FC: Public Citizen will defend SavageStupidity.com in lawsuit

[Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>]

[Our own Thomas Leavitt, a prolific Politech contributor, is the fellow 
getting sued. Glad to know that he's getting first-rate legal help from 
Paul and the other folks at Public Citizen. --Declan]

---

To: declan@well.com
From: Earl Hood <earl@earlhood.com>
Subject: Public Citizen to defend SavageStupidity.com co-founders against 
$500,000 lawsuit by Michael Savage
Date: Wed, 04 Jun 2003 15:06:01 -0500

Declan,

Your previous posts related to this:
     <http://www.politechbot.com/p-04696.html>
     <http://www.politechbot.com/p-04691.html>


<http://www.savagestupidity.com/pr-06-03-2003-publiccitizen.html>:

   June 3rd, 2003

   SANTA CRUZ, CA - SavageStupidity.com's co-founders, Thomas and Gunilla
   Leavitt, announced today that Public Citizen, a nationally prominent
   non-profit public interest law firm, has agreed to defend them from a
   lawsuit filed by Talk Radio Network, Inc. TRN syndicates "The Savage
   Nation", a nationally broadcast radio talk show hosted by the infamous
   Michael Savage (née Weiner). "The Weiner has demonstrated his contempt
   for free speech by filing this lawsuit, and we intend to dispute it
   vigorously," said Thomas and Gunilla. SavageStupidity.com will also
   be represented by David Bradford, a partner specializing in complex
   litigation at the prestigious Chicago-based national law firm of Jenner
   & Block, who will act as local counsel in the case.

   On May 12th TRN filed a federal lawsuit asking for $500,000 in damages
   due to "lost advertising and business opportunities", in an attempt
   to permanently shut down three web sites containing detailed criticism
   of Michael Savage and encouraging consumer boycotts of advertisers on
   his radio and television shows. Filed in a Northern Illinois court,
   the suit claims that Culligan International Company canceled a contract
   for advertising on "The Savage Nation" worth more than $100,000 after
   receiving "false and malicious" email from the web site owners and their
   readers. Others named in the lawsuit are a John Doe (responsible for
   michaelsavagesucks.com), and Julie Sigwart, owner of Take Back the
   Media (takebackthemedia.com), both of whom also vigorously dispute
   the merits of TRN's claims.

   ...




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