Tuesday, October 04, 2022

Akiva Cohen Does The Work So You Won't Have To

Yeah, it's that bad; I get it. And you can certainly go over to his twitter feed and read every tweet he writes dissecting the silliness of the pleadings, especially the "factual claims."  In fact, let me just stop here and explain why I won't be reproducing those tweets, even though I have nothing against them.

A Complaint in Federal court (or any court I know of, but this is a federal suit, based, I presume on diversity jurisdiction.  I.e., it's in federal court because Trump lives in Florida and CNN is out of Atlanta (aren't they?) and the best venue for this suit is Federal, not Florida or Georgia, state court.) must state the law upon which it is based, and then the facts that show those laws entitle plaintiff to compensation through the courts.  In legalese we shorten that all to a "cause of action." (It's actually more complicated than that, but that's good enough.  I'm not going to analyze the complaint for meeting the minimum standards, or not.)  So the Complaint must state a cause of action upon which the court can rule.  That's basically how cases get dismissed without trial: failure to state a cause of action (again, usually more complicated than that, but good enough for this context).

Okay.  For Trump to state a cause of action, he has to present facts.  But the basic problem is, as Popehat has already pointed out (and as Cohen does, too; credit where it is due):  opinion, especially political opinion, cannot form a cause of action for libel, because it cannot be a fact which can be refuted.  Remember the standard that "truth is an absolute defense"?  That applies to libel cases.  If I tell people you are a pig fucker (I had an English Professor at UT who loved to use that metaphor when he had a few beers in him.  Suddenly it springs to mind across 4 decades.), and I can produce pictures of you fucking pigs, you can't hold me liable for libel; because I wasn't lying.  Now, is Trump a racist (you thought I was gonna say "pig fucker," didn't you?)?  It doesn't matter if you can point to facts that show a racial animus (you can, of course) or not:
I will say again that libel and slander arose as torts under the common law to keep the peers and the well-placed from being damaged by the scurrilous remarks of the many-headed, although more commonly they were used to squash a nasty rumor by another member of their class (since why sue the many-headed?  They don't have any money.).  It was never a tool for exposing truth (except when your claim came up against that defense); it was a weapon for silencing people who said things you didn't like.  Which is how Trump is trying to use it, here.

Now, why I'm not reprinting Cohen's tweets on the facts in this pleading.  Well, partly because, as Cohen points out, they aren't facts.  (The opening of the "Facts" portion of the pleading is to reproduce CNN's advertising puffery that CNN is "the most honored name in news."  Yes, that is a fact that CNN says that.  But it's completely irrelevant to a libel suit against CNN.)  Cohen squashes this kind of thing into jelly with hobnailed boots; but what's the point, really?

Nothing in this pleading is worth consideration, at least by the general public.  It's a farrago of nonsense and lies.  The court can deal with it, and even, on its own motion, sanction the attorneys for filing this turkey.  I mean, there's a lot of crap here; but it's Donald Trump.  Were you expecting him to finally transmute shit into gold?
Well, yeah.  Will be fun if it happens; but I'm still betting this winds up in Cannon's court (unless the Presiding Judge is smart, and can steer it away).  Wherever it ends up, it is hellbound for the dustbin of history, just like Trump is.  And I'm just ready to stop spending the energy to detail how very stupid and venal Donald Trump is with ever legal action he takes, or every statement he utters.

No, I'm not writing ironically because I, too, and perpetuating the conversation about Trump.  I'm just pleading in my own right to let this clown go.  Nothing he does is worth this much mental energy.  Is his case law (as Cohen details in many tweets) all full of sound and fury, signifying nothing? (and more significatly, all pre-Sullivan cases?  What's the point of citing those?)?  CNN's lawyers will figure that out soon enough.  Is the rest of it a pile of crap, too?  Quelle surprise.

Although, speaking of CNN and going a little off-piste here:
Trump has absolutely no idea he's tied himself to the railroad tracks and the express is coming through. No idea at all.  Also, though, not a surprise.
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