Via the birther debunker site Fogbow's thread, KLAYMAN v CITY PAGES, et al. - MDFL - (Klayman Suit for Defamation) Bluestem has learned that the defendants in conservative lawyer Larry Klayman's defamation lawsuit filed a motion to dismiss on Wednesday, May 29, 2013.
The docket for the case can be viewed here. Bluestem embeds the motion below.
In the 13-page document, the crux of the defendants' argument is to appeal to the truth of their accounts and the privilege that journalists receive for "fair and accurate reports of official documents":
Thus, this lawsuit is about whether Plaintiff can sue Defendants for making that one statement in light of the magistrate's finding that Plaintiff's behavior was "grossly inappropriate," and the Ohio appellate court's decision affirming the magistrate. He cannot, and the reasons he cannot is because the statement is truthful and cannot form the subject of a claim for defamation, because he does not identify any true statements of fact as is necessary to state a claim for defamation by implication, and because his claims are barred by the substantial truth doctrine and the privilege for fair and accurate reports of official documents.
In March, Pioneer Press staff writer Leslie Brooks Suzukamp reported in Florida-based lawyer sues City Pages for defamation:
A Florida lawyer has hit City Pages with a $1.4 million defamation lawsuit for a story last fall that said the lawyer inappropriately touched his children.
Larry Klayman's lawsuit, announced Monday, March 25, said City Pages sought to hurt the attorney in retaliation for Klayman's representation of Bradlee Dean, the controversial anti-gay preacher and founder of an Annandale-based group You Can Run But You Cannot Hide.
The City Pages story, which ran Sept. 28 last year, said an appeals court in Ohio had ordered Klayman to pay his ex-wife $325,000 in attorney's fees, and that the order noted a lower court magistrate had heard evidence of sexual abuse from his children's pediatrician, who reported it to children's services, and from a social worker at that agency.
The story said the social worker's findings were changed to "unsubstantiated," but the magistrate found that Klayman acted in a "grossly inappropriate manner" with one of his children, although his conduct may not have been sexual....
At the time, the wags at Wonkette immediately trolled Klayman with Snipy's post, In Which Wonkette Tries To Bait Larry Klayman Into Suing Us Also, Too.
As Bluestem noted in Birkey's super powers, or, toxic metal preacher Bradlee Dean thinks locally, sues nationally, Klayman was the toxic metal preacher's lawyer in another case that drew much derision in the blogosphere, including Wonkette's Homophobe Pastor Knows Media Only Mocking Him to Get to Rep. Bachmann. Klayman drew local attention with the Maddow lawsuit--and thus coverage of his own legal matters in the Ohio court.
City Pages et al Motion to Dismiss Klayman Lawsuit
Photo: Larry Klayman, via 2011 Miami Times article, Larry Klayman, Conservative Wingnut Lawyer, Gets Reprimanded By Florida Bar, Is Broke.
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