Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Smolla to be President of Furman
W&L Law Dean Rodney Smolla, an expert on defamation, will become the 11th president of Furman University. VLW Blog has the story.
--CJR
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/tortsprof/2009/12/smolla-to-be-president-of-furman.html
Defamation Law. Absolute Privilege. I recently lost an appeal at Maryland's highest court which held that Class Action Lawsuits may publish the unfiled complaint that contains defamatory material to the press and on the internet. I believe this goes against the case law in every other jurisdiction. I believe their ruling may lead to forum shopping in large class action lawsuits where Plaintiffs' attorneys can essentially litigate their case in the press prior to filing. I would like to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but have questions about whether this can be framed as a federal question.
I think that whenever the First Amendment clashes with one's right to privacy in defamation law there is always the potential for a federal question. My other thought is that the Maryland Court is essentially creating Rules for what federal class action lawsuit parties can and cannot do. In fact, the underlying case was a $100,000,000 class action lawsuit.
I've spoken with Rod Smolla in the best, but have lost his contact information since he moved to Furman. Any insight regarding posturing this case for Cert to the Supremes would be most welcom.
I can be reached at [email protected] or at 302-537-3788. I thank you for your consideration.
Steve Norman
Posted by: Steve Norman | Apr 27, 2011 12:27:20 PM