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.
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Filed Under: 1st amendment, anti-slapp, defamation, devin nunes, devin's cow, free speech, liz mair, slapp, steven biss, vexatious lawsuits, virginia
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I haven’t seen this many L’s since that time I watched an all-Luigi 8-player fight in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
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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.
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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.
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Perhaps, Devin Nunes just has a thing for cows?
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Re:
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
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So another champion of cancel culture remains on the hunt to cancel the satirical cow. Just another day in GOP-mania.
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Once again, the state of California would like to apologize for electing this assclown. Gerrymandering is a hell of a drug.
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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.
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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.
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Two years ago, I asked a poster who was insisting this case had merit the following question:
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.
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Re: Re:
Except Kevin McCarthy's district. They all suck too!
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Re:
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.
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Maybe Nunes should refer to the works of Sir Terry Pratchett to locate the elusive bovine.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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Re: Re: I assume Nunes' Cow is now a legendary status troll.
* recalls the gold(-colored) Trump statue at CPAC 2021 *
Eh, we're way past "blasphemous".
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'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.......
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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.
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Blasphemous
Referential. Which might be confused for reverential.
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