I Am Not a Lawyer

Freelance writers with legal savvy look for clauses in their contracts that say where legal disputes should be heard. Erik Sherman, who frequently looks over contracts on his WriterBiz blog, is a stickler for this (which I applaud). Generally, that’s because you want to ensure that you can sue in your own area if you have to sue. But it’s also important because U.S. law is nicer to authors than many other English-speaking legal systems. If you have no case in the United States, you can take your dispute to England, where libel law is much more plaintiff-friendly.

Today, I learned from the Wall Street Journal Law Blog that there is a name for this: “libel tourism.” I also learned that one author on the receiving end, Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, took an unusual (?) approach to fighting it: Let the judgment stand in England and challenge it in the U.S. based on your First Amendment rights. After three years of litigation, the Second Circuit decided it doesn’t have personal jurisdiction over the defendant (who is Saudi), so she’s out of luck.

Interestingly, the opinion mentions that something related to Ehrenfeld’s case is pending in the New York state legislature. No word yet on an appeal of the Second Circuit decision, which I think can still go en banc before it’s certiorari time. The law and the case are both ones for writers to watch.