Courts

Alec Baldwin Could Be Back In Court For Defamation

Another celebrity proving that using Twitter can be very expensive.

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Comedy Central Roast Of Alec Baldwin – Show

(Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Comedy Central)

As nice as it was to see Alec Baldwin in Beetlejuice and The Cat In The Hat, I’d really rather stop seeing him in court. This time, he’s facing defamation charges. Again. A family’s repeatedly struck down defamation suit against him was just given another opportunity to stick. It probably won’t, but when $25M is on the line, people want as many chances at bat as possible. From AP News:

Earlier this week, Judge Edgardo Ramos in Manhattan dismissed the family’s defamation lawsuit, which sought $25 million in damages, but he invited a refiling of the lawsuit to correct deficiencies and renew claims of defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
…
Attorney Dennis Postiglione, representing the sisters and widow of Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, said he’ll meet a Sept. 12 deadline set by the judge to renew allegations that Baldwin subjected family members to online threats and harassment after he posted and commented on a photo shared online by one of McCollum’s sisters, Roice McCollum, who had been in Washington during the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.

The defamation suit is anchored in Baldwin’s decision to one of McCollum’s sisters as an insurrectionist and a rioter after discovering that she attended the Jan. 6th protest of Joe Biden’s election. Merriam-Webster would also support the use of those words… if she actually took part in the insurrectiony bits. She responded that she left before MAGA Saturnalia started and, considering the FBI cleared her after an investigation, she’s probably telling the truth.

She’s heated that after Baldwin shared some information personally identifying her, internet trolls did what they do best and said some very mean-spirited things to her and her family. Unfortunately, that does not defamation make — at least that’s what the judge who tossed out the case thinks:

[R]amos made various conclusions in Baldwin’s favor, including that his comments were protected by the First Amendment, that actual malice was not sufficiently alleged and that private messages, comments and social media posts did not support defamation claims.

Who knows, the refiled lawsuit may successfully address Judge Ramos’s concerns! I wouldn’t hold my breath though — they’ve amended their complaint three times before this one. Fourth time’s the charm?

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Slain Marine’s family plans to refile lawsuit accusing Alec Baldwin of defamation [AP News]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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