Sheehan threatens to sue 'American Mourning' authors

WorldNetDaily ^ | 10/24/2006 | WND Staff

[Impeach98]

'American Mourning' authors prepare to defend book

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan issues threat to sue over claims in publication

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Posted: October 24, 2006
1:20 p.m. Eastern

"American Mourning" co-author Melanie Morgan says she is prepared to defend the book against allegations of slander or libel, but she hopes it won't go to that because she wants to spare the family of fallen hero Casey Sheehan any further pain.

It was his mother, anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, who told a nationally syndicated radio show by Stephanie Miller that she was preparing for possible litigation over allegations in the book that she became addicted to "online chat rooms of a pornographic nature" after her son died in Iraq.

"I am totally confident in my level of documentation," Morgan told WND today. "It's locked in a bank vault, and we are prepared to use it should Ms. Sheehan proceed to litigation.

"We hope that doesn't happen for the sake of her family, the Sheehan family," she said, because the documentation is "very graphic in nature.

"We had hoped to spare the family any further uncomfortableness and embarrassment," she said.

The book, published by WND Books and released just a little over a week ago, already is climbing the ranks of Amazon.com and other book lists. It is the story of two families – the Johnsons and Sheehans – that lost sons in the war against terror. Their sons – Casey Sheehan and Justin Johnson – were best friends since they met at Fort Hood in Texas. They went to Iraq and died in the same area just six days apart.

But the book explains how little else the families have in common: with the Johnson family bonding closer than ever and Justin's father, in fact, volunteering to replace his son in the war on terror and going to fight in Iraq.

The book explains how the Sheehan family, however, experienced difficulties and disintegration as Cindy Sheehan chose to turn her anger over the loss of her son against her own country and president.

Morgan told WND that she and co-author Catherine Moy both have been in contact with "a very high-powered attorney in L.A. who is an expert on slander and libel law."

"We are prepared to hire him immediately should the need become apparent. That will depend on what Ms. Sheehan decides to do."

She said she found out about the threat when CNN censored an interview with her about the book. A call placed by WND to CNN to comment on the situation wasn't returned immediately, but the issue arose as Morgan was preparing for an interview on "American Mourning."

Morgan said she was en route to CNN headquarters in New York when she got a call from the producer of the "Glenn Beck" show, outlining what the short interview was scheduled to cover.

The producer specifically mentioned the online chat room issue, Morgan said. But a few minutes later, she got another call from the same producer explaining that the interview would deal with all other aspects of the book, but not that.

Morgan said she asked why, and was told because it "involved legal issues."

"Then we discovered Cindy Sheehan had appeared on the Miller show, saying she was going to sue," Morgan said.

Sheehan had used the radio interview to call the authors "hate-mongers" and accuse them of "using our tragedy for profit."

She dismissed the information in the book as hearsay.

"We wrote the book not to make life uncomfortable for Cindy Sheehan, far from it," Morgan said. "We wrote it as a tribute to her son Casey, an honorable and dutiful soldier, a man who was tremendously inspiring in what he did.

"He volunteered not once but twice, and actually went into Sadr City to rescue fellow soldiers," she said. "He was told he did not have to go. His story is an amazing story, as is Justin Johnson's."

"We felt and do feel we did a good job of trying to show how these men became such heroes to the American public. But we felt that it would be dishonest not to include contextual information about Cindy, her story, what she had been telling in the media, which was inaccurate in many respects," Morgan told WND.

The book, according to Ann Coulter, is "a beautiful, raw war story that breaks the hearts and strengthens the resolve to protect America from her enemies." David Limbaugh calls it "arguably the most poignant portrayal of love, loss, and grief that polarizes our nation today," adding, "It moved and astounded me." Sean Hannity says simply, "The truth in this book will set you free."

Moy is an award-winning journalist and columnist for the Vacaville Reporter, Cindy Sheehan's former hometown newspaper. Morgan, a weekly columnist for WND, is a talk radio show host in San Francisco and chairman of Move America Forward.

Kristen Schremp, a publicist for Morgan and Moy, has confirmed there are hundreds of telephone records, e-mails and other documents supporting the statements made in the book.

Fans of Sheehan have been responding to the book with vitriol, calling one of the authors "fat" and a "whore." And those have been the calmer reactions.

The political website Crooks and Liars attacked Morgan as a "a fringe talk-show host" who was leader of "the low-class MAF organization." However, despite the criticism, Morgan's talk-radio show is one of the highest-rated drive time programs in the San Francisco media market – one of the largest markets in the nation.

The attack on Morgan's leadership of the pro-troop organization, Move America Forward, seems designed to diminish her credentials as a prominent supporter of the men and women of the United States military. Move America Forward is the nation's largest grass-roots pro-troop organization and has shipped over 16 tons of coffee, cookies, beef jerky and Gatorade to U.S. Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The attacks quickly deteriorated into vulgarity and insult-laden jeers.

"Michelle Malkin, Mary Matalin, Melanie Morgan... These right-wing b------s all have the same initials of MM."

"if i call those 2 women whores, then that's MY responsibility."

"Bibi -- but then that would be an insult to whores."

"That one on the left really needs to work on her eating disorder before she starts pointing that sausage finger."

Finally, the comments became so over the top that the website owner intervened and instructed participants to ease up on their attacks. The site owner deleted dozens of the most offensive and vulgar posts, but dozens of new attacks were posted and not removed by the website's administrator:

The anger by the participants seems to have confused them on some of the essential points of their protests. One individual criticized Morgan's employment at a Republican political consulting firm, however Morgan has never worked for any such firm. Another participant identified co-author Moy as being an employee of KSFO radio along with Morgan. However, Moy has never had any connection with the radio station – she works at the Vacaville Reporter.

[bboop]

She made a bargain with the devil for fame and a platform. And she is reaping the fruits of that bargain.

[Bonaparte]

"That's the other side of her two-pronged burden of proof as I understand it: (a) that the claims are false and (b) that the authors acted with malice"

In essence and in most US jurisdictions, I think that's it -- "malice" here being defined as either knowing the claims were false or recklessly disregarding whether they were true or false.

If Sheehan initiated this, she would have some very high hurdles to jump if it ever actually went to trial (it won't).

Moy is a journalist and they have conditional privilege in publication that most citizens do not enjoy (see 1st Amendment, New York Times v. Sullivan, et seq).

Sheehan, while not an elected official, is nonetheless a public figure and in that sense, has much less legal cover from published criticism.

There is a strong argument to be made that Morgan's and Moy's book serves a significant or even vital public interest or public good. Sheehan could challenge this, but it could be dangerous to do so.

Last but not least, Sheehan must show actual damage -- unless the court granted motion for summary judgment of defamation per se (which also won't happen). She would have to show that she was significantly hampered in the profitable practice of her usual or principal occupation, that she suffered much more than trivial harm.

If she files, it will be for the same reason that kerry filed against the Swifties and will be dropped once it's served it's twin purposes of election year propaganda and intimidation of critics. She could also be counter-sued, just as Kerry & Co. are.

I believe all Sheehan would accomplished by suing is to triple sales of American Mourning and hand Morgan and Moy a bigger stage and microphone than they already have. In fact, the more Sheehan protests the book, the more interest she will create in it.

[at bay]

"In fact, the more Sheehan protests the book, the more interest she will create in it."

There is a God.

Sheehan speaks tonight near where I live and despite the inclination to don a hazmat suit, sit with my back to her and drape the flag which she so despises over my shoulders facing her, she really isn't worth the effort.

[at bay]

unless the court granted motion for summary judgment of defamation per se (which also won't happen).

No, it won't happen, because only an attorney can get per se relief.

[Bonaparte]

"... because only an attorney can get per se relief."

That's correct and I think we all understand that Sheehan will not be acting as her own counsel.

That said, it's common (in fact, usual) to read judicial opinions, decisions and the like with phrases like, "defendants Rogers and Hammerstein petitioned for certiorari" -- even though it's understood that the defendants did not prepare the legal documents or carry out any other legal tasks involved in the petition process.

Here's an example. Scroll down to 3rd paragraph under heading, "Twombly."

[at bay]

Actually, what I meant was that only attorneys, as far as I know, are entitled to per se liable relief, for the damage to their reputations, as I was once sued by an attorney for liable (it was dismissed, he lost) who later fled the state.

[Bonaparte]

"...what I meant was that only attorneys, as far as I know, are entitled to per se liable relief.."

Any litigant can move for that.

[Bonaparte]

Here is a thumbnail explanation of what libel per se is.

Let's say you stated, "Hermione Street Walker, of Jaybird Trailer Park, ain't nothing but a big fat whore."

Let's further agree that this was not a privileged communication and you said this in broadly disseminated written or verbal form.

It would not matter what explanatory circumstances or evidence accompanied that statement. Truth would not be a defense nor would Hermione have to show evidence of actual malice, because the statement per se would tend to subject her to "ridicule, contempt or disgrace."

I have not yet read American Mourning, but I'm certain the authors did not label Sheehan as a "dirty old lady," "deviate" or "pervert" or characterize her as "sleazy," "immoral" and the like. In this respect, writing anything more than a simple recitation of well-documented, objectively stated facts obtained from a non-privileged source would expose the authors to adverse summary judgment of libel per se.