Former Trump Spokesman Ordered To Pay $42,000 To Gizmodo After Losing His Bogus Defamation Lawsuit

from the windmill-jousting-a-surprisingly-expensive-sport dept

A former Trump spokesman has reached the end of his always-doomed attempt to sue an online publication for reporting on the content of court documents. And it's going to cost him about $42,000 in legal fees.

Jason Miller was understandably disturbed when the now-defunct Splinter (owned by Gizmodo) wrote about allegations made by another Trump campaign staffer, A.J. Delgado. These allegations were made public during unrelated court proceedings. And they're pretty disturbing.

On Friday, September 14, 2018, Ms. Delgado filed a supplement to an earlier motion for the court to consider a psychological evaluation of Mr. Miller. Essentially, the supplement stated that Ms. Delgado was informed in the summer of 2018 that Mr. Miller (while married) had an affair in 2012 with a stripper in Florida referred to as Jane Doe; that Mr. Miller had sexual intercourse with Ms. Doe; that Ms. Doe became pregnant; that Mr. Miller visited Ms. Doe and gave her a beverage which, unbeknownst to her, contained an abortion pill; that Ms. Doe wound up in a hospital emergency room, bleeding heavily, and almost went into a coma; that the pill induced an abortion; and that Ms. Doe’s unborn child died. The supplement identified Ms. Delgado’s initial source for this information and stated that Ms. Doe had later confirmed the story to a journalist.

Splinter reported on these allegations, linking to the filed document. The supplement was later sealed, but that move couldn't undo the reporting. Neither could Miller's litigation.

He was first rejected at the district level. The court cited New York state law (where Splinter was located) as protecting journalists from being sued for reporting on allegations made in court filings. Furthermore, it pointed to Splinter's posting of the filing itself as being instrumental to its fair reporting defense. ALWAYS POST DOCUMENTS, folks.

Miller's appeal went no better. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the lower court's filings, both in terms of the First Amendment and New York state law. Anyone reading the filing posted by Splinter was free to draw their own conclusions from the sworn statements. A post-publication sealing by the court doesn't suddenly make the contents of the documents privileged or any legitimate basis for a defamation lawsuit.

With the appeal going in favor of Splinter, the case has returned to the Florida court. And the lower court says [PDF] Miller is on the hook for legal fees.

Judgment in the amount of $41,868.23, reflecting costs incurred by Defendants at both the district court and appellate court levels, is entered against Plaintiff in accordance with the terms of the Stipulation.

That expense will be in addition to whatever Miller paid to engage in the fruitless litigation. If it's said in court and made publicly available by the clerk -- even temporarily -- it's fair game for reporting.

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Filed Under: anti-slapp, attorneys fees, defamation, fair reporting privilege, jason miller, reporting, slapp
Companies: gizmodo, splinter


Reader Comments

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  1. icon
    That Anonymous Coward (profile), 25 May 2021 @ 10:54am

    Maybe its just me but...
    If you are married you shouldn't have a sidepiece, not use a condom, secretly abort the child, tell others about what you did, then pretend it was all fake news when it was filed with a court.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Baron von Robber, 25 May 2021 @ 10:59am

    Re:

    Trump only hires the best cheating, secret, undercover abortionists.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    rebrad (profile), 25 May 2021 @ 11:04am

    Move On

    Too many people in the media are obsessed and have someone dwelling in their head. It must be a truly sad world to live in.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Jordan, 25 May 2021 @ 11:06am

    Jane Doe

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 25 May 2021 @ 11:09am

    Re: Jane Doe

    So sad.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 25 May 2021 @ 11:21am

    Always an A.J. at the center of these former Nick Denton blog lawsuits.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. icon
    Toom1275 (profile), 25 May 2021 @ 11:23am

    Ms. Doe became pregnant; that Mr. Miller visited Ms. Doe and gave her a beverage which, unbeknownst to her, contained an abortion pill; that Ms. Doe wound up in a hospital emergency room, bleeding heavily, and almost went into a coma; that the pill induced an abortion; and that Ms. Doe’s unborn child died.

    To anyone that understands the fact that Republicans' forced-birth movement was always and ever 100% about control over and torturing women, and 0% pro-life, this story isn't so unsurprising.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 25 May 2021 @ 11:29am

    Only 42,000 for defenses both in district and appellate courts? He must have gotten quite some bargain in his lawyer! Or... He's getting only a portion of the total cost.

    ... and of course, those days of his life are gone forever.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Baron von Robber, 25 May 2021 @ 11:37am

    Re: Move On

    When a party can't tell the difference between tourists and terrorists, it's sad.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 25 May 2021 @ 11:58am

    Re: Move On

    Some people leave completely useless comments on articles on the internet also. Sad, sad world.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 25 May 2021 @ 4:01pm

    Why isn't Miller facing criminal charges?

    Yeah, this woman was a stripper and took drugs, so is her life worthless? What if she had died?

    This guy is a psycho and should be in prison.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. icon
    wereisjessicahyde (profile), 25 May 2021 @ 4:29pm

    Re: Move On

    Breaking: Media in doing their job shocker.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. icon
    Scary Devil Monastery (profile), 26 May 2021 @ 1:01am

    Re:

    Yes, well, what can we say. Trump only hired the best people. It's not his fault all the best people happened to be compulsive liars, poisoners, serial adulterers, white supremacists and open fascists.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. icon
    BG (profile), 26 May 2021 @ 4:34am

    Re:

    Agreed. This is assault at a minimum. Arguably aggravated assault or whatever the US equivalent is. Round it off with illegally administering medication without a license.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 May 2021 @ 8:10pm

    Re: Move On

    "In Defense of Poisoners" rebrad 25 May 2021

    link to this | view in thread ]


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