USA Today:
By Laura Parker, USA TODAY
Posted 10/10/2006 10:07 PM ET; Updated 10/11/2006 10:53 AM ET
A Florida woman has been awarded $11.3 million
in a defamation lawsuit against a Louisiana woman who posted messages
on the Internet accusing her of being a "crook," a "con artist" and a
"fraud."
Legal analysts say the Sept. 19 award by a jury
in Broward County, Fla. -- first reported Friday by the Daily Business
Review -- represents the largest such judgment over postings on an
Internet blog or message board. Lyrissa Lidsky, a University of Florida
law professor who specializes in free-speech issues, calls the award
"astonishing."
Closing paragraphs: ... Bock says... she doesn't have the money to pay the
judgment or hire a lawyer to appeal it. She adds that if the goal of
Scheff's lawsuit was to stifle what Bock says online, it worked.
"I don't feel like I can express my opinions," Bock says. "Only one side of the story was told in court. Nobody heard my side." Posted 10/10/2006 10:07 PM ET Updated 10/11/2006 10:53 AM ET | Editor & Publisher: By
E&P Staff
Published: October 11, 2006 10:15 AM ET
NEW YORK A Florida woman has been awarded
$11.3 million in a defamation lawsuit against a Louisiana woman who
posted messages on the Internet accusing her of being a "crook," a "con
artist" and a "fraud."
[... etc.]
My original comment:
I guess there's only one way to tell this story...
Hmm... Maybe Editor & Publisher ("America's oldest journal covering the newspaper industry") has some agreement with USA Today
to use stories without credit. Even so, adding the "By E&P Staff"
tag seems odd, unless Laura Parker works for E&P and moonlights for
USA Today.
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