I Got Distracted

I saw where a couple in Texas had sued 178 anonymous posters on a web site for libel. That will get a man's attention. It made the news because a Tarrant County judge ordered the "names" of the posters released this week which, uh, makes it a lot easier to sue them. That story is here. That's a little weird. Libel suits are hard to win and most comments are libel-proof opinions. "Barry's an idiot" isn't defamatory while "Barry embezzled $1,000 from the Boy's Home For The Blind in Ponder" probably is. But most comments on blogs are just hot opinions containing no assertion of fact whatsoever. But I wondered who brought the lawsuit because it would be expensive. I mean, the costs alone to have the district clerk prepare the citation and have it served on 178 people is daunting. Then take their depositions? Sheesh. Plus, how in the world can you ever prove who made a post? I'm not sure how a "name" can be released but even is you had their IP address, that just tracks it to a computer and not a person. Anyway, I wanted to find out who the plaintiff's lawyer was and it turned out to be "William Pieratt Demond". That's an unusual name, and I found one lawyer out of Austin with a match. It looks like he's graduated from law school in the last two or three years ago. But his profile made me stop down. Take a look. I'll be reading his graduate thesis all night. Uh, you might want to be careful with your comments. :)