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Trump campaign files libel suit against New York Times over Russia story


Jason

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50 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

Aren't politicians in the US basically not allowed to sue for libel/slander due to their public nature, and the nature of campaigns? Otherwise candidates could sue each other for claims made on the trail that prevents them from winning.


It isn’t so much they aren’t allowed to, it’s that the bar a public person must get over to prove their case is really high.

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1 hour ago, CitizenVectron said:

Aren't politicians in the US basically not allowed to sue for libel/slander due to their public nature, and the nature of campaigns? Otherwise candidates could sue each other for claims made on the trail that prevents them from winning.

 

35 minutes ago, sblfilms said:


It isn’t so much they aren’t allowed to, it’s that the bar a public person must get over to prove their case is really high.

The merits of this case are completely, totally, 100% irrelevant. The point is to bleed newsrooms dry and/or get them to change their policies towards x party to avoid the costs of a lawsuit.

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19 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

 

The merits of this case are completely, totally, 100% irrelevant. The point is to bleed newsrooms dry and/or get them to change their policies towards x party to avoid the costs of a lawsuit.

 

In the US, does the cost of the lawsuit go against the loser? What I mean is, if Trump sues NYT for libel and loses, does he also need to pay their legal fees? In Canada it works like that, so there are less frivolous suits.

 

Obviously that won't prevent someone uber-rich from suing people (since they don't care about the cost), but in general it cuts down since you could owe tens or hundreds of thousands if you lose even a fairly small case, depending on the defense of your opponent. That is counter-acted by the almost-total lack of punitive damages compared to the US. So you can't generally sue for emotional harm, etc, there needs to be a practical tort.

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Just now, CitizenVectron said:

 

In the US, does the cost of the lawsuit go against the loser? What I mean is, if Trump sues NYT for libel and loses, does he also need to pay their legal fees? In Canada it works like that, so there are less frivolous suits.

 

Obviously that won't prevent someone uber-rich from suing people (since they don't care about the cost), but in general it cuts down since you could owe tens or hundreds of thousands if you lose even a fairly small case, depending on the defense of your opponent. That is counter-acted by the almost-total lack of punitive damages compared to the US. So you can't generally sue for emotional harm, etc, there needs to be a practical tort.

Sometimes yes, often times no.

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