Parody image reference--with apologies to Jerry Lewis and Eddie MurphyUniversity of Miami law professor D. Marvin Jones —who made the pages of this blog when he was arraigned on charges that he allegedly solicited a hooker—is back in the Blogosphere—this time for suing the law blog Above the Law for defamation over its “Nutty Professor” parody post about the legal scholar and author turned litigant.
Professor Jones’ lawsuit is particularly critical of a ATL’s publication of a Photoshopped image satirizing the professor’s arrest that the suit claims depicts Jones as a “drug dealer” and a “pimp”—thereby damaging his reputation to the tune of TWENTY TWO MILLION DOLLARS.
Jones’ suit also demands a jury trial “on all issues that are friable”. ("Friable"?!)
Apparently, in addition to eating too much Chinese take-out, the good professor is an admirer of another (now infamous) pro se litigant. Our advice for the legal scholar? To mangle the words of Djay f/ Shug, "it’s a hard life for a pro per."
Just ask (former) Judge Roy Pearson.
Read more:
Lawsuit of the Day: Jones v. Minkin (ATL)
Jones v. Minkin [Southern District of Florida (PDF)]Prior ATL coverage of D. Marvin Jones (scroll down to view all posts)Law Professor Sues Above the Law Blog, Alleging ‘Viciously Racist Series of Rants’[National Law Journal]Law Professor sues Above the Law blog; time to go back to complaint drafting school[Copyrights and Campaigns]UM Law Professor Files False Light Suit Against abovethelaw.com [Florida Legal Blog]Blog Sued: Abovethelaw.com not above the law [Law and More]
Congratulations kid, you broke your cherry….[Blogonaut opinion]Professor Jones’ lawsuit is particularly critical of a ATL’s publication of a Photoshopped image satirizing the professor’s arrest that the suit claims depicts Jones as a “drug dealer” and a “pimp”—thereby damaging his reputation to the tune of TWENTY TWO MILLION DOLLARS.
Jones’ suit also demands a jury trial “on all issues that are friable”. ("Friable"?!)
Apparently, in addition to eating too much Chinese take-out, the good professor is an admirer of another (now infamous) pro se litigant. Our advice for the legal scholar? To mangle the words of Djay f/ Shug, "it’s a hard life for a pro per."
Just ask (former) Judge Roy Pearson.
Read more:
Lawsuit of the Day: Jones v. Minkin (ATL)
Jones v. Minkin [Southern District of Florida (PDF)]Prior ATL coverage of D. Marvin Jones (scroll down to view all posts)Law Professor Sues Above the Law Blog, Alleging ‘Viciously Racist Series of Rants’[National Law Journal]Law Professor sues Above the Law blog; time to go back to complaint drafting school[Copyrights and Campaigns]UM Law Professor Files False Light Suit Against abovethelaw.com [Florida Legal Blog]Blog Sued: Abovethelaw.com not above the law [Law and More]
Prof. Donald Jones’ Lawsuit Against Above The Law (Volokh Conspiracy)
Above The Law Is Above This Lawsuit (Business Insider)
Above the Law Sued By Law Prof (And How It Should All End) [New York Personal Injury Law Blog]
4 comments:
The Jones vs. ALT lawsuit is, in my opinion, frivolous. No reasonable person reading any of the ALT posts would conclude therefrom that professor Jones is a "pimp" or a "drug dealer"--which is lynch-pin of the suit and the alleged “sting” of the alleged wrongs.
I am a blogger, and the mere fact that this suit was filed has chilled my free speech. (Who wants to incur the expense of defending even a frivolous suit in Florida?)
I have a proposed resolution that holds high the baton of free speech that ATL has been implicitly handed in this marathon: If Jones moves the court to dismiss WITH PREJUDICE today (not tomorrow) then ATL agrees to forego Rule 11 sanctions.
Otherwise, Jones already looks like an illiterate boob who is not the brightest tool in the drawer (he asks the court for a jury trial on all "friable" issues and the look and feel of this complaint is less than professional) and when (not if) the case is dismissed, and the trial court holds that no reasonable attorney would have filed or maintained the action--Jones' reputation as a legal “scholar” will suffer far more damage that at the hands of the law student’s parody cartoonish –Photoshoped image that transparently motivated the good professor to improvidently file this bull-shit lawsuit in the first instance.
Dear Professor Jones:
Congratulations!
Now every law firm, lawyer and reader of CNN.Money, the WSJ Law Blog, the ABA Journal, and twenty other blogs, now knows that you:
1. Were alleged to have been involved in an alleged solicitation of a prostitute, but that the charge was never filed;
2. Drive an expensive car;
3. Were ridiculed by UMI law student with Photoshop and too much time on his hands;
4. Have sued the law blog Above the Law in federal district court in Florida on a common law tort theory that is not recognized by the Sunshine State and under a legal theory (copy write law) that you have no standing to pursue;
5. Demand a jury trial on all “friable” issues.
Surely is would not have been that difficult to at least legally research before drafting and proof before filing said Complaint?
What could you have been thinking?
That’s right, fri•a•ble—it means “easily crumbled or pulverized” and is synonymous with "fragile”—as distinguished from “fried” which describes the apparent mental state of the Complaint’s author when it was penned.
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