SPEECH Act Defendant Gets $48,000 In Attorneys’ Fees–Trout Point Lodge Ltd. v. Handshoe
19 12 2013
The SPEECH Act combats libel tourism, the process of trying to enforce an international defamation ruling in the United States if the ruling isn’t consistent with U.S. law. The leading SPEECH Act case is Trout Point Lodge Ltd. v. Handshoe. In that case, Nova Scotia residents got a defamation judgment in Nova Scotia against Handshoe, a Mississippi blogger. When the Nova Scotia plaintiffs tried to enforce the judgment in Mississippi, the case ran into the SPEECH Act roadblock. The Fifth Circuit dismissed the case because the defamation claims couldn’t succeed in the U.S.
. . .
As a result, Handshoe gets an attorneys’ fee award of $48,000 (reduced about $7,000 from the fee request, a pretty small haircut as those things go). Another reminder of the power of the SPEECH Act.
Case citation: Trout Point Lodge Ltd. v. Handshoe, 2013 WL 6524650 (S.D. Miss. Dec. 11, 2013)
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