GREGORY CHANDLER--TO BLOG OR NOT TO BLOG

I came upon an interesting case today out of Florida.  In the case, a blog maintained by a university student to comment on issues of public concern, which included allegedly defamatory blog posts regarding an incident in which a landowner's friend shot two dogs on the landowner's property, constituted "other medium" within the meaning of a statute entitling media defendants to pre-suit notice of a libel action involving publications in a newspaper, periodical, or other medium.

Thus, the blogger was entitled to pre-suit notice of the defamation and libel action brought by the landowner's friend.  The blog was a public medium, the purpose of which was the free dissemination of news or analytical comment on matters of public concern.  

The case is Comins v. Vanvoorhis, 2014 WL 1393081 (Fla. App. 5 Dist.) 


Gregory Chandler, Attorney at Law