The Other McCain

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Shirley Sherrod’s Lawsuit Threat Against Andrew Breitbart Is Still Just a Threat

Posted on | July 29, 2010 | 56 Comments

It’s the easiest thing in the world to say, “I’ll sue you for defamation!” Actually filing such a lawsuit is another and far more drastic step. A government official successfully pursuing a defamation suit against a private citizen is quite nearly impossible.

Any responsible lawyer would provide three words of helpful advice to Shirley Sherrod: “Discovery’s a bitch.”

Comments

56 Responses to “Shirley Sherrod’s Lawsuit Threat Against Andrew Breitbart Is Still Just a Threat”

  1. BLBeamer
    July 30th, 2010 @ 12:35 am

    #16: Attoney, Michael Yaki at City Brights thinks, Sherrod may have a case…

    Under the “republication” doctrine, Fox may be as liable as Breitbart for recklessly running (and rerunning) the doctored footage.

    I thought it has been established that Fox didn’t run the video until after Sherrod had already been fired. If that’s so, I don’t see how Fox damaged her.

    It’s pretty obvious she’s a tool. If she was really interested in getting who damaged her, she’d sue Vilsack and “the White House” who, according to Sherrod, pushed for her sacking.

    It’s also obviously not about restoring her damage, but ever and always about damaging those with whom she disagrees politically.

    Even if she does sue, I doubt it will go far, but there are still people who insist that Valerie Plame won her lawsuit.

  2. Estragon
    July 30th, 2010 @ 4:58 am

    Sherrod was and IS a racist. She was at the center of a billion-dollar scam by which very many black people who never ever saw a damned farm got paid by the government because they filed sworn affidavits that they WOULD HAVE gone into farming – except that the Ag Dept was discriminatory.

    Breitbart has little worry about a defamation suit. Sherrod has been a public figure for a long time now, so she would not only have to demonstrate the video was false, which it was not, that her reputation was damaged, which it was not because everyone knew she was a thieving racist bitch years ago, and that he did these things with a malicious intent, which is very hard to prove. The last “public figure” to win a major defamation case against media in the USA was, I think, Carol Burnett.

    Stacy @ #6 ~ If y4Iz is not to post on matters she doesn’t understand, what will she permitted to post about?

  3. Estragon
    July 30th, 2010 @ 12:58 am

    Sherrod was and IS a racist. She was at the center of a billion-dollar scam by which very many black people who never ever saw a damned farm got paid by the government because they filed sworn affidavits that they WOULD HAVE gone into farming – except that the Ag Dept was discriminatory.

    Breitbart has little worry about a defamation suit. Sherrod has been a public figure for a long time now, so she would not only have to demonstrate the video was false, which it was not, that her reputation was damaged, which it was not because everyone knew she was a thieving racist bitch years ago, and that he did these things with a malicious intent, which is very hard to prove. The last “public figure” to win a major defamation case against media in the USA was, I think, Carol Burnett.

    Stacy @ #6 ~ If y4Iz is not to post on matters she doesn’t understand, what will she permitted to post about?

  4. My Shirley Sherrod Sucker post… « DaTechguy's Blog
    July 30th, 2010 @ 10:53 am

    […] short version comes from Robert Stacy: A government official successfully pursuing a defamation suit against a private citizen is quite […]

  5. Alvaro Bobst
    August 26th, 2010 @ 9:44 am

    And I’m sure whining liberals are going to use this as another excuse to impose more government meddling into private companies and make it harder for companies to compete, employ workers and do business by heaping another pile of stupid regulations upon them.

  6. Alvaro Bobst
    August 26th, 2010 @ 5:44 am

    And I’m sure whining liberals are going to use this as another excuse to impose more government meddling into private companies and make it harder for companies to compete, employ workers and do business by heaping another pile of stupid regulations upon them.