Judge Tells Coal Boss Bob Murray The Judicial Equivalent Of 'Eat Shit, Bob'
from the eat-shit,-bob dept
Remember Bob Murray? He's the Ohio-based coal mining CEO who threatened and then sued John Oliver and HBO over this fun episode of Oliver's show, Last Week Tonight, which discussed the ridiculousness of our President's focus on "coal jobs." However, it also spent a fair bit of time talking about Bob Murray, Murray Energy, and how his actions did not appear to support actual coal miners. A prominent part of the story features the phrase (originally written by a coal miner at Murray Energy as part of the process to void a bonus check) "Eat Shit, Bob."
As we noted, this was an obvious SLAPP suit with a bunch of ridiculous claims. On top of that, Murray and Murray Energy also sought an injunction silencing Oliver and HBO, which was classic prior restraint. There was some procedural back-and-forth as HBO sought to remove the case to federal court, which failed. State courts can be more of a crap shoot, but this was such an obvious SLAPP suit that it does not appear to have mattered at all.
On Friday, the judge sent a letter to the various parties which I would say is the judicial equivalent of telling Bob and his lawyers to "Eat Shit." The letter makes it clear that the judge is going to dismiss the case, and agrees entirely with the arguments HBO made in its motion to dismiss:
The Court adopts, with little exception, Defendants' arguments in support of their Motion regarding all issues addressed in the same.
This is not the official order, but that should be coming soon. The judge has asked HBO's lawyers to "prepare and forward a proposed Order, including findings of fact and conclusions of law supporting the Court's ruling. The same shall be forwarded within 20 days via email in Microsoft Word format to the Court..." and gives his own email address. Admittedly, that feels a little lazy on the part of the judge to basically ask the prevailing party to write his order, but I'm sure HBO's lawyers are thrilled with the opportunity to make sure it says exactly what they want. I've seen parties submit "proposed orders" before -- and have seen judge's sign off on them -- but don't recall seeing a judge so directly ask for such a proposed order.
Either way, it's a pretty quick and complete win for Oliver and HBO. Of course, if West Virginia actually had an anti-SLAPP law (spoiler alert: it doesn't), then HBO could also make Murray pay their legal fees (including the fees they'll charge for drafting the order dismissing the case). But, unfortunately, that's not the case here. I'm still hoping that this now encourages Oliver to do an episode on anti-SLAPP laws, because it's a topic that could certainly use his brand of exploration. In the meantime, Oliver did very briefly address the issue on his show last night, saying that now was not the time to discuss or gloat as the dismissal was not yet final (though promising he would address it in the future). Of course, while he was saying that, the human-dressed-in-a-squirrel costume, better known as, Mr. Nutterbutter, held up a sign saying "Eat Shit, Bob!" HBO hasn't put this clip on its YouTube page for me to embed, but here's a screenshot:
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Filed Under: anti-slapp, bob murray, defamation, eat shit bob, john oliver, mr. nutterbutter, slapp
Companies: hbo, murray energy
Reader Comments
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We’ll all assume what he does unless he declares otherwise...
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Re: Re:
You do realize HBO posts all his shows on Youtube for free for anyone to watch, right?
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Both their free offerings and Mike's discussion here got me to add HBO to my SlingTV.
While HBO still sucks when it comes to fighting against the future, their posting of parts of Last Week Tonight to youtube for free is proof that they are a little better than everyone else when realizing that free can bring in far more money than locking everything up.
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More generally, try anywhere on the internet? Seriously, this screenshot is all over the internet right now.
And considering it's linked from imgur, and since it is the exact same frame as the screenshots a lot of other media outlets are using, Mike probably didn't even grab the screenshot himself.
So yeah, what were you saying about assuming?
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In this case, he was implying that Mike is a pirate.
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If you want to see it, just click on the 'show' link and it will be displayed.
After that you can rate it, as I did (in my case i click on the red "flag")
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Having HBO write the order is standard
The order itself is just a formality, and doesn't contain commentary, analysis, etc. and the judge must sign off on it for it to be entered.
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Re: Having HBO write the order is standard
I’ve frequently done this for judges in my cases.
Also, remember, an order is very straightforward. Opinions are not farmed out like that. They get farmed out to clerks working for the court.
Personally, the laziest thing I’ve seen was a judge who would just write “granted” or “denied” on the motion and enter it.
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Re: Re: Having HBO write the order is standard
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Re: Re: Having HBO write the order is standard
This can draw rebuke from above. See Wells Fargo v Lupica, 36 So.3d 875 (Fla 5DCA, 04-Jun-2010).
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It's only free speech when you don't have to pay for the privilege of engaging in it. What would have happened if he went after the miner who first coined this marvel? HBO has the pocket. The miner probably not.
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Re: Re: Already being appealed?
Lawyers telling the press that they would appeal takes little effort.
Writing an appeal takes far more effort. It's much more than writing "we want a do-over" and paying a filing fee. The weaker the case, the harder to find precedent that supports a claim of error.
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Coal worker laughing his ass off?
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Re: Coal worker laughing his ass off?
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Re: Re: Coal worker laughing his ass off?
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Re: Re: Re: Coal worker laughing his ass off?
Possibly. But that still a lot of potential stress, attention, and time spent which I imagine a lot of people don't want to deal with.
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Re: Coal worker laughing his ass off?
If he is laughing, it's probably to expel the black dust in his lungs.
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I hope that Mr. Nutterbutter is credited for crafting the proposed orders.
Well, one of them anyway.
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“The same shall be forwarded within 20 days via email in Microsoft Word format to the Court...”
Would ISO 26300 be acceptable, given that Microsoft is supposed to support it?
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Re: “The same shall be forwarded within 20 days via email in Microsoft Word format to the Court...”
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Re: “The same shall be forwarded within 20 days via email in Microsoft Word format to the Court...”
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Microsoft Word format
There is no need for Microsoft software.
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Re: Re: “The same shall be forwarded within 20 days via email in Microsoft Word format to the Court...”
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Re: More like we got Microsoft ram a fake open standard down our throats.
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No, Murray WON in stopping more attacks. He raised the cost higher.
Law often works to the good even without a trial. You know why defamation suits are rather rare? -- Because the risks are significant. Now and then some British serf backed by a major corporation will go too far, and get smacked, but bet it'll be a long time before they dare again.
By the way, you don't see Masnick publishing any more attacks, do you? -- No, because he got taught that there may be BIG consequences.
Chilling speech is actually good for society. Masnick and Oliver only harm with their speech.
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"Chilling speech is actually good for society"
Is this a troll? I can't tell. Definitely in the Poe threshold.
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Re: "Chilling speech is actually good for society"
Whatever it is, it's clearly hallucinating, as it as it mentioned more attacks, as if any actually existed.
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Re: "Chilling speech is actually good for society"
After all, he believes it to be actually good.
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Re: No, Murray WON in stopping more attacks. He raised the cost higher.
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Re: No, Murray WON in stopping more attacks. He raised the cost higher.
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Re: Re: No, Murray WON in stopping more attacks. He raised the cost higher.
You forgot, "freedom is slavery."
Blue is the most free person around here. That's why he can see the truth, that "ignorance is strength," otherwise, how could he have the strength to harass a board for, oh, seven years?
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You know why defamation suits are rather rare?
You keep gunning for funniest comment of the week, blue. It's a shame your reputation precedes yourself, so people know that you're being serious.
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Re: No, Murray WON in stopping more attacks. He raised the cost higher.
No, Murray WON in stopping more attacks. He raised the cost higher.
You're so right.
John Oliver should've just kept his mouth shut. Then Murray wouldn't have won.
Dumbass.
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Re: No, Murray WON in stopping more attacks. He raised the cost higher.
How did he win? The judge literally told him "you can't sue people for that", and told Oliver "keep on trucking sir". And to prove it, Oliver even had the squirrel come back with a sign saying "Eat shit Bob!". Obviously he is NOT worried about further cost or retaliation.
Also, Mike didn't get taught anything except that he was right all along. He even wrote about it. And I don't see any change in his writings proving otherwise. There are plenty of articles that would qualify as "attacks" in your mind.
You're a moron and a fool. If you think that then you must absolutely love Russia, China, and North Korea. They must be the paragons of society to you.
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Re: No, Murray WON in stopping more attacks. He raised the cost
It’s been a while but I wanted to come by to let you know that your comment aged like old milk. Oliver’s Eat Shit Bob musical was a glorious response both in its pettiness and overall quality. You couldn’t be more wrong if you were trying to be, it’s clear Oliver & HBO won here.
Plus, I’d like to think that the musical contributed to Bob Murray’s beautifully ironic and overdue death due to black lung. He probably aggravated and exacerbated it from all the screaming and crying he did after seeing it. Good riddance Bob Murray.
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Good, but could have been better
While it's nice that the case is almost certainly dead, would have been even better if Murray was actually punished for bringing such a blatantly obvious SLAPP suit.
Maybe if he actually had to pay out for trying to shut people up a few times he'd be more hesitant in trying to do so(probably not, but one can hope).
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Re: Good, but could have been better
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Re: Re: Good, but could have been better
A federal one would be ideal.
It's hard to imagine one getting passed by our current president, but on the other hand, he is utterly lacking in self-awareness. "A ban on frivolous lawsuits? Sounds great! Now when are we going to open up our libel laws?"
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