Pennsylvania business defamation case against bloggers tossed

Credit the ACLU for helping out on this one:

The four bloggers named in a lawsuit brought forth by Christiansburg developer Roger Woody have been cleared of all charges by a Montgomery County Circuit Court judge.

Woody sought more than $10 million in actual damages and $350,000 in punitive damages from Terry Ellen Carter, Tacy Newell-Foutz, Carol Lindstrom and Meghan Dorsett for their alleged involvement in blog postings critical of his business practices and a topsoil stockpile at his property on Cambria Street in Christiansburg.

The lawsuit filed by Woody's attorney, B.K. Cruey of Shawsville, accused the four women of working "together for the purpose of developing a website on the internet to be used willfully and maliciously" to cause injury to him and his business. The Web site listed in the filing, www.think christiansburg.com is operated by Carter and Newell-Foutz.

A motion for demurrer, the plea for dismissal, was heard July 31 for Carter and Newell-Foutz, filed by American Civil Liberties Union attorneys Rebecca Glenberg and Jonathan Rogers, citing constitutional rights as a reason for dismissal.

It's doubtful that the plaintiff's attorney had any illusions about the success of this claim, or that he failed to express them. Clients are hopeful, however, that such suits will be useful for the in terrorem effect, as well as the fact the most bloggers can't afford the legal help to fight back.