Moran v. Newsweek $106mn Libel Suit
Donation protected
UPDATE: I amended the pleadings and refiled in the Supreme Court for the State of New York in the County of New York. The lawsuit amount has been increased slightly to account for recent infractions and an additional cause of action for infringing on my personal privacy by Newsweek disclosing my financial state.
A Copy of the Summons and Complaint is HERE
Last Thursday evening, I sent by next-day FedEx a complaint against Newsweek to the federal court for the Southern District of New York alleging libel per se, general libel, libel by implication, and intentional infliction of emotional distress in connection to Newsweek's false and libelous reporting about me.
Although I will be representing myself in this matter, I ask for your help to cover costs incidental to the filing of this lawsuit - filing fees, expert witness fees, etc.
NOTE: Any funds raised beyond what is needed - should this go viral - will be given to charity.
The prayer for relief is $105 million:
* $3.5 million for libel
* $1.5 million for emotional distress
* $100 million for punitive damages to deter similar activities of using the press to persecute and retaliate against those who challenge an already reported story.
Short summary of 22-page complaint:
As the weekend editor of Sputnik News I wrote a story that incorrectly attributed the words of Newsweek Sr. Writer Kurt Eichenwald to Sidney Blumenthal. I realized the error roughly 19 minutes later and removed it.
Kurt Eichenwald proceeded to write a story alleging that this was an example of a joint Russia-Trump effort to alter the impact of the US election as opposed to an overworked weekend blogger - me - making a mistake.
I attempted to tell Mr. Eichenwald and Newsweek what occurred. Eichenwald first stonewalled me by blocking me from Twitter and as a result of a sequence of conversations appeared to offer to help me get a job at The New Republic so long as I remain quiet or else he would make an addition to the story to ruin me.
Paste Magazine ultimately wrote a story on this matter which led to Eichenwald sending me 70+ hysterical and threatening tweets, sening a threatening series of questions (including asking for my address), made changes to his original article, and wrote an article completely dedicated to libelling and smearing me.
In a nutshell, the articles sum up to a false accusation that rather than making a mistake, the article came upon orders from high-level Russians to push a false story with the purpose of altering the impact of the 2016 election in favor of Donald Trump. This is false.
Further, the second article accuses me in sum of lying, being a fraud, being a Kremlin agent, and only criticizing Newsweek to benefit Spuntik and the Russian government - as opposed to making sure people know the truth - by smearing Kurt Eichenwald and Newsweek.
It was further alleged that I lied about no longer working for Sputnik and that I maintained some role at Sputnik when providing the critique of the false and hysterical article published by Newsweek. This is also false.
Finally, in December, Newseek's Editor-in-Chief Jim Impoco said that the story resulted in the FBI "identify individuals spreading disinformation during the campaign" - the article naming only me - despite the reality that I just made a 19-minute mistake and the FBI has never contacted me about my work at Sputnik.
The media is not supposed to be a tool for retaliation to quiet, condemn and persecute critics. I faced false allegations that I was acting to subvert the election on the orders of high-level foreign government officials.
In reality I was the lone person at the DC Bureau where I would write 12-14 stories per day THAT I CHOSE, assign and edit 5-7 stories for remote writers, and manage the site's social media account.
I faced immediate threats that Newsweek would use discovery to dig for any story they can manipulate to further smear me or my former employer.
I refuse to be intimidated. What was done is offensive to the media's role to protect and inform the public.
NEXT STEPS
The legal complaint was delayed in the mail due to the Inauguration and inclimate weather. It should arrive at the federal court for the Southern District of New York's pro se uptake unit either Tuesday (Jan 24, 2017) or Wednesday (Jan 25, 2017).
At that point, the pro se unit will analyze the document for any filing errors before submitting it to the court.
The filing I believe is of a professional nature, but it is the first legal complaint that I have ever filed.
After that, I'll seek immediate service of process on Newsweek's NY office and the lawsuit commences.
Newsweek will almost certainly - as is common in litigation - try to have the case tossed out pre-trial. I believe that despite it being me versus a legion of experienced attorneys with unlimited resources at their disposal that the case will survive this challenge.
THE ASK
Although I will be representing myself in this matter, pursuing a lawsuit of this nature is traditionally very costly between payment for expert witnesses, analysis of materials requested in discovery, filings, transit, and the considerable expense of time spent litigating.
Anything that you would be willing to donate to enable me to continue to bring this matter forward so that this matter of pressing personal and national interest can be properly heard would be greatly appreciated.
BACKGROUND
Want to learn more about this situation? READ:
1. https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/10/did-newsweeks-kurt-eichenwald-use-threats-and-brib.html
2. https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/10/kurt-eichenwalds-deception-and-newsweeks-ostrich-s.html
Thank You,
Bill Moran
(208)242-8413
A Copy of the Summons and Complaint is HERE
Last Thursday evening, I sent by next-day FedEx a complaint against Newsweek to the federal court for the Southern District of New York alleging libel per se, general libel, libel by implication, and intentional infliction of emotional distress in connection to Newsweek's false and libelous reporting about me.
Although I will be representing myself in this matter, I ask for your help to cover costs incidental to the filing of this lawsuit - filing fees, expert witness fees, etc.
NOTE: Any funds raised beyond what is needed - should this go viral - will be given to charity.
The prayer for relief is $105 million:
* $3.5 million for libel
* $1.5 million for emotional distress
* $100 million for punitive damages to deter similar activities of using the press to persecute and retaliate against those who challenge an already reported story.
Short summary of 22-page complaint:
As the weekend editor of Sputnik News I wrote a story that incorrectly attributed the words of Newsweek Sr. Writer Kurt Eichenwald to Sidney Blumenthal. I realized the error roughly 19 minutes later and removed it.
Kurt Eichenwald proceeded to write a story alleging that this was an example of a joint Russia-Trump effort to alter the impact of the US election as opposed to an overworked weekend blogger - me - making a mistake.
I attempted to tell Mr. Eichenwald and Newsweek what occurred. Eichenwald first stonewalled me by blocking me from Twitter and as a result of a sequence of conversations appeared to offer to help me get a job at The New Republic so long as I remain quiet or else he would make an addition to the story to ruin me.
Paste Magazine ultimately wrote a story on this matter which led to Eichenwald sending me 70+ hysterical and threatening tweets, sening a threatening series of questions (including asking for my address), made changes to his original article, and wrote an article completely dedicated to libelling and smearing me.
In a nutshell, the articles sum up to a false accusation that rather than making a mistake, the article came upon orders from high-level Russians to push a false story with the purpose of altering the impact of the 2016 election in favor of Donald Trump. This is false.
Further, the second article accuses me in sum of lying, being a fraud, being a Kremlin agent, and only criticizing Newsweek to benefit Spuntik and the Russian government - as opposed to making sure people know the truth - by smearing Kurt Eichenwald and Newsweek.
It was further alleged that I lied about no longer working for Sputnik and that I maintained some role at Sputnik when providing the critique of the false and hysterical article published by Newsweek. This is also false.
Finally, in December, Newseek's Editor-in-Chief Jim Impoco said that the story resulted in the FBI "identify individuals spreading disinformation during the campaign" - the article naming only me - despite the reality that I just made a 19-minute mistake and the FBI has never contacted me about my work at Sputnik.
The media is not supposed to be a tool for retaliation to quiet, condemn and persecute critics. I faced false allegations that I was acting to subvert the election on the orders of high-level foreign government officials.
In reality I was the lone person at the DC Bureau where I would write 12-14 stories per day THAT I CHOSE, assign and edit 5-7 stories for remote writers, and manage the site's social media account.
I faced immediate threats that Newsweek would use discovery to dig for any story they can manipulate to further smear me or my former employer.
I refuse to be intimidated. What was done is offensive to the media's role to protect and inform the public.
NEXT STEPS
The legal complaint was delayed in the mail due to the Inauguration and inclimate weather. It should arrive at the federal court for the Southern District of New York's pro se uptake unit either Tuesday (Jan 24, 2017) or Wednesday (Jan 25, 2017).
At that point, the pro se unit will analyze the document for any filing errors before submitting it to the court.
The filing I believe is of a professional nature, but it is the first legal complaint that I have ever filed.
After that, I'll seek immediate service of process on Newsweek's NY office and the lawsuit commences.
Newsweek will almost certainly - as is common in litigation - try to have the case tossed out pre-trial. I believe that despite it being me versus a legion of experienced attorneys with unlimited resources at their disposal that the case will survive this challenge.
THE ASK
Although I will be representing myself in this matter, pursuing a lawsuit of this nature is traditionally very costly between payment for expert witnesses, analysis of materials requested in discovery, filings, transit, and the considerable expense of time spent litigating.
Anything that you would be willing to donate to enable me to continue to bring this matter forward so that this matter of pressing personal and national interest can be properly heard would be greatly appreciated.
BACKGROUND
Want to learn more about this situation? READ:
1. https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/10/did-newsweeks-kurt-eichenwald-use-threats-and-brib.html
2. https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/10/kurt-eichenwalds-deception-and-newsweeks-ostrich-s.html
Thank You,
Bill Moran
(208)242-8413
Organizer
William Moran II
Organizer
Washington D.C., DC
