with it yet.
He did lose this case, which is good. But he still hasn't made good against all of the people who had to spend their time and resources in order to deal with his baseless complaints. So to really, really reach the "stopped getting away with it" point, the following things have to happen:
-The court needs to find for attorney costs for the defendants in this case.
-The judgment for those costs actually needs to be executed - it's easy to get a court order saying "you owe me twenty thousand bucks for legal fees" but a lot harder to actually get the twenty thousand bucks out of someone. Specifically, any assets Kimberlin might own which could be used to pay are almost certain to be transferred out of his name by now.
-He also needs to lose his federal case in the same manner.
-And the appeal to this case.
-And any follow-on cases he decides to file, until the court finally steps in and says "look, you don't even get to file anymore, get out".
Until all of these things happen, he's still getting away with it, because the whole point is that he's forcing people to put time and attention into defending against this crap - because the number one piece of advice any lawyer will give their client is "don't say a word about the case", and that shuts them up.
It's also worth noting that one of the defendants dropped his lawyer before the case went to trial, and Popehat bitched him out for it. Because even if the case is meritless, and should have been thrown out immediately, and WAS thrown out before any of the defense lawyers got to do anything but raise some objections, you need to have your lawyer to cross all the Ts and dot all the Is; basically because it was even remotely possible to lose. It says a lot about the legal system that this is the case.
He did lose this case, which is good. But he still hasn't made good against all of the people who had to spend their time and resources in order to deal with his baseless complaints. So to really, really reach the "stopped getting away with it" point, the following things have to happen:
-The court needs to find for attorney costs for the defendants in this case.
-The judgment for those costs actually needs to be executed - it's easy to get a court order saying "you owe me twenty thousand bucks for legal fees" but a lot harder to actually get the twenty thousand bucks out of someone. Specifically, any assets Kimberlin might own which could be used to pay are almost certain to be transferred out of his name by now.
-He also needs to lose his federal case in the same manner.
-And the appeal to this case.
-And any follow-on cases he decides to file, until the court finally steps in and says "look, you don't even get to file anymore, get out".
Until all of these things happen, he's still getting away with it, because the whole point is that he's forcing people to put time and attention into defending against this crap - because the number one piece of advice any lawyer will give their client is "don't say a word about the case", and that shuts them up.
It's also worth noting that one of the defendants dropped his lawyer before the case went to trial, and Popehat bitched him out for it. Because even if the case is meritless, and should have been thrown out immediately, and WAS thrown out before any of the defense lawyers got to do anything but raise some objections, you need to have your lawyer to cross all the Ts and dot all the Is; basically because it was even remotely possible to lose. It says a lot about the legal system that this is the case.
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Wed Aug 13 13:35:52 2014 (ZeBdf)
4
In fairness to Popehat, he did do a follow-up post today asking for assistance in gathering up the sort of evidence necessary to get a vexatious litigant finding through the courts. Several volunteers have already come forward. Maybe this sort of thing will be easier in the modern era, with computerized records and loose networks being able to club together for what is surely a good cause.
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Wed Aug 13 18:13:46 2014 (zJsIy)
5
I'm just hoping that he finally makes some kind of error that results in a SWAT team coming to HIS home.
Posted by: Mauser at Fri Aug 15 03:42:22 2014 (TJ7ih)
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