Lost in all the Supreme Court news: Zimmerman Libel Suit Against NBC Thrown Out
Legal Insurrection: Judge Debra Nelson, who presided at murder trial, rules Zimmerman’s victim status alone is sufficient to subject him to deliberate libel
I’m surprised that, in this second case, Zimmerman had the misfortune of having the same terrible judge he had the first go around. I hope an appeal is forthcoming.
July 3rd, 2014 at 5:18 pm
Probably not. The case ruined him financially. Because of this, I don’t care if I see a man with a bloody machete standing over a dead body, I’m not getting involved.
July 3rd, 2014 at 8:19 pm
By the same judge that presided over his trial… Yea, I would appeal.
July 3rd, 2014 at 11:17 pm
I thought we all understood, by now, that any judicial decision is subject to the NSA-Obama-NSA-Pelosi-NSA-Reid-NSA algore-rthym.
July 4th, 2014 at 11:28 am
Wouldn’t that have been sufficient grounds to paper the judge? Shouldn’t the judge have recused herself?
(It would be the appearance of impropriety for me to rule on a case where I have already made rulings, some of which will implicate the libel case).
It’s not like Nelson was Judge Roy Bean and there was no other judge within 500 miles of where all the witnesses were.
July 4th, 2014 at 1:22 pm
Venue is the plaintiff’s privilege, within limitations. Zimmerman did not have to file in that courthouse. He could have sued NBC in the local federal court, or basically anywhere NBC does business. This guy … it’s always everybody’s fault except his. The world exists for his convenience.
July 4th, 2014 at 1:26 pm
But the judge is wrong. It is New York Times v. Sullivan malice to have the correct quote in front of you and to edit it in a way which casts the plaintiff in a bad light.
July 4th, 2014 at 3:05 pm
nk, looks like this judge is behaving just like she did during Z’s other trial: “Yes, I know I’m making mistakes and it’ll be overturned on appeal, I just want this case OUT of my courtroom!”
July 4th, 2014 at 3:34 pm
Oh, Nelson is a cow. I watched the trial. No judge I have ever appeared in front of was as obviously, maliciously, pro-prosecution as she was.
July 5th, 2014 at 1:03 pm
Shouldn’t the judge have recused herself?
You have to have ethics to do that.
Why wouldn’t Kagan recuse herself from SCOTUS votes on obamacare when she argued *for* it as Sol. General?
Same reason.
July 6th, 2014 at 9:54 am
rickn8or, you bring up something that I just don’t understand. I thought it was a very BAD thing for a judge to get overturned on appeal, as the judge made a mistake, wasting judicial and party resources, creating the risk of injustice.
KM, the more we study ethics and have ethical “experts” the more we have questionable actions like what this judge did (and Justice Kagan).
Meg Greenfield wrote an excellent opinion piece about 20 years ago, “Why nothing is wrong anymore.”
One neologism was “Right and not necessarily illegal.”
July 6th, 2014 at 5:52 pm
Did he have an attorney for this one? Because if his attorney didn’t advise him to file elsewhere in order to avoid this “judge”, then it’s not Zimmerman’s fault. He relied on the advice of someone who’s supposed to know what he’s doing in an area where Zimmerman would not be expected to.
If he was pro se in this, then yeah, he was being stupid.