JKR apparently felt it met the standards for libel. Spurling's lawyers apparently agreed. But Sam the web developer believes he knows better. In my judgement, you don't really care about vexatious litigation. You just want people to have free rein to attack a woman you dislike.
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Replying to @paul_smortions @MFnP and
JKR felt she had the money to hire lawyers for however long it was necessary, and Spurling knew even winning the lawsuit would be financially devastating. I have lawyers on retainer, and the US's defamation laws include anti-SLAPP provisions.
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It's pretty obvious that saying someone is a danger to children is grounds for a libel action. You don't care about that though.
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Replying to @paul_smortions @MFnP and
Look it up, Einstein. Opinions are not defamation under the law (either US or UK).
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"Rowling has made it clear that she can no longer be trusted around children". I was 20 years a journalist. I know, without question, that statement is over the line. It's not presented as an opinion.
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Replying to @paul_smortions @MFnP and
Whether or not someone can be trusted is an opinion.
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No it isn't. You can have an opinion on it, and you can voice that opinion. But if you state it as a fact you invite consequences. Had Spurling started with "in my opinion" or "I question whether" then she'd have been rather safer.
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Replying to @paul_smortions @Azuaron and
That's not what the honest opinion exemption says, at all
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Replying to @arthur_affect @Azuaron and
What can I tell you, that's how it works in practice. There's an old episode of HIGNFY where they start almost every sentence with allegedly to make the point.
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Replying to @paul_smortions @arthur_affect and
You realise the whole joke there is that it *doesn't* actually work as a magic word to make something not libellous and it's silly to think it does?
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These people have trouble with the concept of jokes
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Replying to @arthur_affect @quantum_boulder and
I have a joke about defamation but allegedly it's not very funny.
0 replies 2 retweets 8 likesThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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