Maryland Judge Kicks Melania's 'Escort' Suit Against Daily Mail Out of Court
Source: LawNewz
First Lady Melania Trump sued The Daily Mail and Maryland blogger Webster Tarpley after they each published stories with claims that Trump had worked as a paid escort in the past. Trump insists that this is flat out false and is accusing both Tarpley and the Mail of libel, and she sued both in Maryland federal court. Of course, theres a problem with this, because The Daily Mail has little if anything to do with Maryland, so the court doesnt have jurisdiction over the lawsuit, according to Judge Sharon V. Burrell.
Judge Burrell wrote in a decision published on Wednesday that because neither Trump nor The Daily Mails parent company, Mail Media, Inc. (MMI) is a resident of Maryland, she cannot rule on the case against them. On top of that, MMI had mentioned in court documents that they dont even publish the MailOnline website that ran the story about the First Lady. MailOnline is published and owned by Associated Newspapers Ltd., a United Kingdom company with its principal office in New York, so even if Trump had sued them, Maryland still would not be the appropriate venue.
Tarpley is a Maryland resident, which is likely why Trump sued there, but she tried to sue both him and Daily Mail in the same case, in the same court. But courts need jurisdiction over a defendant in order to rule on a matter, and the judge decided that the Maryland court did not have the authority to hear a case against a company that doesnt have sufficient ties to the area.
Trumps attorney, Charles Harder, had argued that there was sufficient connection to Maryland because MailOnline reaches Maryland users, publishes content geared towards an American audience, and runs ads targeting Maryland readers. Judge Burrell ruled that this was not a strong enough connection between Daily Mail and Maryland, given that the article in question had nothing to do with the state.
Read more: http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/maryland-judge-kicks-melanias-escort-suit-against-daily-mail-out-of-court/
lark
(23,166 posts)Glad her frivolous stupid lawsuit got knocked down and look forward to seeing her lose the others as well. Goldigger isn't happy just taking money from Drumpf, now she's trying to expand her base, disgusting, lying vile person that she is.
DemoTex
(25,405 posts)I'd love Hunter S. Thompson's take on this story.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,047 posts)pamela
(3,469 posts)Remember the interview where she was asked if she would have married pigman if he wasn't rich? Her response was "would he have married me if I wasn't beautiful?" That's pretty much the textbook definition of the escort services relationship.
NastyRiffraff
(12,448 posts)Never thought I'd see those words together.
Maryland: My state!
mwooldri
(10,303 posts)Libel laws are more favourable there.
LuckyLib
(6,821 posts)Wrong information, threaten by lawsuit? Gasp! The First Family!
bucolic_frolic
(43,364 posts)is to put yourself on trial. So they don't have the bucks to sue in
three places at the same time (MD, NY, UK)? Hard to believe.
So maybe this is defending oneself without trying to hard.
angstlessk
(11,862 posts)mopinko
(70,268 posts)who refused to let fair lady defend her honor.
bank on it.
NYC Liberal
(20,138 posts)He only really cares about himself. Melanie's reputation isn't of much concern to him imo.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,390 posts)https://www.buzzfeed.com/zoetillman/melania-trump-can-sue-a-maryland-blogger-for-defamation-judg?utm_term=.ofeVy7nea#.jhPNDbxrR
And her case against Tarpley is continuing in Maryland. It just looks like they tried to get the Mail on that suit there as well. Worth a try - the Mail is an unsympathetic defendant, who can reasonably be painted as publishing knowing it's false, with the intention of profiting from it.
bucolic_frolic
(43,364 posts)and Tarpley as I recall issued a retraction soon after publication
It's still a messy business, disproving things that circulate.
Email! Email! Email!
Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi!
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)orangecrush
(19,645 posts)mobeau69
(11,163 posts)It's seems like filing in the correct jurisdiction is kind of basic. They went over suing in the correct jusridiction in Intro to Law 101 didn't they? Now drumpf needs to sue his lawyers. What a clown show.
In NY they might get Denny Chin and another result like Al Franken did. Laughter in the court room!
In Courtroom, Laughter at Fox And a Victory For Al Franken
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/23/nyregion/in-courtroom-laughter-at-fox-and-a-victory-for-al-franken.html
Grimelle
(219 posts)her Immigration papers...
not fooled
(5,803 posts)is keeping the escort story in the news cycle. I guess when you're married to dump, you learn that striving for petty vengeance is more important than acting rationally.