PDF scans of lawsuit against Deb Filcman, Ron Newman, and John and Jane Does 1-100

[ron_newman]

[continuing the discussion that started here: Help! I am being sued for my participation in davis_square ]

I have placed on Dropbox a scan of the Amended Complaint that I was served with yesterday afternoon.

Here's a list of username handles mentioned in the lawsuit: https://gist.github.com/anonymous/d231f81633d2a4163536 . Most are from LJ, but a few are from the Wicked Local/Somerville Journal blog, and one is from journalfen.com .

Someone also found the original complaint in a court database. (I was never served with this one.)

The amended complaint has hundreds of pages of attached exhibits, which I did NOT scan in. They are copies of posts and comments to davis_square, davis_snark, sf_drama, discussions at journalfen.com, blog posts and comments at Wicked Local Somerville (Somerville Journal), Encyclopedia Dramatica article, etc.

Comments

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

I am pleased by the apparent outpouring of support.

[teko.livejournal.com]

I'm not pleased to see you on the list :/

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

It is without merit.

To suggest that this case is at all about Mr. Monserrat's supposed suffering, or that a special-purpose public figure was in fact defamed (I'd argue that in our community, he's libel-proof: his public opinion literally cannot go any lower, but I am not a lawyer) is naive.

This is what in other jurisdictions would be considered a SLAPP lawsuit, designed solely to punish, bully, intimidate and embroil. As well as to be personally-expensive.

[zubatac.livejournal.com]

Massachusetts does in fact have a law against SLAPP lawsuits (MGL c.231 s.59H); to my absolutely non-lawyerly eyes, it seems that (a) the law as written protects only right to petition the government (and not free speech more generally), but (b) active discussion sparked by our local police log may be covered by the anti-SLAPP law's definition of the right of petition as including "any written or oral statement made in connection with [...] any other governmental proceeding".

Regardless of how this ultimately plays out, I'm going to contact our elected representatives and ask them to broaden the anti-SLAPP law's coverage of free speech, especially when it comes to matters of public interest. (Hey, maybe it will end up being called "JonMon's law"... :) )

Caveat: I'm not a lawyer-- just a concerned citizen.