Comments on: Alex Hilton deserves no money and no sympathy for his legal battle http://www.lettersfromatory.com/2008/12/01/alex-hilton-deserves-no-money-and-no-sympathy-for-his-legal-battle/ Daily views on British politics and the Conservative Party from a centre-right thinker who writes letters on his blog to politicians, journalists and many others. Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:02:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: patently http://www.lettersfromatory.com/2008/12/01/alex-hilton-deserves-no-money-and-no-sympathy-for-his-legal-battle/#comment-4985 patently Sun, 07 Dec 2008 18:20:49 +0000 http://www.lettersfromatory.com/?p=1540#comment-4985 <i>She has warned me she will bankrupt me and that I will lose my home? </i> Shaun is right. Get those comments in an open and recorded form, then make sure they are raised in open court. "Ms xxx, what is the purpose of this litigation?" "To secure recognition for the wrong done to me" "So why have you stated that your aim is to bankrupt me? How will that assist? Or is this litigation pursued simply out if spite?" "..." "Are you a spiteful and malicious kind of person? The sort who might have done exactly what my article said you did?" ... etc.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('4985','patently'); return false;">Reply to this comment</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('4985','patently','<i>She has warned me she will bankrupt me and that I will lose my home? <\/i>\r\n\r\nShaun is right. Get those comments in an open and recorded form, then make sure they are raised in open court. \r\n\r\n\"Ms xxx, what is the purpose of this litigation?\"\r\n\r\n\"To secure recognition for the wrong done to me\"\r\n\r\n\"So why have you stated that your aim is to bankrupt me? How will that assist? Or is this litigation pursued simply out if spite?\"\r\n\r\n\"...\"\r\n\r\n\"Are you a spiteful and malicious kind of person? The sort who might have done exactly what my article said you did?\"\r\n\r\n... etc.'); return false;">Quote this comment</a></div> She has warned me she will bankrupt me and that I will lose my home?

Shaun is right. Get those comments in an open and recorded form, then make sure they are raised in open court.

“Ms xxx, what is the purpose of this litigation?”

“To secure recognition for the wrong done to me”

“So why have you stated that your aim is to bankrupt me? How will that assist? Or is this litigation pursued simply out if spite?”

“…”

“Are you a spiteful and malicious kind of person? The sort who might have done exactly what my article said you did?”

… etc.

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]]> By: Shaun Pilkington http://www.lettersfromatory.com/2008/12/01/alex-hilton-deserves-no-money-and-no-sympathy-for-his-legal-battle/#comment-4977 Shaun Pilkington Sun, 07 Dec 2008 09:55:34 +0000 http://www.lettersfromatory.com/?p=1540#comment-4977 They're just standard threats, John. At Law School they tell you that if your client is being sued by someone on legal aid, you're better off giving in as if you fight and win, they still have to pay their own costs. That should roughly tell you how this kind of game is played. The correct response to the 'I will bankrupt you' line is the 'Are you quite sure you want these allegations heard in open court as a matter of public record? Are you quite ready for what will happen to you if a Jury finds them true? Really?' Look at the Irving Libel case for a good example of unintended consequences.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('4977','Shaun Pilkington'); return false;">Reply to this comment</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('4977','Shaun Pilkington','They\'re just standard threats, John. At Law School they tell you that if your client is being sued by someone on legal aid, you\'re better off giving in as if you fight and win, they still have to pay their own costs. That should roughly tell you how this kind of game is played.\r\n\r\nThe correct response to the \'I will bankrupt you\' line is the \'Are you quite sure you want these allegations heard in open court as a matter of public record? Are you quite ready for what will happen to you if a Jury finds them true? Really?\' Look at the Irving Libel case for a good example of unintended consequences.'); return false;">Quote this comment</a></div> They’re just standard threats, John. At Law School they tell you that if your client is being sued by someone on legal aid, you’re better off giving in as if you fight and win, they still have to pay their own costs. That should roughly tell you how this kind of game is played.

The correct response to the ‘I will bankrupt you’ line is the ‘Are you quite sure you want these allegations heard in open court as a matter of public record? Are you quite ready for what will happen to you if a Jury finds them true? Really?’ Look at the Irving Libel case for a good example of unintended consequences.

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]]> By: John Gray http://www.lettersfromatory.com/2008/12/01/alex-hilton-deserves-no-money-and-no-sympathy-for-his-legal-battle/#comment-4973 John Gray Sat, 06 Dec 2008 22:38:49 +0000 http://www.lettersfromatory.com/?p=1540#comment-4973 Hi LFAT But what if she does? She is trying to get a Jury trial, while her case is in my view nonsense, how would you cope with this if she made the same allegations against you? She has warned me she will bankrupt me and that I will lose my home? I'm pretty confident that things will ok, but am amazed at the general compliancy by the wider blogging community.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('4973','John Gray'); return false;">Reply to this comment</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('4973','John Gray','Hi LFAT\r\nBut what if she does? She is trying to get a Jury trial, while her case is in my view nonsense, how would you cope with this if she made the same allegations against you?\r\n\r\nShe has warned me she will bankrupt me and that I will lose my home? \r\n\r\nI\'m pretty confident that things will ok, but am amazed at the general compliancy by the wider blogging community.'); return false;">Quote this comment</a></div> Hi LFAT
But what if she does? She is trying to get a Jury trial, while her case is in my view nonsense, how would you cope with this if she made the same allegations against you?

She has warned me she will bankrupt me and that I will lose my home?

I’m pretty confident that things will ok, but am amazed at the general compliancy by the wider blogging community.

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]]> By: LFAT http://www.lettersfromatory.com/2008/12/01/alex-hilton-deserves-no-money-and-no-sympathy-for-his-legal-battle/#comment-4968 LFAT Sat, 06 Dec 2008 16:30:13 +0000 http://www.lettersfromatory.com/?p=1540#comment-4968 Thanks for your comment. I don't think she will win, and she shouldn't win, but that doesn't excuse Alex's behaviour. This goes well beyond a simple legal action in terms of his post and his conduct, as I tried to explain in my letter.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('4968','LFAT'); return false;">Reply to this comment</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('4968','LFAT','Thanks for your comment. I don\'t think she will win, and she shouldn\'t win, but that doesn\'t excuse Alex\'s behaviour. \n\nThis goes well beyond a simple legal action in terms of his post and his conduct, as I tried to explain in my letter.'); return false;">Quote this comment</a></div> Thanks for your comment. I don’t think she will win, and she shouldn’t win, but that doesn’t excuse Alex’s behaviour.

This goes well beyond a simple legal action in terms of his post and his conduct, as I tried to explain in my letter.

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]]> By: John Gray http://www.lettersfromatory.com/2008/12/01/alex-hilton-deserves-no-money-and-no-sympathy-for-his-legal-battle/#comment-4967 John Gray Sat, 06 Dec 2008 16:23:34 +0000 http://www.lettersfromatory.com/?p=1540#comment-4967 Better late than never, but just to set the record straight. Regardless of what you think of him Alex is the innocent party in all this. I posted the original story on Labourhome. It did not at all liable the claimant. But Alex did take it down as soon as she complained. But she is still suing him. By all means she could sue me (she is) but if she was to win against Labourhome then I cannot see how any blogs can allow unmoderated posts or comments. Even if you moderate beforehand (as I do on my site) you could face utterly spurious legal action. Check out http://grayee.blogspot.com/2008/12/being-sued-for-libel-by-disrespectful.html<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('4967','John Gray'); return false;">Reply to this comment</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('4967','John Gray','Better late than never, but just to set the record straight. Regardless of what you think of him Alex is the innocent party in all this. I posted the original story on Labourhome. It did not at all liable the claimant. But Alex did take it down as soon as she complained. But she is still suing him. By all means she could sue me (she is) but if she was to win against Labourhome then I cannot see how any blogs can allow unmoderated posts or comments. Even if you moderate beforehand (as I do on my site) you could face utterly spurious legal action. Check out http:\/\/grayee.blogspot.com\/2008\/12\/being-sued-for-libel-by-disrespectful.html'); return false;">Quote this comment</a></div> Better late than never, but just to set the record straight. Regardless of what you think of him Alex is the innocent party in all this. I posted the original story on Labourhome. It did not at all liable the claimant. But Alex did take it down as soon as she complained. But she is still suing him. By all means she could sue me (she is) but if she was to win against Labourhome then I cannot see how any blogs can allow unmoderated posts or comments. Even if you moderate beforehand (as I do on my site) you could face utterly spurious legal action. Check out http://grayee.blogspot.com/2008/12/being-sued-for-libel-by-disrespectful.html
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]]> By: Shaun Pilkington http://www.lettersfromatory.com/2008/12/01/alex-hilton-deserves-no-money-and-no-sympathy-for-his-legal-battle/#comment-4916 Shaun Pilkington Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:34:37 +0000 http://www.lettersfromatory.com/?p=1540#comment-4916 “No, you’ve heard me quote statute and case law, which is more than anyone else has bothered to do. ”

Which statute? And also, any binding case-law, or just 6 year old judgements from a non-binding lower court like the County Court you cite in your link to Murray v Spencer (http://www.out-law.com/page-2621)? As it stands, the law on republishing is perfectly clear. This is why in tradition libel cases against newspapers, you could do the printers and distributors as well as the original publisher.

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]]> By: john b http://www.lettersfromatory.com/2008/12/01/alex-hilton-deserves-no-money-and-no-sympathy-for-his-legal-battle/#comment-4914 john b Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:30:09 +0000 http://www.lettersfromatory.com/?p=1540#comment-4914 Oh - "may LabourHome be closed down as a result." It won't: it's owned by Progressive Media Group, not by Alex. Even if the plaintiff were to win £100,000,000 damages against him and he were bankrupted, the site would be unaffected.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('4914','john b'); return false;">Reply to this comment</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('4914','john b','Oh - \"may LabourHome be closed down as a result.\"\r\n\r\nIt won\'t: it\'s owned by Progressive Media Group, not by Alex. Even if the plaintiff were to win £100,000,000 damages against him and he were bankrupted, the site would be unaffected.'); return false;">Quote this comment</a></div> Oh – “may LabourHome be closed down as a result.”

It won’t: it’s owned by Progressive Media Group, not by Alex. Even if the plaintiff were to win £100,000,000 damages against him and he were bankrupted, the site would be unaffected.

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]]> By: john b http://www.lettersfromatory.com/2008/12/01/alex-hilton-deserves-no-money-and-no-sympathy-for-his-legal-battle/#comment-4913 john b Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:27:15 +0000 http://www.lettersfromatory.com/?p=1540#comment-4913 "Facebook is not owned by you, Alex, which is why I think the responsibility should be yours with LabourHome" Aye; nobody's suggesting that Alex should be responsible for Facebook. But under your argument Mark Zuckerberg /would/ be held legally responsible for everything anyone ever wrote there, even if it were deleted immediately on notification. That is not how the law works, and IMO it's not how the law should work either.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('4913','john b'); return false;">Reply to this comment</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('4913','john b','\"Facebook is not owned by you, Alex, which is why I think the responsibility should be yours with LabourHome\"\r\n\r\nAye; nobody\'s suggesting that Alex should be responsible for Facebook. But under your argument Mark Zuckerberg \/would\/ be held legally responsible for everything anyone ever wrote there, even if it were deleted immediately on notification. That is not how the law works, and IMO it\'s not how the law should work either.'); return false;">Quote this comment</a></div> “Facebook is not owned by you, Alex, which is why I think the responsibility should be yours with LabourHome”

Aye; nobody’s suggesting that Alex should be responsible for Facebook. But under your argument Mark Zuckerberg /would/ be held legally responsible for everything anyone ever wrote there, even if it were deleted immediately on notification. That is not how the law works, and IMO it’s not how the law should work either.

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]]> By: john b http://www.lettersfromatory.com/2008/12/01/alex-hilton-deserves-no-money-and-no-sympathy-for-his-legal-battle/#comment-4912 john b Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:23:38 +0000 http://www.lettersfromatory.com/?p=1540#comment-4912 “I must say I’ve heard a lot of hot air from you”

No, you’ve heard me quote statute and case law, which is more than anyone else has bothered to do. There are no precedents of someone being held to be the author/editor/publisher of unmoderated web comments that were deleted on notification; there are precedents of people being held *not* to be the author/editor/publisher in these cases.

There are no precedents concerning unmoderated group blogs – the question is whether LH is seen as analogous to a comment board, or to an edited magazine.

“and you seem to be getting very mixed up about what exactly Hiltons role is in regards his website, and I sincerely hope you are not representing him.”

I know exactly what Hilton’s role is, both by his reputation and for reasons I can’t go into here. I’m not a lawyer and I’m not representing him in any capacity.

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]]> By: Malicious Individual http://www.lettersfromatory.com/2008/12/01/alex-hilton-deserves-no-money-and-no-sympathy-for-his-legal-battle/#comment-4901 Malicious Individual Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:32:05 +0000 http://www.lettersfromatory.com/?p=1540#comment-4901 <em>(comment deleted for breaking the rules of this blog)</em><div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('4901','Malicious Individual'); return false;">Reply to this comment</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('4901','Malicious Individual','<em>(comment deleted for breaking the rules of this blog)<\/em>'); return false;">Quote this comment</a></div> (comment deleted for breaking the rules of this blog)
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