Texas
Related: About this forumGov. Abbott mega-donor Kelcy Warren sues Democrat Beto O'Rourke for defamation
Kelcy is trying to silence Beto. Kelcy is using TRG and a Russin oligarch;s law frim
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https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Gov-Abbott-mega-donor-Kelcy-Warren-sues-Democrat-16984193.php
Kelcy Warren, chairman of the board at the gas pipeline company Energy Transfer Partners, filed suit against ORourke in San Saba County seeking more than $1 million in damages. The lawsuit alleges that ORourke is trying to publicly humiliate Warren and discourage others from contributing to Gov. Abbotts campaign......
Warrens attorneys include other ORourke statements in the lawsuit, along with videos of him recounting stories of Texans who died during the storm while giant companies made profits.
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.....The grid failures are a key issue for ORourke as he tries to make the case that Abbott should be fired as the leader of state government. In campaign ads and speeches, ORourke has faulted Abbott for not acting sooner to protect the grid despite years of warnings. And hes blasted Abbott for not doing enough to make sure last years crisis is not repeated.
LetMyPeopleVote
(146,293 posts)Link to tweet
Here is an interesting article on this law firm https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/trumps-lawyer-in-russia-probe-has-clients-with-kremlin-ties/2017/06/09/5dba9518-4d4a-11e7-a186-60c031eab644_story.html
Marc E. Kasowitzs clients include Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch who is close to President Vladimir Putin and has done business with Trumps former campaign manager. Kasowitz also represents Sberbank, Russias largest state-owned bank, U.S. court records show.
Kasowitz has represented one of Deripaskas companies for years in a civil lawsuit in New York and was scheduled to argue on the companys behalf May 25, two days after news broke that Trump had hired him, court records show. A different lawyer in Kasowitzs firm showed up in court instead, avoiding a scenario that would have highlighted Kasowitzs extensive work for high-profile Russian clients
PortTack
(32,852 posts)LetMyPeopleVote
(146,293 posts)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
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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
LetMyPeopleVote
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