From: "Mark M." <markm@voicenet.com>
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 1997 01:42:32 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Libel & the 1st Amendment
Message-ID: <199702020942.BAA15658@toad.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


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On Sat, 1 Feb 1997, jim bell wrote:

> At 12:52 PM 2/1/97 -0500, Mark M. wrote:
> >On Sat, 1 Feb 1997, Peter J. Capelli wrote:
> >
> >> 	You mean to say, rich people can overcrowd the courts as much as they
> >> like, while others are restricted by contigency-only lawyers ( Call 
> >> 1-800-AMBULANCE! ) ... and what of the case of a rich person trying to
> >> control
> >> a poor one with many frivolous lawsuits ... while they can afford to file 
> >> lawsuit after lawsuit, the poor person cannot defend himself.
> >
> >What, exactly, would be the point of suing a poor person?
> 
> To quiet him from political dissent, presumably.  I think the term coined a 
> few years ago was "SLAPP", something akin to "Strategic Lawsuit Against 
> Public Policy," or similar.

I should point out that in my previous post, I was refering to the specific
instance of libel -- not any general lawsuit.  I can think of very few
instances where a rich person would sue someone without the resources to even
defend himself for libel just to harass the defendant.  I'm sure there are a
few cases, but it wouldn't be worth the plaintiff's time or money.  I would be
interested if anyone knows of any specific examples of this.



Mark
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