Jeff Merkey rides again

Posted Jun 25, 2005 22:30 UTC (Sat) by brianomahoney (guest, #6206)
In reply to: Jeff Merkey rides again by trepalium
Parent article: Jeff Merkey rides again

IAAL

The Absolute Privilige, in court, applies ONLY to pleadings, and verbal statements in the face of the court, and only then unless sealed. This
privilige is _not_ a hunting licence; in particular raporters, motivated
by malice, are not protected.

Outside the US, the rules are often MUCH stricter and only a defense of truth is likely to be effective in all jurisdictions and circumstances

Jeff Merkey rides again

Posted Jun 26, 2005 2:49 UTC (Sun) by trepalium (guest, #30666) [Link]

Very informative, thank you. So, my first speculation was way off the mark, but that leaves my second one.

I wonder if Mr. Merkey knows what kind of damage these lawsuits can do to his career. Business partners and employers sometimes do background checks on potential employees, and being involved in several lawsuits, especially personal ones, is not a trait that is generally sought after. He's already feeling repercussions from Novell vs. Timpanogos Research Group, Inc. in which his business partner says some unflattering things about him, and I can't imagine why he'd want to cause more damage to himself.

To make matters worse, not once did I see Mr. Merkey ever try to get his side of the story out in a civilized manner (No, threatening a lawsuit is not a civilized manner). I don't believe I've ever seen a post by him disputing any facts posted by any of the defendants to this case.