Conservative Twitter Guy is Teased, Brings Lawsuit (suing blogger for "emotional distress")

[Stephanie]

Do you suppose he'll hire a "trial attorney"?

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2009/05/conservative_tw.php#more

Conservative Twitter Guy is Teased, Brings Lawsuit
By Roy Edroso

You may have heard that conservatives were planning to win back power with Twitter (yeah, we know, but hear us out). To this end a couple of bright fellows, Michael Leahy and Rob Neppell, started Top Conservatives on Twitter. It's more than a hashtag (#TCOT) -- it's an important rightwing equity!

Leahy -- who previously occupied his time with Obama "birther" conspiracy theories and similar hard-hitting political reportage -- particularly liked to brag on his brainchild's accomplishments ("#TCOT Continues to Dominate Twitter Hashtags"). Eventually the two founding tweepers got in a fight, leading to public embarrassment and much mockery. (The pair has since decided to entrust their precious TCOT to a "third party.")

One of Leahy's top mockers has been StephanieInCA. At her website Teablogging she deals classic internet insults (e.g. "Insane douchenozzle") to Leahy, and has also reproduced some of his unflattering tax history.

Leahy feels stung by StephanieInCA. And guess how this Twitter pioneer is responding?

That's right -- with a lawsuit, accusing StephanieInCA of Libel, Invasion of Privacy, Interference with an Economic Contact and (our favorite) Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress.

The whole filing is pretty hilarious, but here's a breakdown:

First, it appears Leahy has done some sleuthing, identifying StephanieInCA as Stephanie Grasmick, and reproducing with painstaking detail her work, personal, and even social media contacts ("Grasmick is Facebook friends with Shauna Daly, Research Director at the Democratic National Committee and a known bare knuckles political operative known for digging up dirt on political opponents"). Did we mention Leahy is suing for Invasion of Privacy, and that this filing appears on his website?

***

As further motive for Grasmick's mission to destroy him, Leahy claims that "Liberal Democratic political activists across the country fear the political power that has been evidenced by the success of the Tea Party Movement." He also accuses her of using Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals on him -- not from any evidence, but probably because that's one of the things rightwingers like to say about Obama. (Leahy himself has penned a book called Rules for Conservative Radicals, which suggests a certain amount of projection.)

==http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2009/05/conservative_tw.php">more at link==

[rd_kent]

1. My oh My!

What WILL the wingnuts do next?

[Stephanie]

2. They better toss this out quick or we are all screwn.

The hilarious thing is he then snoops on Miss Stephanie (no relation) and posts personal info about her on his blog.

[hobbit709]

3. A twittering twit that wants to be taken serious?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Stephanie]

6. He owes $150,000 in tax liens and court judgments

Shh! Don't tell anyone!

http://teablogging.net/2009/05/13/tea-party-leaderinsane-clown-also-major-tax-fraud-apparently/

Well no wonder he doesn’t like taxes very much. According to documents obtained by Teablogging by running a goddamned simple Nexis search on the internets, national Tea Party organizer, Top Conservatives on Twitter cofounder and TCOTReport.com publisher Michael P. Leahy has, over the past 16 years, amassed nearly $150,000 in state and federal tax liens, small claims court judgments and civil suits.

It’s an open secret among teabaggers and elsewhere that Leahy is a delusional, profiteering creep and, potentially, a member of some alien race of Lizard People here to feed on the human race, for freedom. You might have heard of Leahy during the Great TCOT Civil War hilarious catfight of 2009, when he basically threw a bitch fit on the internet because TCOT cofounder and reasonable adult Rob Neppell wouldn’t let him be the supreme boss of everything which was, like, TOTALLY UNFAIR. You will find that this is something of a recurring theme with Leahy.

[roguevalley]

20. she should counter sue for damages. :)

[GodlessBiker]

4. What a total loser he is.

[Stephanie]

5. Can I sue him for the emotional distress inflicted on me, for saying Obama isn't a US citizen?

That kept me up nights...

[GodlessBiker]

7. You oughta be able to. It should be illegal to be as stupid as he is.

[Stephanie]

8. Analysis from Allen03 at Kos >

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/5/19/733183/-Teabagger-and-apparent-tax-cheat-Michael-Leahy-files-libel-lawsuit-against-liberal-blogger

==snip==

The fact that Leahy was given an opportunity to correct the story but did not presents a serious problem for his libel suit.

Its not clear what Leahy wants to accomplish. Maybe he just wants to suppress free speech. He certainly appears to have accomplished that, since Grasmick has gone quiet. He is soliciting apologies, so maybe he's just looking for political/social leverage. He also claims he's entitled to discovery, and wants to go fishing for communication between Grasmick and others, possibly so he can "discover" and publicize some vast left-wing conspiracy.

On the other hand, he may have opened a big can of worms that could come back to bite him in the teabags. One defense of libel is that the statements are true. In other words, if Grasmick can prove that Leahy is a tax fraud, she is not liable for libel. In an effort to prove that, she would probably be entitled in discovery to all of Leahy's tax records, including his tax returns and correspondance with the IRS. That might make for an interesting story, one that he would not want to come out.

The next step in this process is that Leahy has to make service of a summons and complaint. That means he has to arrange for a sworn process server to delivery these documents to Grasmick, possibly by hand or possibly by leaving a copy at her last known address. If he doesn't do that, the lawsuit is dismissed.

At that point, Grasmick and Frisch would probably need to hire an attorney to defend themselves. They may have a valid defense in terms of jurisdiction. Leahy filed this lawsuit pro-se in the "General Sessions Court" of Williams County Tennessee, which is the equivalent of small claims court. This court's "jurisdiction, power and authority" are limited to Williamson County. See http://michie.lexisnexis.com/... .

Since Leahy is a public figure, he would also be obligated to prove actual malice. His proof of this is pretty slim, a statement by someone else that was sent to Grasmick, not a statement by Grasmick herself, so they may be able to get dismissal on that grounds.

[louis-t]

9. Ah, another frivolous lawsuit by repugs

that are against frivolous lawsuits unless it benefits them. And the "success" of the teabaggers? More evidence of their delusion.

[billyoc]

10. More of that "rugged individualism" that they're so famous for.

:eyes:

[11 Bravo]

11. Shit, I read too fast. I thought you wrote that he had been TASED (a fitting fate for any wingnut).

[druidity33]

18. So did i!

I was almost prepared to be somewhat sympathetic!

Thank Goodness that didn't happen...


:)

[bridgit]

12. Good, guess we're finally done with loony republican gibberish about tort reform

[Thegonagle]

13. Only if they're done with the hypocrisy. And I don't think they are.

[bridgit]

14. Oh but Steele said today was the 1st day of the rest of their republican lives...

I know I'm confident they'll put all that GOP shit-talk behind them and fly right from here on out :sarcasm:

[Stephanie]

15. Sure, they'll never mention it again.

[bridgit]

16. good, that works for me just fine

;)

[TexasObserver]

17. Stephenie could file suit in her JP court against him, and get him served asap

He's filed first and has that advantage, but it is SERVICE upon the opposing party, according to the law of the venue, that gets the lawsuit really started. Nothing happens until one party has the other party served. Stephanie could file her own lawsuit, alleging whatever causes she may have in her state, and get this guy served under the law of her jurisdiction. She may be able to serve him through a long arm statute her state has allowing out of state defendants who commit torts within the state to be served by serving the State's Secretary of State, or other state official designated to receive such service.

If Stephanie sues him in her state and gets him served before he gets her served, advantage Stephanie. Then he's got to appear in the court in her area, either personally, or by responding to her lawsuit. She should add as a defendant some party that isn't a party to his lawsuit against her. That will help defeat any attempt by him to thwart her lawsuit by claiming her claims must be asserted only in his lawsuit.

She can likely file the case and get him served for under $200 of costs, but she'll need to do it herself, and do it fast.

Caveat: if he knows what he is doing, he could move to abate the action Stephanie files, and ask her court to require her to litigate her issues in his lawsuit. That's why she'll need to (1) try to make sure there's at least one additional party to her lawsuit not in his, and (2) get him served first.

[Froward69]

19. Remember kids, it's

only Hippocracy when Liberals do it.

[struggle4progress]

21. Teablogging is a fun site! Here's the beginning of the latest entry:

Conservatives to save Republican Party by utterly destroying Republican Party

It’s like finally finding a house that is able to clean itself. Faced with a vacuum of both ideas and leadership, factions of the GOP have taken to literally declaring war on one another, leaving the Dems sort of sitting on the sideline like an amused if skeptical Maytag repairman ...

http://teablogging.net/