If corporations in New Jersey filed suit every time critics like the Sierra Club's Jeff Tittle said something nasty about them, the court calendar would be clogged with defamation actions. Tittle would be so busy answering interrogatories that the state's media would have to file an amicus brief in hopes of preserving their most cherished source of story-making quotes.
Hey, maybe that's the point. The Big Chill. Close down the opposition through legal intimidation. Bleed your opponents dry with court costs. Send them to the sidelines, regardless of the merits of your case, while your project chases its permits.
Or maybe the environmental Davids have gone overboard in using a compliant media to slay corporate Goliaths. Maybe the tactics that win you easy headlines--hyperbole, half-truths and sometimes outright inaccuracies--are beginning to take their toll on the environmental movement's credibility.
What do you think? Click on the "comment" line below and share your thoughts.
NOTE: While attribution is admired, you can choose to answer anonymously if you're afraid of a corporate lawsuit or an environmental tongue-lashing.
NOTE: While attribution is admired, you can choose to answer anonymously if you're afraid of a corporate lawsuit or an environmental tongue-lashing.
I don't know that Snake River Alliance's director's comment was a 'slur.' Shipley, Snake River's director, made her comment about Alternate Energy Holdings 'scamming' Idahoans in context of the firm's financials, which are hardly 'slightly amiss.' The company had a net loss last year of $3.4 million and year-end assets worth $324,431. A few weeks ago, their auditor noted that the company's "significant operating losses raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern."
ReplyDeleteI think this is a company with only one basket left, full of all its eggs. They're getting really desperate. I haven't checked, but I'd bet the nonprofit's balance sheet must look must better than the nuke developer's. The other reason the nonprofit is in the crosshairs is that AEHI's ego is bruised. It's a penny stock. Their nuke proposal got kicked out of Yemen because that country didn't trust them. Shipley is the 2nd activist subjected to AEHI's trigger-happy ligitation in 2 months! But the whole mess is all kinda funny too! Check this out:
http://www.idealist.ws/scammers.PNG
The company is in the red, but so are many others that aren't even start-ups. Being in the red doesn't make you a scammer. Calling people criminals when they've never been convicted or even charged is defamation. If that's not defamation, then what is?
ReplyDeleteIf you're going to start calling your opponents criminals, then rational discussion is going to break down. Indeed, one could argue that Shipley, in calling the nuke developers scammers, was trying to squelch them and deny them financial support! Far from being an attempt to silence opposition, defamation suits protect the right of citizens to discuss controversial issues without fear that someone is going to make false and unfair statements intended only to hurt, not enlighten.
Thank you both for your comments. I know there are others itching to add their two-cents worth. How about it? Let's hear from you.
ReplyDeleteIs that not the American Way? Say something that may hurt the minor shoulder of someone and they decide to go litigious on ya. Well, enough is enough. It is time to be adults.
ReplyDeleteGet your act together and go forth!
When you know a company is in financial distress and one then makes deliberatey defamatory claims which can exacerbate the company's financial deterioration, I beleive the company has a legitimate claim against those making such intentionally harmful statements. Let's not forget, the "environmentalist" movement has utilized the tactic of undermining credibility--accurately or hyperbole or slander--with particularly chilling effect on certain industries and companies. Do they want to engage in honest, forthright debate and discourse on the merits or does their agenda merit such extremism as bullying (if not killing) private sector companies?
ReplyDelete