Maryland Lawyer: Court Tackles Free-Speech Rights in Cyberspace
Washington, D.C., partner Mark Bailen was quoted in the March 2, 2009, edition of Maryland Lawyer in the article, "Court Tackles Free-Speech Rights in Cyberspace."
The focus of the article is the recent decision by the Maryland Court of Appeals which created a five-part test for trial judges to apply in deciding when the constitutional right of Web site commenters to remain anonymous should be trumped by the right of a person to pursue a defamation claim based on the comments. The decision overturned a February 2008 court order that Independent Newspapers Inc. release the names of anonymous commenters to its Web site. Independent Newspapers is a client of Baker Hostetler's Washington, D.C., partner Bruce Sanford.
The order had been issued in a defamation suit brought by Zebulon J. Brodie, a Dunkin' Donuts franchisee, who claimed he had been defamed by comments questioning the cleanliness of the store. The top court did not apply the guidelines in its decision. Rather, the court unanimously ruled the order should not have been issued because some of the comments were not defamatory and Brodie had waited too long to file suit against the anonymous posters of other comments.
Bailen, who represented Independent Newspapers, hailed the court's decision as providing "strong and sensible protection for anonymous speech on the Internet." The court correctly requires that a plaintiff have a "viable claim" of defamation before a trial judge may even consider ordering disclosure of the anonymous commenter, added Bailen.