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Be Careful What You Sue For

[Wall Street Journal, 6Jun07] Floyd Abrams - On May 29, the potential vulnerability of a plaintiff that misuses the courts to sue for libel once again surfaced when the Islamic Society of Boston abandoned a libel action it had commenced against a number of Boston residents, a Boston newspaper and television station, and Steven Emerson, a recognized expert on terrorism and extremist Islamic groups. The Islamic Society was a surprising entry into the legal arena. Its founder, Abdurahman Alamoudi, had been indicted in 2003 for his role in a terrorism financing scheme, pled guilty and had been sentenced to a 23-year prison term. Yusef al-Qaradawi, who had been repeatedly identified by the Islamic Society as a member of its Board of Trustees, had been described by a U.S. Treasury Department official as a senior Muslim Brotherhood member and had endorsed the killing of Americans in Iraq and Jews everywhere. The Islamic Society nonetheless sued. The Islamic Society claimed it had been libeled by expressions of concern by the defendants that it had provided support for extremist organizations. But bank records obtained by the defendants showed that the Islamic Society had served as funder of the Holy Land Foundation, a Hamas-controlled organization that the U.S. Treasury Department had said "exists to raise money in the United States to promote terror." So the case was dropped. The lesson is that we should learn from the English system and award counsel fees to the winning side in cases like this, which are brought to inhibit speech on matters of serious public import. Because all the defendants were steadfast and refused to settle, they were eventually vindicated. But the real way to avoid meritless cases such as this is to have a body of law that makes clear that plaintiffs who bring them will be held financially responsible for doing so.
2007-06-08 01:00:00
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