… outside your main jurisdiction can have collateral consequences.

In Gunning v. Doe, 2017 WL 1739442 (Me. May 4, 2017), Maine’s highest court just dodged the issue of the applicable First Amendment test for the disclosure of an anonymous speaker accused of defamation.  Instead, it deferred to California’s test.  Why?  Collateral estoppel:  the defamation plaintiff lost her effort to subpoena a California website host for identifying information of the John Doe defendant, and that decision barred the plaintiff from relitigating the disclosure issue in Maine. 
Continue Reading Gunning For An Anonymous Internet Defamer or Infringer’s Identity …

Congress may re-introduce federal anti-SLAPP legislation this session.  Similar bills in 2009, 2012, and 2015 never made it out of committee.  Our Law360 article identifies several areas to improve on a fourth attempt to enact a universal anti-SLAPP law.  The article also highlights the constant battle between First Amendment rights and rights to protect one’s