Posted on 09/27/2009 12:49:27 PM PDT by BuckeyeTexan
Here is the full text of the ACORN complaint against James O'Keefe, Hannah Giles, and Breitbart.com. ACORN is suing for over $3,000,000 plus litigation costs and requesting appropriate punative damages. They demand a jury trial. The complaint asks the court to enter a temporary restraining order, preliminary and permament injunctions requiring the defendants to cease distributing and broadcasting the oral communications intercepted in the Baltimore offices of ACORN in July 2009, and to make their best efforts to prevent others from distributing and broadcasting said communications.
Hannah Giles has launched a legal defense fund. You can donate here.
Even Andrew Breitbart believes that this lawsuit is a SLAPP suit, and as such, its purpose is not to win, but to shut down free speech by intimidation. Moreover, many people who are too poor to pay the legal fees that such a lawsuit entails would simply decide to stop investigating, publicly criticizing and blowing the whistle on ACORN.
Second it would be in a location where you could expect not to be overheard or using means where you could expect it not to be intercepted.
The defendants were taking notes and the ACORN person never once asked them to stop or what they intended to do with the notes. The door to the office was wide open and other voices in the background could be heard. If the originator did nothing to ensure privacy then they can not expect it to remain so. IOW you can't have a discussion on a crowded elevator and then claim it was private just because you were only talikng to one person.
There is a reason the MD State Attny did not pursue this and it is because it would be laughed out of court.
This is a dangerous play by ACORN, not because of discovery. I do not think the discovery worries them as I believe they intend to ignore it. I think they will drop the suit and try and act like they were being generous after being victimized. However a well crafted counter suit could do real damage and at that point ACORN could not drop the suit just to get of discovery. Also I think more people will come and blow the whistle on ACORN.
IANALE, but it sure seems likely to be conflict of interest to me...
the infowarrior
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
Don’t know who said this in the movie, but, someone was saying to either Johnny Rocco, or his henchmen “ those you can’t corrupt, you terrorist “ KEY LARGO ...
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