January 20, 2014, 6:35 am
This is Carol, Roger's wife. A process server might have violated jail policy and state law by serving court papers last week at the Shelby County Jail on Legal Schnauzer publisher Roger Shuler.
The guard called Shuler to the visitation area of the jail at about 3:15 p.m. last Friday for what was billed as a "attorney visit." Shuler arrived to be met by Debi Berger of Magic City Investigations who served him with papers in a lawsuit filed by Luther Strange campaign aide Jessica Medeiros Garrison.
At a hearing earlier that day, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Don Blankenship seemed to agree with Shuler that service in the Garrison case had been done unlawfully. Garrison lawyer Bill Baxley must have picked up on that because he apparently dispatched Berger to the Shelby County Jail in an attempt to serve Shuler again. It's not clear, however, that Berger acted lawfully on the second try
"In my research of the Shelby County Jail handbook, I could find no provision for a process server to visit an inmate here," Shuler said. "Visits appear to be limited to family and friends (on weekends), attorneys, and members of the clergy. Berger does not fit into any of those categories, so it's hard to see how she was allowed into the jail to visit me and serve papers. I have filed a grievance with the jail seeking all documentation regarding her visit. If she stated on the sign-in sheet that she is lawyer when she isn't that could violate Alabama law. A number of statutes in the code of Alabama relate to false statements to law enforcement departments and officials. It's unclear at this point that Berger violated any of those statutes, but it's a worthwhile question to ask and one that I intend to pursue."
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January 21, 2014, 8:38 am
This is Carol, Roger's wife. One of the nation's foremost business magazines has published an investigative article about University of Alabama trustee Paul Bryant Jr. and his ties to a massive insurance fraud scheme in the late 1990s.
Bloomberg Markets reports on the Bryant scandal in the January 2014 issue, which is on news stands now. Bryant, the son of Hall of Fame Coach Paul "Bear" Byant, is prime money man behind Alabama's powerhouse football program, and ESPN has called him one of the most powerful figures in college athletics.
Reporting on Bryant's ties to financial fraud originated here at Legal Schnauzer with a series of posts that began about five years ago. Bloomberg reporters Anthony Effinger and John Helyar picked up on those posts and expanded on them, providing the first serious scrutiny of Bryant's business practices in the mainstream press.
An early version of the article, titled "Alabama Football Dominance Powered by Bear Bryant's Son's Fortune," appeared at the Bloomberg website on Nov. 24, 2013. An updated version appears in the January 2014 print issue and can be viewed in PDF format at the end of this post.
The Bloomberg article provides background about Bryant's rise to power in business prominence, focusing on significant details about the insurance fraud that netted a 15 year federal prison sentence for a Pennsylvania entrepreneur named Allen W. Stewart. Following is a segment from the Bloomberg Markets article:
"In contrast with his father, who basked in the celebrity that came from winning six national football championships, Bryant wields his power under the radar. Little has been written about the sources of his wealth. He started his fortune with greyhound racing in 1977. One of his tracks, in La Marque, Texas, grossed $268 million in 1993, a record for the sport, according to the Texas Racing Commission. Then he diversified into catfish farming and banking. In 2011, he sold a cement business to Mexico-based Cemex SAB for $350 million. 'I’m a pretty good risk taker,' Bryant says in a rare interview at the university’s offices in Tuscaloosa."
"Bloomberg Markets has provided exceptional insight into the fraud seeded background of one of Alabama's most secretive and powerful figures,"Legal Schnauzer publisher Roger Shuler says. "The Bloomberg article shows how Bryant and his insurance company became involved in the fraud and what was driving their participation. It's a story of stunning greed that portrays Paul Bryant Jr. as a con man and a fraud, even though he sits atop the board that governs the mothership university in our state."
Following is a PDF of the print article in Bloomberg Markets:
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Paul Bryant Jr.
Photographer: Glenn Baeske/The Huntsville Times/Landov
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January 23, 2014, 3:00 am
This is Carol, Roger's wife. Evidence presented in open court last week shows that Legal Schnauzer publisher Roger Shuler was arrested without a warrant. That means Deputy Chris Blevins had no lawful authority to make the arrest, and it raises this troubling question: Is Shuler the victim of a state-sanctioned kidnapping?
From his current location in the Shelby County Jail, Shuler is not able to fully research the legal issues involved. But he says his arrest clearly required a warrant; the charge was civil contempt, and it was not a case of an officer witnessing misconduct and being able to make a warrantless arrest.
At Shuler's resisting arrest trial last week, District Judge Ron Jackson ordered Prosecutor Tonya Willingham to produce any warrants associated with the arrest. Willingham replied as follows, "Your honor, we have no warrants."
Shuler says that means there either were no warrants or the prosecutor withheld evidence which could jeopardize her career.
"I would ask our readers to consider this scenario," Shuler said. "Imagine if I have had been at the Riverchase Galleria on Oct. 23, 2013 and a fellow shopper accosted me and threw me in the backseat of his car and drove off. That shopper would have no legal authority to take such action, and it would be considered a kidnapping. I had two friends when I was in college who were kidnapped in my Missouri hometown, so I know that it's one of the most serious crimes on the books. Because he had no lawful authority to make an arrest, Deputy Chris Blevins essentially kidnapped me and I'm still a kidnap victim today."
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January 27, 2014, 3:00 am
This is Carol, Roger's wife. Legal Schnauzer publisher Roger Shuler was denied proper treatment recently for a simple medical problem while unlawfully incarcerated in the Shelby County Jail. Shuler noticed allergy symptoms after a recent trip to the Jefferson County Courthouse for a hearing in the Jessica Medeiros Garrison case. Shuler wound up with a nurse at the jail trying to give him the wrong pill that had been prescribed without a visit to the medical office.
After noticing the onset of symptoms, Shuler filled out a sick call form, which includes a $5.00 charge that supposedly is for a visit to the medical office. On his form, Shuler requested an antihistamine for allergy symptoms and ibuprofen for achiness. But he was never seen by a member of the nursing staff and wound up being given a "mystery pill" that he had not asked for.
"The nurse tried to give me two yellowish pills here in my unit and I did not recognize what they were," Shuler said. "She told me they were a decongestant called CPM. I told her a nurse had never seen me in the office and that I had not requested a decongestant, that I needed an antihistamine. I told her I was not going to take a pill that I didn't even know what it was and she shrugged her shoulders as if to say she didn't care one way or another.
"In my discussions here at the jail, it seems to be a common problem for inmates to be given pills that were not properly prescribed and often they do not even know what the pills are. In my case, my problem finally is resolving but I spent three or four days under the weather for a problem that should have been resolved in a few hours time. I can see instances where inmates take pills that are improperly prescribed and make their health issues worse.
Allergies are one of the most common medical problems in America and there are many simple, inexpensive over-the-counter medications for treating them. If the Shelby County Jail can't deal with a problem as simple as a mild allergy, I wonder if they should be housing humans here anyway. I feel like my health has been jeopardized by the lack of medical here and that's particularly alarming considering that I should not lawfully even be in here. Multiple experts told the New York Times my incarceration is unconstitutional without question and this is just one of the issues that happens when you allow people like Rob Riley to play political games with our justice system."
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January 28, 2014, 3:00 am
This is Carol, Roger's wife. A recent inmate suicide at the Shelby County Jail could have resulted in multiple injuries or deaths, Legal Schnauzer publisher Roger Shuler says. The suicide happened in the cell block where Shuler has been incarcerated since Oct. 23 because of a bogus lawsuit filed by Alabama Republican political figure, Rob Riley.
“The man jumped some 27 feet to his death and landed about 10 feet on the concrete from where I was sitting,” Shuler said. “It’s one of the most highly trafficked areas in the cell block and had I or any other inmate been standing there and he had landed on us, it probably would have resulted in instant death for the man below. That’s just one example of many of the kinds of dangers and damages I’ve suffered from being in here for three months unlawfully because of Rob Riley and Circuit Judge Claud Neilson who have acted in absolute criminal fashion. In Neilson’s case, he has no jurisdiction over me whatsoever because I have not lawfully been served.” Shuler points to multiple irregularities in the death of Steven Ray Dismuke which indicate likely negligence on the part of Shelby County Jail. One of those involves the fact that Dismuke had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, but was in the general inmate population and had not been given his medication. Following are other irregularities that Shuler has learned from observations, taking part in the jail investigation and talking to inmates who witnessed the event:
- The cell block where the suicide occurred involves a stairwell which is attached to the cell block unit by three horizontal bars and Dismuke climbed the stairs, then climbed the three horizontal bars which directly to the top of a two-story cell unit and jumped off backwards. “The three horizontal bars basically provide a ladder with easy access to the top of the cells and it’s still there because it’s never been blocked off and nothing has been put there to keep it from happening again and certainly nothing was done to keep it from happening in the first place.”
- Multiple cameras are present in the cell block and inmates said that guards are supposed to be doing video monitoring 24 hours, seven days a week, but apparently no one was on duty or was asleep at the switch when Dismuke climbed the stairwells and then climbed up the three horizontal bars to the top of the cell units and jumped off. “One has to wonder why someone was not watching and allowed this tragedy to happen,” Shuler said. “There’s clearly video monitoring equipment in here and why someone wasn’t watching and stopped this is hard to figure."
- Dismuke told Shuler and other inmates that he was traveling from Georgia to a work site in Illinois when he was stopped in Shelby County by deputies who said he was driving erratically. Dismuke admitted that he was tired and probably was weaving in traffic and deputies took his license and registration, but then let him go. He drove north to an Econo Lodge and was going to check in, but he couldn’t do it because he realized that he didn’t have his license with him and that the deputies had kept it. “He was about to leave the hotel when deputies appeared,” Shuler said. “They had followed him there and they returned his license, but then they also decided to search his vehicle even though they had no probable cause to believe there was a crime connected to that vehicle. The search produced some drugs including Xanax and some other medication, but that’s what he was arrested on, but there’s clear signs that something was irregular about the traffic stop and also the fact that deputies were trying to confiscate $3,000 that Dismuke had that he said was a payroll check that he’d cashed from his work that was not connected to drugs, but they were trying to get him to forfeit it and he was deeply upset about that.” Shuler says a federal investigation should be done on the irregular, negligent and most likely unlawful circumstances surrounding the traffic stop, Dismuke’s arrest and ultimate tragic suicide.
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January 29, 2014, 5:17 am
This is Carol, Roger's wife. A deputy who assisted in the arrest of Legal Schnauzer publisher Roger Shuler can be heard on video threatening to break the journalist's arms. The primary officer in the arrest has admitted under oath in court that he has a history of citizen complaints about police brutality and excessive force.
What does this say about deputies Jason Valenti and Chris Blevins? It isn't pretty, to be sure.
Blevins and Valenti can be seen on video dragging Shuler out of his garage and placing him face first on the concrete driveway. Shuler's arms clearly are behind his back, but Valenti is apparently not pleased about something. He can be heard telling Shuler that if he doesn't let his arms go loose, "I'm going to break them."
At Shuler's recent resisting arrest trial, the journalist asked Blevins if he had ever been the subject of citizen complaints about police brutality and excessive force. Blevins answered yes, and when Shuler attempted to follow up on that questioning, District Judge Ron Jackson cut him off.
"Deputies Valenti and Blevins clearly have a history of thuggish behavior in their roles with the Shelby County Sheriff's Office," Shuler said. "The video in this case is extremely disturbing, particularly when you consider that there was no warrant in the case and the video clearly shows both deputies entering our house without showing a warrant because they didn't have one."
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January 30, 2014, 4:30 am
This is Carol, Roger's wife. No one should be surprised that Paul Bryant Jr.'s ventures into insurance have been riddled with fraud. An investigative article in the current issue of Bloomberg Markets shows that Bryant's company was not meant to provide products and services, but rather to deceive the public and industry insiders about troubled insurance firms. The article also shows that Alabama Reassurance was set up to hide profits from Bryant's dog track operations."The company made a business out of propping up troubled insurers with reinsurance that appeared to reduce liability, says W.O. Myrick, a retired Alabama state insurance examiner. The contracts carried little, if any, risk to Alabama Re, he says. One client, Inter-American Insurance Co. of Illinois, went into liquidation in 1991, according to Cook County court documents.
'Historically, Alabama Re has entered into contracts to assume liabilities from problem insurers to help them appear to be in better financial condition than they actually are,' Myrick says in a telephone interview."
Experts told Bloomberg that the whole point of Alabama Reassurance was to hide dog track profits."Mississippi also examined Alabama Re.
'They were propping up broke companies for a fee,' says Tom Gober, who was examiner-in-charge at the Mississippi Insurance Department in the early 1990s. 'Companies knew they could call on Alabama Re because Alabama Re had to offset dog track profits.'"
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Paul Bryant Jr.
Photographer: Glenn Baeske/The Huntsville Times/Landov |
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February 3, 2014, 8:50 am
This is Carol, Roger's wife. Paul Bryant Jr.'s insurance company dipped into criminal activity because of "side agreements" that a federal jury in Pennsylvania found to constitute fraud.
Bloomberg Markets magazine in its January 2014 issue, reports on Alabama Reassurance and its connections to the prosecution of Philadelphia entrepreneur Allen W. Stewart. The case involving Alabama Re centered on two clauses in an insurance contract--one clause stated that there were no other "understandings between the parties." But a second clause, reached on or about the same day, limited Alabama Re's possible losses in its contract with Stewart's company, Summit National Life Insurance. The clauses guaranteed that Alabama Re would suffer little or no loss, and a federal jury found the contract to be fraudulent.
Here's how Bloomberg Markets described the central issue in the Stewart case involving Alabama Re:
"The owner of one imperiled insurer, Philadelphia lawyer Allen W. Stewart, was convicted by a Philadelphia jury in 1997 on 135 counts of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Nine of those counts concerned a reinsurance agreement with Alabama Re. In 1991, Stewart’s Fidelity General Life Insurance Co., facing insolvency, paid Alabama Re $412,500 to take on $15 million of its liabilities, according to the indictment. Regulators in California and Arizona rejected the agreement, saying it didn’t really shift the liability. Fidelity and Alabama Re then signed a new agreement in March 1993, which included a clause saying there were no other 'understandings' between the parties.
Yet on or around that same day, a side agreement was signed with Fidelity’s parent company, Summit National Life Insurance Co., the indictment says, limiting Alabama Re’s possible losses to $481,250, guaranteeing that Alabama Re would suffer little or no loss."
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Paul Bryant Jr.
Photographer: Glenn Baeske/The Huntsville Times/Landov |
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February 4, 2014, 5:55 am
This is Carol, Roger's wife. An article covering the Legal Schnauzer first amendment case was written by reporter Campbell Robertson and published in the Sunday, Jan. 12 issue of The New York Times. The article in the nation's most prestigious newspaper came after an almost three hour interview with Carol Shuler and an hour's worth of four separate interviews with Roger Shuler via telephone from the Shelby County Jail, where he has been unlawfully incarcerated since Oct. 23 due to a lawsuit filed by Republican political figure Rob Riley.
As Shuler noted previously, he is pleased with the attention The New York Times has shined on the issue of terroristic threats against journalists and bloggers and those who support free speech, however, the article contains a number of glaring inaccuracies.
In response to Campbell Robertson's report in The New York Times which stated that Shuler and his wife had refused to hire a lawyer, Roger Shuler goes on to reply as follows:"I had specifically told Campbell Robertson that we are open to being represented by the right lawyer with the right strategy under the right circumstances. I felt I made that very clear, but there must have been some misunderstanding because The New York Times incorrectly reported that I was refusing to hire a lawyer. That's not true and I just want to make sure that's clear."
Shuler addressed the second issue which has to do with statements in The New York Times article to the effect that he has a history of defamation claims. Roger Shuler responded as follows:"The New York Times' reporter Campbell Robertson incorrectly hinted that I have a long history of problems with defamation cases. Here is the truth. In Mr. Robertson's paragraph on that subject, he refers to a lawsuit involving my neighbor, a man named Mike McGarity who has an extensive criminal record. To make it clear that lawsuit had nothing to do with defamation or nothing to do with my role as a journalist. It was strictly about a property matter that Mr. McGarity sued me over and to make it clear he has an extensive criminal record that has been documented on my blog.
To summarize, I became a professional journalist in May 1978 and had never been sued in my capacity as a journalist for defamation or anything else until Fall 2013. That's more than 35 years without a defamation lawsuit and The New York Times article did not make that clear. The only defamation lawsuits I've ever had are the ones involving Rob Riley and one filed roughly the same time by the same political forces in Alabama from Luther Strange's former campaign manager Jessica Mederios Garrison. That's it. For the record, Mr. Robertson told me that he has one defamation claim that he has had to fight and he's not worked for The New York Times anywhere near 35 years so essentially he has more of a history with defamation cases than I do.
And while I very much appreciate Mr. Robertson's efforts to report the story and the spotlight his newspaper shined on the issues, I do want to make sure that certain inaccuracies are corrected."
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February 6, 2014, 3:00 am
This is Carol, Roger's wife. University of Alabama trustee Paul Bryant Jr. contracted hepatitis during his youth. That is the most personal revelation from a Bloomberg Markets investigative article about the Bryant business empire in the January 2014 issue.
From the Bloomberg Markets article:"Bryant, who is 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 meters) tall, would like to have followed his father into football. That dream ended when he contracted hepatitis, possibly from a dirty dental instrument, and missed a whole year of high school and most of two others, he says."
"The Bloomberg article does not say what form of hepatitis Bryant had, whether he still has the disease, or what impact it has had on his life,"Legal Schnauzer publisher Roger Shuler says. "The article raises more questions than it answers about hepatitis, but it does give a rare personal glimpse into Bryant's life outside the office."
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Paul Bryant Jr.
Photographer: Glenn Baeske/The Huntsville Times/Landov |
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February 10, 2014, 3:00 am
This is Carol, Roger's wife. The New York Times in a recent article about the incarceration of Legal Schnauzer publisher Roger Shuler inaccurately claims that Shuler plans to bring federal criminal charges against the judge.
From The New York Times article:"His wife spoke of collecting damages when this is over, but Mr. Shuler is thinking beyond civil remedies this time: He is planning to bring federal criminal charges against the judge."
"I know of no provision under the law where any citizen can bring federal criminal charges against anyone else, much less a judge," Shuler said. "My understanding is that any citizen can contact the FBI about alleged criminal activity, and then it's up to the Bureau to take that claim to the appropriate U.S. Attorney. I have no means to bring criminal charges against anyone, and it baffles me how one of the world's foremost newspapers could make a statement that is so contrary to the facts."
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February 11, 2014, 3:00 am
This is Carol, Roger's wife. The New York Times repeatedly criticizes the judge in the Legal Schnauzer incarceration case, but it never mentions the judge's name.
One expert compares Circuit Judge Claud Neilson to an idiot and says the judge's actions are "unconstitutional." Another expert says Neilson's actions are "really way out of bounds." And every expert cited in the article says that Neilson is acting unlawfully. But Neilson's name is never mentioned.
"Claud Neilson is essentially the central character in the story," Roger Shuler says. "He certainly is the central bad guy and comes in for extraordinary criticism from those in his own professional field, the law. That The New York Times chose not to mention him by name is one of the most baffling editorial decisions I've ever seen. It would be like a Times reporter covering a New York Yankees game with the Yankees winning on a ninth-inning home run, but the newspaper never reporting who hit the home run. It's strange beyond belief, one of many oddities in a very strange story."
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February 17, 2014, 3:00 am
This is Carol, Roger's wife. The New York Times' failure to name the judge in the Legal Schnauzer case raises questions about the paper's motivations, competence or both.
The article repeatedly references a judge who makes unconstitutional rulings in the case, but never mentions that it's retired Circuit Judge Claud Neilson.
"I find it hard to believe that reporter Campbell Robertson and a team of editors could 'forget' to include that information," said Legal Schnauzer publisher Roger Shuler. "That makes me think that Neilson's name was intentionally left out of the article and raises the question why was that done. The only answer I have is that if his name is in there readers will begin asking questions about his political affiliation and his ties to certain corporate and educational entities. Leaving his name out short-circuits such inquiries and essentially protects those who are pulling the judge's strings."
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February 18, 2014, 3:00 am
This is Carol, Roger's wife. An incident report in the arrest of Legal Schnauzer publisher Roger Shuler shows that the warrant in the case was not signed, apparently meaning there was no judicial authorization for the arrest. That comes on top of revelations that a prosecutor did not have a copy of the warrant and did not turn one over in Shuler's resisting arrest case.
Both pieces of information point to the fact that there either was no warrant at all or no valid warrant that authorized Shuler's arrest.
"The incident report has a box that says 'warrant signed?' and the box for 'no' is checked," Shuler said. "That's the only information I have at this point, but it strongly suggests that no judge signed any warrant. The prosecutor's failure to turn over a warrant suggests there was no warrant at all of any kind, and it again adds to the mountain of evidence that suggests that I'm basically the victim of a kidnapping."
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February 19, 2014, 3:00 am
This is Carol, Roger's wife. Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange plans to testify in a defamation lawsuit his former aide Jessica Medeiros Garrison has brought against Legal Schnauzer publisher Roger Shuler. Garrison lawyer Bill Baxley made that announcement at a recent hearing in the case. It is not clear if Baxley meant that Strange would testify in a deposition or at trial or both.
"Luther Strange has not shown a tendency to testify under oath in public in sensitive matters," Roger Shuler said. "He failed to appear at a hearing on the VictoryLand liquor license, so it will be interesting to see what he does in the Garrison lawsuit."
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Luther Strange and
Jessica Medeiros Garrison |
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February 24, 2014, 3:10 am
The wife of Legal Schnauzer publisher Roger Shuler remains under threat of arrest because of a lawsuit filed by Republican political figure Rob Riley.
Carol Shuler never was a participant in the Legal Schnauzer blog prior to Riley's lawsuit and the subsequent arrest of Roger Shuler on Oct. 23. Riley included Carol Shuler as a defendant in his case, claiming she was a "contributor and administrator" for the blog.
In court papers Riley claims that Legal Schnauzer"purports to be a joint enterprise" between Roger and Carol Shuler. The blog, however, does nothing of the sort. It lists one author, Roger Shuler, and it lists no contributors or administrators because there aren't any.
Carol Shuler clearly is not a lawful defendant in the case, but she remains under threat of arrest because of the Riley lawsuit. Here is language from an Oct. 21 court order in the case:"4. The Court reserves determination on whether to remand Respondent Carol Shuler to the custody of the Shelby County Sheriff."
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February 25, 2014, 3:00 am
This is Carol, Roger's wife. A New York Times article on the incarceration of Legal Schnauzer publisher Roger Shuler quotes several experts who all state that Judge Claud Neilson is acting unlawfully in the case.
Two legal experts are quoted directly in the article and several others apparently were consulted. The Times does not cite any legal expert who agrees with Judge Neilson's actions in the case.
"The Times experts are unanimous that Judge Neilson is acting way outside the boundaries of the law in this case," Roger Shuler said. "The law is clear that an injunction is not allowed in a defamation case and the Times' experts point that out. That Neilson has placed an injunction on me and held me unlawfully in jail for four months should be mind-boggling to anyone who cares about the rule of law in the United States."
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February 26, 2014, 3:00 am
This is Carol, Roger's wife. Six fights have broken out in a recent two week period at the cell block where Legal Schnauzer publisher Roger Shuler has been housed in the Shelby County Jail. Shuler has not suffered any injuries and he's not aware of any injuries to anyone else, but it's a sign of the volatile conditions in which he has been unlawfully placed.
"I want the public to understand that my physical well-being is in danger, and that also applies to other inmates here who can be in a peaceful environment one moment and in an ugly situation the next. The change usually happens when one or two guys make bad decisions and it can make the situation dangerous. Most recently I had a fight break out near my bunk when I was sleeping in the middle of the night and fortunately no blows happened, but if they had it would have been inches from my head."
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February 27, 2014, 3:00 am
This is Carol, Roger's wife. A Virginia woman took to the internet in 2012 to voice her displeasure with a contractor who had done repair work on her townhouse. That lead to the most recent first amendment case that proves Legal Schnauzer publisher Roger Shuler is unlawfully incarcerated.
Dietz v. Perez holds that a preliminary injunction in an alleged defamation case is an unlawful prior restraint under the first amendment. It's the most recent national case to make that finding adding to the roughly 230 years of U.S. law on the subject.
Jane Perez heaped criticism on Dietz contractors after she felt that they botched the home repair job. She went onto consumer sites Yelp and Angie's List to state her criticism, and Dietz responded by suing her and asking a judge to force her to remove critical comments. The judge refused to grant a full injunction, but he did force Perez to remove comments about two issues. The Virginia Supreme Court overturned that ruling and said that Perez could not be forced to remove the comments.
Here is a link to a report on the case by the Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press: Virginia Supreme Court Reverses Injunction Against Online Commenter."A Virginia woman being sued by her home contractor for libel won't have to remove negative comments she posted on Internet review sites about him, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled.
The state’s high court reversed a Fairfax County Circuit Court judge’s ruling ordering Jane Perez to delete portions of her review of the contractor on Yelp and Angie’s List. In her review, Perez mentioned that her jewelry was missing. She also referenced the outcome of a suit brought by the contractor against Perez for nonpayment.
The Circuit Court also barred Perez from making similar claims on other online comment sites.
In a one-page ruling issued on Dec. 28, a three-judge panel of the state Supreme Court vacated the Circuit Court’s Dec. 7 order, saying the injunction was not justified and the lower court did not specify how long it would be effective."
The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia and a Washington-based advocacy group called Public Citizen helped represent Perez in the case.
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This is Carol, Roger's wife. Legal Schnauzer publisher Roger Shuler will appear at a hearing at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, March 5 at the Jefferson County Courthouse. The hearing, before Judge Don Blankenship, is in a lawsuit filed by Republican political figure Jessica Medeiros Garrison. The hearing reportedly will involve an attempted default judgment that Garrison is seeking. Shuler is unlawfully incarcerated in the Shelby County Jail because of a lawsuit filed by Rob Riley, one of Garrison's Republican political allies. Garrison is the former campaign manager for Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange.
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Luther Strange and
Jessica Medeiros Garrison |
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