Author Archives: Paul Levy

Are the Authors of Consumer Reviews Protected by Anti-SLAPP Laws?

by Paul Alan Levy Today we entered an important case that will determine whether New York’s new and improved anti-SLAPP law protects the authors of consumer reviews against being sued for defamation when they reveal publicly that they were less than thrilled with a business’s services or products. The case arose from the horrible experience […]

Cobb County School District Tries Bogus Trademark Claims to Suppress Anti-Racist Organizing

by Paul Alan Levy Civil rights activists in Cobb County, Georgia, have been urging members of the community to come in force to the impending school board meeting on June Tenth to celebrate Juneteenth by signing up to speak in support of  minority members of the school board, who have been under fire recently. Somebody […]

Landlord Sues Activists for Emotional Distress Damages For Telling Tenants about Eviction Moratoria

by Paul Alan Levy When Keep Pushing, a St. Louis community organization devoted to protecting the unhoused, went door-to-door to speak to tenants facing eviction orders and hand out a flyer about their rights under the CDC eviction moratorium, one of the landlords whose tenants were visited, Norwood 2020, was desperate to suppress this potential threat […]

When consumers chime in anonymously on a dispute between a business and one of its customers

by Paul Alan Levy Our latest case about the right to speak anonymously is in federal court in Chicago, flowing from a dispute between a prominent vlogger named Cristina Villegas and a plastic surgeon named David Shifrin who, Villegas complained, “botched my nose job.” Villegas posted a 23-minute-long  YouTube video which recounts the inadequacies that […]

Weak Maryland anti-SLAPP law enables noisy bar to preserve its liquor license

by Paul Alan Levy Last month, a Fells Point restaurant was able to use an apparently baseless threat of defamation litigation to secure a vote renewing its liquor license by the liquor control board despite considerable neighborhood complaints. Baltimore attorney Scott Marder apparently a demand letter to every one of the 15 neighbors who objected, […]

District Court Denies Request for Injunction Compelling Amazon to Host Parler

by Paul Alan Levy In a decision issued his afternoon, Judge Barbara Rothstein has denied a motion by the infamous web site Parler seeking a preliminary injunction compelling Amazon to reverse its decision to terminate its hosting of Parler's web site. The judge agreed with Amazon that, under its hosting contract, Parler was subject to […]

Decision breathes some life into Maryland’s weak anti-SLAPP statute

by Paul Alan Levy Although Maryland was one of the first states to adopt an anti-SLAPP law, its weaknesses have become apparent over the years as other states have adopted stronger protections against suits brought to suppress free speech. Two of the most important obstacles to effectiveness of the statutes are found in the statute’s […]

Phony IP claims advanced to block Medicare pricing transparency

by Paul Alan Levy A couple of months ago, South Carolina lawyer B. Craig Killough advanced vague intellectual property claims in objecting to a blog post by a California health policy expert who commented on some aspects of the pricing policies being followed by Palmetto GBA, one of the companies retained by the federal Centers […]

Virginia Search Warrant Seeking to Identify Peaceful Protestors

by Paul Alan Levy Yesterday, we filed a motion to quash a search warrant seeking to obtain from Facebook the confidential files of an activist group that has been protesting the refusal of Virginia authorities to step in to protect the health of immigration detainees in a private prison in Farmville, Virginia.  The motion builds […]