Blogging Protected

Bloggers Protected by First Amendment

Wheeew – express freely #bloggers #media #expression. Bloggers are protected by First Amendment rights.

A federal appeals court has ruled bloggers and the public have the same First Amendment protections as journalists when sued for defamation.

Crystal L. Cox, a blogger from Eureka, Mont., now living in Port Townshend, Wash., was sued for defamation by Bend attorney Kevin Padrick and his company, Obsidian Finance Group LLC, after she made posts on several websites she created accusing them of fraud, corruption, money-laundering and other illegal activities. The appeals court noted Padrick and Obsidian were hired by Summit Accommodators to advise them before filing for bankruptcy, and that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court later appointed Padrick trustee in the Chapter 11 case. The court added that Summit had defrauded investors in its real estate operations through a Ponzi scheme.

Though Cox acted as her own attorney, UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh, who wrote an article on the issue, learned of her case and offered to represent her in an appeal. “It makes clear that bloggers have the same First Amendment rights as professional journalists,” he said. “There had been similar precedents before concerning advocacy groups, other writers and book authors. This follows a fairly well established chain of precedents. I believe it is the first federal appeals court level ruling that applies to bloggers.”

Blog freely about what you believe to be true and newsworthy!

 

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