Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA Billionaire Is Suing Beto, What Comes Next?
This lawsuit is really sad. The lawyer who filed this lawsuit is the Kasowitz firm that is not known for First Amendment issues but is known for representing TFG and Russian Oligarch. The Houston office of this firm is mainly employment litigators
To win this lawsuit, Kelcy needs to prove that Beto made a statement of fact that Beto knew was false. The complained statements are statement of opinions, and you can sue for this
Link to tweet
On Monday, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto ORourke made headlines when he announced at a campaign event that a billionaire was going to file a lawsuit against him. Sure enough, a defamation lawsuit against ORourke was filed in San Saba County later that day.
The man bringing the lawsuit against ORourke is Kelcy Warren, the co-founder and current Chairman of the Board of Directors at Energy Transfer Partners, one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world. His lawsuit is seeking damages against ORourke for defamation, slander, and libel.....
There have to be very clear misstatements of fact, if there are merely opinions, generally speaking, they are not going to be actionable as defamation, said Shavin. The standard of the law applies even further to a public official, according to Shavin. Its not enough just to prove its false or defamatory, its got to be proven that it was made with actual malice.....
Shavin pointed to a Texas case to describe the very high bar for meeting defamation: Carr v. Brasher. In that case, the Texas Supreme Court denied rehearing a case from Lynn Brasher, the former mayor of South Houston, against his election opponent (and new mayor) Al Thiel and Walter Carr, a campaign aide who authored campaign brochures. Brasher alleged that Carr committed libel for some of those campaign brochures for an election in 1985. Some of the allegations raised in those brochures included payoffs Brasher made to bookkeepers. The defense for Thiel and Carr rested on the absence of malice in the accusation.
The man bringing the lawsuit against ORourke is Kelcy Warren, the co-founder and current Chairman of the Board of Directors at Energy Transfer Partners, one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world. His lawsuit is seeking damages against ORourke for defamation, slander, and libel.....
There have to be very clear misstatements of fact, if there are merely opinions, generally speaking, they are not going to be actionable as defamation, said Shavin. The standard of the law applies even further to a public official, according to Shavin. Its not enough just to prove its false or defamatory, its got to be proven that it was made with actual malice.....
Shavin pointed to a Texas case to describe the very high bar for meeting defamation: Carr v. Brasher. In that case, the Texas Supreme Court denied rehearing a case from Lynn Brasher, the former mayor of South Houston, against his election opponent (and new mayor) Al Thiel and Walter Carr, a campaign aide who authored campaign brochures. Brasher alleged that Carr committed libel for some of those campaign brochures for an election in 1985. Some of the allegations raised in those brochures included payoffs Brasher made to bookkeepers. The defense for Thiel and Carr rested on the absence of malice in the accusation.
This lawsuit will be fun to watch
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
3 replies, 699 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (9)
ReplyReply to this post
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
A Billionaire Is Suing Beto, What Comes Next? (Original Post)
LetMyPeopleVote
Mar 2022
OP
Midnight Writer
(21,712 posts)1. Kelcy Warren is not suing to win. He is suing to harass.
Now O'Rourke and his team have to spend time, money and resources defending themselves from an enemy with limitless money and lawyers.
ck4829
(35,038 posts)2. Find out which BBQ sauce is best used to eat the rich with
blogslug
(37,982 posts)3. I guess it's all about the judge then
Article says he filed in San Saba county. There's a district judge there. Is that where Warren's case would go?