Tag Archives: First Amendment

Don’t Try to SLAPP a Texan

Posted on May 14, 2011 by debmcalister

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My husband’s family has been in Texas so long that if you walk into the Alamo, there’s a quote by one of his ancestors up on the back wall (“Let me give my life for Texas” – Tapley Holland). Mine … Continue reading →

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Online Misconduct: The New Jury Duty Worry

Posted on April 29, 2011 by debmcalister

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Yesterday’s mail disgorged one of those notices that crop up every few years: a summons for criminal jury duty. Until recently, I thought of jury duty as boring, but not that bad. (Boring, because I seldom get picked for jury … Continue reading →

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Having Your Say Without Losing Your Shirt

Posted on April 27, 2011 by debmcalister

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Litigation over what happens in social media and blogs is growing at alarming rates.  It’s scary enough to hear that you’re being sued, but the scariest term a lawyer can use in my presence is the phrase “personally liable.”   That … Continue reading →

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Exercise Your Free Speech Rights — Or Keep Your Job?

Posted on April 22, 2011 by debmcalister

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When I spotted this cartoon on Cartoon Stock, I laughed at first. And then I stopped laughing suddenly as I realized that somehow I’ve seen an awful lot of things in the news lately about the ongoing attempts by big … Continue reading →

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KY Judge Rules Lawyers Can’t Speak Freely

Posted on April 12, 2011 by debmcalister

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Check out the interesting blog post from lawyer Jennifer Lubinski’s Work Product blog about the Kentucky Bar Association’s decision to constrain one lawyer’s free speech rights after he wrote letters to the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission alleging fundraising violations.  The local bar … Continue reading →

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Online Review Lawsuits: Sometimes the Truth Isn’t Enough

Posted on April 7, 2011 by debmcalister

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Today, I ran a Google search for the phrase “sued for online review.” The search engine returned 9.4 million results in 17 seconds. I’ve been running that search regularly for the last couple of years, and the numbers keep growing. … Continue reading →

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What to do if you get SLAPPed

Posted on April 4, 2011 by debmcalister

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In the John Huston film of the Dashiell Hammett novel, The Maltese Falcon, Humphrey Bogart (Sam Spade) says, “When you’re slapped, you’ll take it and like it.” Not likely if the SLAPP you get is a Strategic Lawsuit against Public … Continue reading →

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How to Invite a Lawsuit over YOUR Blog

Posted on April 1, 2011 by debmcalister

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As the number of blogs has exploded, and more and more businesses add blogs to their corporate communications toolkit, a number of “experts” in social media and search engine optimization have sprung up to advise clients about the best blogging … Continue reading →

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