NEW YORK APPEALS COURT OPENS DOOR TO LIBEL TOURISM IN EHRENFELD CASE
December 21st 2007 00:50
New York’s appeals court has opened the door to ‘libel tourism’ by turning down a chance to protect American authors from libel judgments awarded by foreign courts, the New York Sun reports.
The Sun said the case which pitted s a Saudi billionaire against a New York-based researcher was a test of how New York's courts will respond to concerns that the First Amendment rights of American authors are being undermined by libel judgments imposed abroad, especially in Britain.
The Sun said, “Libel law in Britain is far more plaintiff-friendly than America's libel law, and the discrepancy has given rise to a practice that critics describe as ‘libel tourism.’
The Court of Appeals in Albany said that New York law did not allow the researcher, Rachel Ehrenfeld, to seek a court order saying that a British judgment against her was unenforceable under the First Amendment. The Court said it did not have jurisdiction over the Saudi financier and that Ms. Ehrenfeld's suit to block the judgment must be dismissed.
At issue was Ehrenfeld's 2003 book, "Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed — and How to Stop It," in which she accused a Saudi financier, Khalid bin Mahfouz, of backing organizations with alleged ties to terrorism. It is a charge that Mahfouz denies. Mahfouz sued Ehrenfeld and other researchers who made similar accusations against him in court in London. See MediaBlab archive)
Ehrenfeld's work has appeared in many publications including The New York Sun.
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