Source: http://www.volokh.com/?s=OBSIDIAN+FINANCE+GROUP&submit=
Timestamp: 2019-04-18 14:41:55+00:00

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Some of our readers have been following Obsidian Finance Group, LLC v. Cox, the libel case in which our local counsel Benjamin Souede and I are representing defendant Crystal Cox. As you may recall, the Nov. 30 opinion in that case concluded, among other things, that only members of the institutional media are entitled to certain First Amendment libel law protections; that is one of the decisions that we are challenging with our motion for new trial. We filed a motion for a new trial in the district court, and on Tuesday the court denied the motion, issuing a long opinion on the subject. We will now be appealing to the Ninth Circuit.
Our Memorandum in Support of the Motion for New Trial.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Amicus Brief in Support of the Motion for New Trial.
Even if plaintiffs were not public figures, defendant was still entitled to the protections of Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc.
Benjamin Souede of Angeli Ungar Law Group LLC, our pro bono local counsel for the motion for new trial in district court and for the motion to block plaintiff’s zany attempt to seize the appeal rights.
Mayer Brown LLP, with which I’m a part-part-part-time Academic Affiliate, and which paid the litigation costs through its pro bono program.
Helene Siegel of Mayer Brown, for her work with cite-checking and production.
My colleagues David Babbe, Sam Bray, and Dan Bussel, Loyola (L.A.) professors Karl Manheim, Jay Dougherty, John Nockleby, and Justin Levitt, and recent graduate Dafna Gozani for their help with moot courts for my argument.
Bruce Brown, Gregg P. Leslie, and Jack S. Komperda, representing the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and Tom Goldstein, representing SCOTUSblog, for their amicus briefs that supported our position, and Matthew J. Zimmerman and Richard D. Mc Leod, representing the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which filed an amicus brief supporting our motion for new trial.
The protections of the First Amendment do not turn on whether the defendant was a trained journalist, formally affiliated with traditional news entities, engaged in conflict-of-interest disclosure, went beyond just assembling others’ writings, or tried to get both sides of a story. As the Supreme Court has accurately warned, a First Amendment distinction between the institutional press and other speakers is unworkable: “With the advent of the Internet and the decline of print and broadcast media … the line between the media and others who wish to comment on political and social issues becomes far more blurred.” Citizens United, 558 U.S. at 352. In defamation cases, the public-figure status of a plaintiff and the public importance of the statement at issue — not the identity of the speaker — provide the First Amendment touchstones.
Obsidian Finance and Kevin Padrick sue Crystal Cox. They win at trial, and get a large judgment.
Cox appeals on First Amendment grounds (I’m representing her on appeal). Cox has very little money, so she can’t put up a so-called “supersedeas bond” (a bond for the full amount of the judgment) that is required to keep plaintiffs from seizing her assets to execute the judgment. But that doesn’t block her appeal, since under federal law one generally doesn’t need to put up a bond in the amount of the judgment to appeal — one only needs the bond to stop execution on the judgment pending appeal.
But plaintiffs have a different view: They go to Oregon court, register the judgment, get a writ of execution, and ask the sheriff to seize and sell to the highest bidder Cox’s “intangible personal property,” in the form of … Cox’s right to appeal.
Plaintiff’s plan was thus to have the sheriff sell off Cox’s right to appeal, so that “Cox will be incapable of continuing the suit and the highest bidder at the foreclosure sale (whether that be plaintiffs or someone else) will take an assignment of Cox’s interest in the appeal, becoming the real party in interest.” Presumably the plan is that the highest bidder would be the plaintiffs, who will buy Cox’s rights for a modest amount, and then use those rights to drop the appeal. No more appeal; the judgment is final; end of story.
I had some colleagues of mine do a moot court for my Obsidian Finance Group v. Cox argument tomorrow — many thanks to Profs. Stuart Banner, Sam Bray, Joanna Schwartz, and Steve Yeazell for that — and I also had the administration invite students to watch; about 40 students showed up, I think, and my sense is that they found it interesting, if only because they got to see a professor being grilled instead of doing the grilling. I did the same for my State v. Drahota argument a few years ago, and that seemed to have gone well, too.
May Plaintiff Cut off a Poor Defendant’s Appeal, by Having the Sheriff Sell off Defendant’s Right to Appeal?
That is the question I’m facing with the latest twist in Obsidian Finance Group, LLC v. Cox, a pro bono First Amendment case that I’m litigating before the Ninth Circuit. For more on the substantive First Amendment issue, see the materials collected here. But this twist is all about procedure (as so many legal questions are).
I’m pleased to report that our local counsel, Benjamin Souede of Angeli Law Group LLC, and I will be representing the defendant blogger in Obsidian Finance Group, LLC v. Cox (D. Or.); we will be filing a motion for new trial, and an appeal to the Ninth Circuit if the motion is denied.

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