Devin Nunes Loses Again, But He's Still Suing The Satirical Cow Who Mocked Him

from the and-so-it-goes dept

As you likely know by now, a little over two years ago, Devin Nunes kicked off his SLAPPy litigiousness by suing the satirical internet cow with about 1,200 followers at the time of the lawsuit (it now has over 770,000). What got a bit less attention was that the satirical cow was only one of the four parties sued. There was also another satirical account pretending to be Nunes' mother, and then there was Twitter and a political consultant named Liz Mair (who he actually sued another time as well -- in a case that was also dismissed, though Nunes is appealing).

Mair has written about what an attack on free speech this is, and spoke with us last year about what a nuisance it is to be sued. Last summer, the judge dismissed Twitter from the lawsuit and now he's finally dismissed Mair as well (as first reported in the Fresno Bee, whose parent company Nunes has also sued).

The ruling is pretty short and sweet, as apparently this is just the paper version of what he ruled from the bench last month. But, more or less, the case fails for the exact reason everyone who knows anything about defamation predicted: the complaint doesn't show anything Mair stated was even remotely defamatory, and there's nothing showing actual malice, which is necessary if a public figure is claiming to be defamed.

For the reasons stated on the record at the July 2, 2021 hearing, the Court concludes that the Complaint fails to adequately allege defamation per se against Mair as a matter of law. Specifically, the defamation per se claim alleged against Mair fails for the following independent reasons: (1) the Complaint fails to plead with sufficient context the “exact words” of the statements. alleged to be defamatory; (2) the statements alleged to have been made by Mair are not defamatory as a matter of law; and (3) the facts alleged fail to support a reasonable inference that Mair made any of the alleged statements with the requisite intent of “actual malice.”

And therefore (finally) the complaint against Mair is dismissed with prejudice.

So... Twitter's out of the case. Mair is out of the case. All that's left are the two satirical accounts. And that's apparently going nowhere because Nunes' lawyer, Steven Biss -- despite using some extremely questionable methods has apparently been unable to figure out how to identify and serve the satirical accounts.

This actually puts Nunes into something of a quandary. He apparently can't appeal this latest ruling in favor of Mair unless he gives up trying to sue the satirical accounts. So, now Nunes will have to decide which is more important -- appealing the Mair decision, or hanging on and hoping he can somehow find the cow. As Mair told the Fresno Bee, this whole situation puts her (and the cow) in perpetual limbo:

“He may yet appeal,” Mair said of the decision to dismiss her from the Twitter lawsuit in Henrico County, for which the congressman sought $250 million from her, “though as I understand it, that process could occur years or even decades from now given the inability of Rep. Nunes to ‘unmask’ the cow and the mom in that case, and the possibility that the case never reaches a resolution whether through court action, settlement or dismissal of the cow and the mom from the suit.”

Perhaps more importantly, Mair explains how absolutely fucking ridiculous it is that a sitting Congressional Representative is regularly abusing the courts to silence and intimidate people for reporting on him and making fun of him:

“It is ridiculous that we have had a sitting United States congressman suing a fake farmyard animal, let alone me, for being mean to him on Twitter, which the First Amendment clearly protects,” Mair said. “It is also extremely disturbing that Rep. Nunes has, on my read, appeared to use litigation as a cudgel to try to stifle free speech in such a wanton manner.”

Separately, since the question of how the hell Nunes is funding all these cases has been raised a bunch (a complaint from the Campaign Legal Center says that it's against House rules to receive free legal services without a Legal Expense Fund), that issue may actually get some attention in a different case.

On Monday, in the case that Nunes' relatives have filed against reporter Ryan Lizza and Esquire Magazine (Nunes also sued, but that was thrown out), the defendants asked the court to force Nunes' family to reveal who is funding that lawsuit.

Through this Motion to Compel, Defendants Ryan Lizza (“Lizza”) and Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. (“collectively, “Defendants”), seek an order requiring Plaintiffs NuStar Farms, LLC, Anthony Nunes, Jr., and Anthony Nunes, III (together, “Plaintiffs”) and their attorneys to disclose responsive information and documents regarding their source of funding for this lawsuit and the material terms of their third-party litigation funding arrangement(s). This information goes directly to a dispositive issue in the case and is relevant to other issues as well; Plaintiffs cannot meet their burden to resist providing the information, which imposes no burden to produce.

While it might initially seem like a stretch to have to disclose this during discovery, as Esquire's lawyers argue in their supporting brief, it's actually quite important in this case:

This information goes to the heart of a potentially dispositive issue in this case—whether Plaintiffs should be deemed public figures by virtue of their relationship to the Congressman and their coordination in pursuing this lawsuit as part of his policy to sue media entities....

It's unclear if the judge will agree with this (and apparently he's already suggested that he's skeptical of this argument). Separately, even if they are compelled to hand over that information, that doesn't mean it will ever become public. But it still is worth paying attention to.

Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: 1st amendment, anti-slapp, defamation, devin nunes, devin's cow, free speech, liz mair, slapp, steven biss, vexatious lawsuits, virginia


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. icon
    Stephen T. Stone (profile), 25 Aug 2021 @ 10:01am

    I haven’t seen this many L’s since that time I watched an all-Luigi 8-player fight in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    That Anonymous Coward (profile), 25 Aug 2021 @ 10:20am

    Whats the phrase... whats the phrase...

    Oh yes, Christ what an asshole.

    This does nothing to improve anyones perception of the legal system not taking care of its own problem children & delivering punishments that would stop these sorts of bullshit cases.

    Bliss has abused the legal system at every turn to bring meritless cases & attempt to gather information for one case using other cases.

    We have a sitting elected offical spending someone's money (but not his own) on a string of lawsuits because they hurt his feelings. His own lawyer can't even offer up 1 single statement that meets the requirements to even have a case.

    Thank the FSM there are no ethics bodies in DC that should be very curious about Nunes lawsuits & other stunts... I mean he might end up suing them for saying he is a litigious asswipe.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    sumgai (profile), 25 Aug 2021 @ 10:38am

    “He may yet appeal,” Mair said of the decision".... "though as I understand it, that process could occur years or even decades from now....

    In general, a suit that has no activity for 3 years is automatically dismissed "for lack of prosecution" on the part of the plaintiff. Just filing papers to keep it alive is not enough, there must be substantive progress.

    Her attorneys can file for an earlier dismissal, but they'd have to plead something along the lines that Nunes and/or Biss have misled the could in some manner. That might come to pass, if the Lizzo/Hearst suit should reveal funding sources that can be related to Nunes, and that there might appear some manner of impropriety in the source(s) of such.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Pixelation, 25 Aug 2021 @ 11:00am

    Perhaps, Devin Nunes just has a thing for cows?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    Norahc (profile), 25 Aug 2021 @ 11:01am

    Re:

    that there might appear some manner of impropriety in the source(s) of such.

    Nunes is a walking example of impropriety. On a related note:

    POPCORN! Get your hot buttered popcorn here!

    This message funded by the Nunes Popcorn Coalition and was not approved by Nunes in any way

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. icon
    Greg Glockner (profile), 25 Aug 2021 @ 11:02am

    So another champion of cancel culture remains on the hunt to cancel the satirical cow. Just another day in GOP-mania.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 25 Aug 2021 @ 11:04am

    Once again, the state of California would like to apologize for electing this assclown. Gerrymandering is a hell of a drug.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. icon
    Samuel Abram (profile), 25 Aug 2021 @ 11:08am

    Re:

    Not really the entirety of the State of California; just his district. Every congressional district in California that is not Devin Nunes' is off the hook.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. icon
    TheResidentSkeptic (profile), 25 Aug 2021 @ 11:50am

    How far we have come.

    America used to be proud of having the absolute BEST government that money could buy.

    With the state of politicians these days, we are down to having the WORST government that money has bought.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. icon
    Thad (profile), 25 Aug 2021 @ 12:18pm

    Two years ago, I asked a poster who was insisting this case had merit the following question:

    This isn't the first time you've said something like this. If both this suit and the Proud Boys suit are dismissed or decided in favor of the defendants, will you perhaps reevaluate your knowledge of defamation law and place greater trust in Mike's interpretation when similar stories inevitably appear in the future? He may not be an expert, but as the subject of ongoing frivolous defamation litigation, I expect he's spent a lot more time talking to lawyers about this particular topic than the rest of us have.

    That poster isn't around anymore, and the Proud Boys suit hasn't been dismissed yet. But a part of me hopes, possibly in vain, that he's out there somewhere hearing this news and rethinking his ill-informed opinions about defamation law.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 25 Aug 2021 @ 1:01pm

    Re: Re:

    Every congressional district in California that is not Devin Nunes' is off the hook.

    Except Kevin McCarthy's district. They all suck too!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 25 Aug 2021 @ 1:05pm

    Re:

    rethinking his ill-informed opinions about defamation law.

    That's asking a lot!

    Considering the many other vocal idiots that frequent the comments section, get eviscerated daily, but still keep coming back for more, espousing the same bull 💩 every time the spew their drivel.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 25 Aug 2021 @ 1:36pm

    Maybe Nunes should refer to the works of Sir Terry Pratchett to locate the elusive bovine.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Bruce C., 25 Aug 2021 @ 2:55pm

    This saga deserves a series of political ads with the owners of the Twitter accounts narrating their legal drama. Just so I can hear the tag line "I'm Devin Nunes' cow and I approve this message." at the end.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. icon
    Uriel-238 (profile), 25 Aug 2021 @ 4:34pm

    I assume Nunes' Cow is now a legendary status troll.

    Considering how much money in court costs the cow must be bleeding from Nunes and his supporters, I'd think someone should erect a monument or something to the Troll Cow.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. icon
    Samuel Abram (profile), 25 Aug 2021 @ 4:39pm

    Re: I assume Nunes' Cow is now a legendary status troll.

    To be extra trollish, make it out of gold.

    (Yes, I realize it's blasphemous).

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    ryuugami, 25 Aug 2021 @ 7:12pm

    Re: Re: I assume Nunes' Cow is now a legendary status troll.

    To be extra trollish, make it out of gold.

    (Yes, I realize it's blasphemous).

    * recalls the gold(-colored) Trump statue at CPAC 2021 *

    Eh, we're way past "blasphemous".

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Aug 2021 @ 7:57am

    'someone' might want to check into how Nunes filing so many cases, and lots of financial paperwork is a coverup for 'misappropriation' of public funds.

    Basically you steal public money, then you launder it via a piss-poor lawyer and many MANY failed stupid cases.

    Then you claim most of it back from the lawyer as cleaned money.......

    link to this | view in thread ]

  19. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Aug 2021 @ 8:06pm

    Re:

    ...I actually bought that book and used to read it to my son when he was younger. It is absolutely as much fun as you might think.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  20. icon
    Uriel-238 (profile), 28 Aug 2021 @ 12:42am

    Blasphemous

    Referential. Which might be confused for reverential.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.