Posted by Dennis Herrick on July 18, 2008 at 00:00:48:
GALVESTON COUNTY
District may sue Web site for defamation
Friday, October 19, 2007
By Rhiannon Meyers/ The Daily News
GALVESTON — Galveston public school trustees on Wednesday authorized the district’s legal firm to take all action necessary to clamp down on what they say is libelous material on parent-run Web site www.gisdwatch.com.
The law firm, run by David Feldman, plans to issue a letter to site administrator Sandra Tetley demanding that she remove all libelous material. If she refuses, Feldman plans to sue her.
The district’s move to sue for defamation is rare and unlawful, said Sandra Baron, executive director of New-York based Media Law Resource Center.
Under the 1964 Supreme Court case New York Times v. Sullivan, government entities cannot sue for libel — any court would toss out the “threatening” suit as being inconsistent with U.S. law, she said.
A school district suing for libel is an intimidation tactic and a waste of taxpayer dollars, Baron said.
“It’s clearly designed to tell citizens of the community: ‘Don’t mess with us. We have the power. Not only do we have the power, we have the tax dollars. And we’re using your dollars to fight your fellow citizens when they say something we don’t really like,’” she said.
“It’s pretty extraordinary to use the power of the state and the resources of the state, that is, the entire tax base, to ... try to bring a libel suit against an individual citizen.”
Libelous Or Not?
More than 100 registered users post on Tetley’s site. Feldman said it contained the most “personal, libelous invective directed toward a school administrator” he’s seen in his 31-year career. The district asked its law firm months ago to start monitoring the site.
The material is affecting the credibility of the district by deterring teachers who may want to work there, said board President David O’Neal.
Trustees first openly discussed suing gisdwatch.com at Wednesday’s board meeting.
It was the first time Tetley knew district officials thought the site was libelous, she said.
She plans to review all material deemed libelous, then decide what to delete, she said.
“We’ll definitely take a look at it,” she said. “We don’t want the district to be able to divert the attention away from our fight with reconfiguration. If they think it’s important enough to take it down, it’s not worth the district spending money to fight me.”
Criticism
The board has long been criticized by Tetley and others for its actions, including reconfiguring its middle schools, closing elementary schools, meeting in executive sessions some have claimed are illegal, refusing to divulge the contents of a letter from a civil rights consultant and for issuing a budget forecast that was off by more than $10 million.
As the four-hour board meeting wound to a close Wednesday night, O’Neal pondered why there was still criticism of the district when it’s moving forward in a positive direction.
“The train has left the station and is gaining speed,” he said. “Either get on the train or get run over.”
Feldman said he considers only a few postings libelous. They’re libelous, he said, if they contain statements purported to be fact accusing Galveston administrators and trustees of breaking the law. Such postings by Tetley and anonymous users accuse trustees and administrators of lying, corruption, cover-ups, spying on employees outside nonbusiness hours and “enrich(ing) themselves financially,” Feldman said. In one posting, Tetley wrote “everything the district has done since (Lynne Cleveland) became superintendent has been either illegal or immoral, or both.”
If the district sues Tetley, it won’t ask for money, Feldman said. It will only request that she delete material that school district claims is libelous.
“This is in no way ... any effort to stifle criticism, whether it’s legitimate or not,” he said. “The sole reason for bringing the action is to stop the posting of clearly defamatory material.”
Tetley’s policy of allowing anonymous postings encourages libel, Feldman said.
Tetley said she allows anonymous postings because parents and teachers are worried about retaliation.
“That’s why they’re coming after us, because they want to silence dissenters,” she said.
“I think it’s horrible, and I think it’s a waste of money ... They bring in this (public relations) consultant to try to change this whole perception of how they are. They talk about building bridges, and now they’re going to sue us for speaking out and having an opinion. I would be willing to take it down, just so they don’t spend money. That’s not where I want the money to go. I want it to go to the classroom.”
Tetley said she has obtained a lawyer.
Defaming Public Officials
Though the district’s move is not unprecedented, it’s rare. Feldman tried to sue a resident for defaming school officials only once before, he said. Representing Alvin public school district in the mid-1980s, Feldman stopped an Alvin family from accusing school officials of discriminating against Mexican-Americans.
It’s often difficult to prove a public official has been libeled.
Aside from proving libelous statements are damaging, public officials must also prove actual malice. Actual malice means knowing a statement is false or having reckless disregard for the truth.
Bloggers complicate things.
The federal courts have ruled that bloggers can’t be held liable for what others post on their sites. The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in April ruled that a Pennsylvania blogger wasn’t responsible for the content of postings on his site even though he picked which postings to display. The same court held in 2003 that America Online wasn’t responsible if one subscriber impersonated another in an chat room and defamed him.
The rulings stem from a federal law stating that those who control blogs and chat rooms can’t be held liable for statements contributed by others.
Invasion Of Privacy
In another twist, the district is considering suing on Cleveland’s behalf claiming invasion of privacy. At least one posting was signed with her name, though it was obviously not penned by her. The posting mocks Cleveland’s mottos about building bridges, oceans of opportunities and new directions. In this case, Feldman said he wouldn’t have to prove actual malice.
Though the posting is satirical, and not libelous, it’s an invasion of privacy to post in another’s name, he said.
“It’s like you’ve been figuratively raped,” Feldman said.
He’ll ask Tetley to remove all postings signed by Cleveland. Reconfiguration
The district’s controversial reconfiguration prompted Tetley to start the Web site in March. The February decision to place all island fifth- and sixth-graders at Weis Middle School and all seventh- and eight-graders at Central Middle School left Tetley thinking trustees and Cleveland weren’t listening to parents.
“We wanted to have a voice,” she said.
Tetley, using her site and a group called Galveston Alliance for Neighborhood Schools, made it a mission to “expose what the district is doing.”
Since March, Tetley has formally complained about the district to the Texas Education Association and the Galveston County district attorney. She’s filed 15 open records requests for Cleveland’s employment application and trustees’ campaign finance reports, among other things.
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11/9/2007
Blogger Mom Takes on Galveston ISD
Filed under: Blogging Matters, Education — DRJ
The Instapundit recently linked to this Galveston County (Texas) Daily News article that reported Galveston ISD’s effort to silence a mother whose blog has been critical of the school district and its leaders:
“The public school district has officially demanded that parent Sandra Tetley remove what it says is libelous material from her Web site or face a lawsuit for defamation.
Tetley received a letter Monday from the district’s law firm demanding she remove what it termed libelous statements and other “legally offensive” statements posted by her or anonymous users, and refrain from allowing such postings in the future. If she refuses, the district plans to sue her, the demand letter states.”
The school district claimed Tetley’s blog contained at least 16 libelous postings, half of which were posted by anonymous users:
“Feldman cited 16 examples of what he says are libelous postings. Half were posted by Tetley; the other half were posted by anonymous users. The postings accuse Superintendent Lynne Cleveland, trustees and administrators of lying, manipulation, falsifying budget numbers, using their positions for “personal gain,” violating the Open Meetings Act and spying on employees, among other things.
Tetley said the postings were opinions only.”
Now Tetley has retained a high-profile area attorney and is fighting back:
“Attorney Tony Buzbee warned the Galveston school board and its attorneys that they would face a tenacious and public fight if they move forward with threats of a “frivolous” defamation lawsuit.
David Feldman of the district’s law firm, Feldman and Rogers, said: “We’re not going to try this matter in the newspaper.” He declined further comment.
Buzbee — who has won millions in judgments for his clients and owns the 100-foot $4.5 million El Grande, one of the largest yachts in Galveston Bay — is representing Sandra Tetley, an angry parent whose Web site, gisdwatch.org, is the target of the legal action.”
Since retaining Buzbee, Tetley says she will not remove any postings. It sounds like Buzbee believes the best defense is a good offense:
“In his letter to Feldman, Buzbee said Tetley, the president of Oppe’s Parent Teacher Organization, is “desperately fighting to shed light on the myriad of problems at GISD” in hopes that exposing them will lead to resolution.
She has a vested interest in the workings of the district since her children attend Oppe Elementary School, Buzbee wrote. She believes in the absolute truth of every statement she’s made on her site, he said. As for the anonymous statements, Tetley cannot be legally responsible for what others post on her site, Buzbee wrote.
A lawsuit would open the district up to scrutiny and examination of every controversial issue raised on Tetley’s Web site through testimony and extensive document research, Buzbee warned. He discouraged the district’s firm from moving forward with a lawsuit. “Mrs. Tetley is not looking for a fight, but she will not be bullied,” he wrote.
Galveston is losing its middle-class student population to neighboring districts and private schools, partly because islanders believe the district is failing the children, Buzbee wrote. “Now is not the time to sue parents; it is the time to fix the system,” Buzbee wrote.
He chastised the board for its “colossal” waste of taxpayer money on a “baseless course of action” and “meritless case.” Board members are public officials and should expect to be criticized, he wrote. “The proper response by a public official to criticism is leadership, debate, discussion and compromise — not frivolous litigation,” Buzbee wrote.”
It’s fun to cheer for the underdog, even if her lawyer does own one of the biggest yachts in Galveston Bay.