Twitter user "Devin Nunes' Mom" sued by...Devin Nunes. (plus 3 additional lawsuits, total $250M)

[Miles Archer]

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) sued Twitter, two anonymous Twitter accounts, and political consultant Liz Mair for more than $250 million, alleging that the defendants engaged in “negligence, defamation per se, insulting words, and civil conspiracy.” In the suit, Nunes accuses Twitter of having a “political agenda” by allowing two anonymous accounts—“Devin Nunes’ Mom” (@DevinNunesMom) and “Devin Nunes’ Cow” (@DevinCow)—and Mair to attack, defame, and demean him. The suit alleges the two Twitter accounts “engaged in a vicious defamation campaign against Nunes that lasted over a year,” and claims Mair “relentlessly smeared and defamed” the lawmaker by “filming stunts” at his D.C. office, accusing him of “multiple crimes,” and “filing fraudulent ethics complaints” against him. The lawsuit also claims Twitter shadow-banned Nunes, which “restrict[ed] his free speech” and “amplif[ied] the abusive and hateful content” the Twitter accounts and Mair were posting. In addition, Nunes requested the court to order Twitter to reveal the identities of the anonymous accounts and to suspend @DevinNunesMom, @DevinCow, and Liz Mair. Mair, who has contributed as an opinion writer at The Daily Beast, wrote on Twitter that she was declining to comment on the suit.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/rep-devin-nunes-files-dollar250m-defamation-lawsuit-against-twitter-two-anonymous-twitter-accounts

[Glimmer of Hope]

1. Oh please. Nunes is a public figure.

[marble falls]

3. Exactly why it'll be thrown out. He leaves himself open to malicous prosecution, too.

[marybourg]

2. Good. I hope he spends hundreds of thousands

on what Publicans used to call - when a regular person actually was physically injured - “frivolous law suits”. But it might get thrown out of court before he gets to spend too much.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

4. Did he hire the same lawyer the Covenant Catholic kid did?

[Gothmog]

9. I read the pleadings expecting to see Larry Klayman as the attorney

I was amused to see a different dumb attorney

Link to tweet

[onenote]

5. I googled Nunes attorney. The guy's track record is amazing.

Steven Biss. It appears that he's been disciplined by the Virginia bar for ethical violations at least once and may even have had his license suspended for a period. He's been on the losing side of case after case. In one case, the plaintiff won an $11,000 judgment against Biss's client, and then won (and prevailed on appeal) attorneys' fees against Biss's client of over $121,000!

In another case, Biss's clients' lost a case because they failed to file a timely opposition when Biss “mistakenly calendared the wrong date.” On appeal, the appeals court found that the claims put forward by Biss were "simply meritless."

And my favorite: a defamation suit he brought that got tossed without the defense having to offer a single witness. https://www.richmond.com/news/local/hanover/mechanicsville-local/judge-dismisses-davis-v-style-weekly-case/article_8fbbd2f0-7c54-11e7-b320-cf7ecf1ea562.html

[Gothmog]

8. LOL

Link to tweet

[TheBlackAdder]

22. If it's in California, they have one hell of a anti-SLAPP Suit law.

[onenote]

25. The suit was brought in Virginia

Virginia has an anti-SLAPP law, but that probably isn't as important as the fact that in Virginia "rhetorical hyperbole" is not actionable. Statements characterized as rhetorical hyperbole are those from which “no reasonable inference could be drawn that the individual identified in the statements, as a matter of fact, engaged in the conduct described.” Whether a statement constitutes rhetorical hyperbole is a question of law for the court to determine.

Pretty sure a statement attributed to a cow is rhetorical hyperbole.

[TheBlackAdder]

26. If he lives in California, and the subjects are not from Virginia, I wonder how it's filed in VA.

[onenote]

28. He is asserting that the court has jurisdiction under Virginia's "long-arm" statute.

III. JURISDICTION AND VENUE

13. The Circuit Court for the County of Henrico has jurisdiction of this matter pursuant to § 17.1-513 of the Virginia Code (1950), as amended.

14. The Defendants are subject to personal jurisdiction in Virginia pursuant to Virginia’s long-arm statute, § 8.01-328.1(A)(1), (A)(3) and (A)(4) of the Code, as well as the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution. The Defendants are subject to general personal jurisdiction in Virginia. They engage in continuous and systematic business in Virginia. They all have minimum contacts with Virginia such that the exercise of personal jurisdiction over them comports with traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice and is consistent with the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution.

15. Venue is proper in the Circuit Court for the County of Henrico pursuant to §§ 8.01-262(2-4) and 8.01-263(2) of the Code.

[TheBlackAdder]

29. Thanks!

[Ms. Toad]

24. I ws just about to come post this -

I planned to use his negligence claim in class tomorrow as a review of 1L torts concepts in another of my "ripped from the headlines" moments that this administration provides so many of. Biss is seeking recovery in negligence for purely emotional harm. (You can only recover compensation for emotinoal harm if it is accompanied by bodily injury or damage to personal property.

So - I decided to look him up to see how long he's been practicing because his claims read like someone who just passed the bar exam and include the right words, but they are written in a way that it seems teh author just isn't quite sure what they mean.

He uses an earthlink address (always a bad sign, since it costs a pittance to get an email address that is more professional - and consistent with attorney-client privilege obligations.. . . He's been practicing for 27 years, but was suspended not once, but twice, and also publicly reprimanded.

“On October 17,2008, a three judge panel of the Chesterfield County Circuit Court imposed a suspension of one year and one day on Steven Scott Biss effective January 1, 2009 in a corporate and securities matter. He violated professional rules that govern competence, scope of representation, and misconduct that involves deliberately wrongful acts that reflect adversely on his fitness to practice. RPC 1:1; 1.2(c); 8.4(b).”

After that, it was reported that Biss was suspended for an additional 30 days because he continued to represent a client while serving the one year suspension noted above. Also “On October 18, 2010 the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board issued a public reprimand to Steven Scott Biss for violating a professional rule that governs conflict of interest involving a former client. This was an agreed disposition of misconduct charges. RPC 1.9(a)”.

https://trackingmeroz.wordpress.com/tag/steven-scott-biss/

[Yavin4]

6. I would get the Twitter handle, "Devin Nunes' Mom is Deeply Ashamed of Devin Nunes"

Then if he sued me, I would depose his mom who would probably agree with the handle. Case closed.

[Gothmog]

7. These lawsuits are really amusing

Link to tweet

[Gothmog]

10. I started following these parody accounts

Link to tweet

?s=20

[sarcasmo]

11. Fun night on Twitter, Devin Nunes trending #1 and @DevinCow is up 28,000 followers tonight.

[Miles Archer]

15. Someone tweeted last night and said @DevinCow had tripled its followers last night

No idea if the 28K number reflects that, but yeah...Devin sure knows how to put his foot down (on himself).

[sarcasmo]

19. 100,000 followers in 24 hours for @DevinCow

[Dem_4_Life]

21. 142K Followers now!

[Thekaspervote]

12. Poor little fool! He can dish it.. but just can't take it

[grantcart]

13. Well he can't really dish it out either

Just reads scripts handed to him

[erronis]

14. Wondering why 'Devin Nunes herp-face' was trending online?

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/03/19/nunes_sues_twitter/

Of "Devin Nunes' Mom", the suit alleges it "falsely stated that Nunes would probably join the Proud Boys, if it weren’t for that unfortunate ‘no masturbating’ rule" and "falsely accused Nunes of being part of the President’s taint team," as well as "Devin might be a unscrupulous, craven, back-stabbing, charlatan and traitor, but he’s no Ted Cruz," and "falsely stated that @Devin Nunes is DEFINITELY a feckless cunt."
A tweet shown as evidence in Nunes v. Twitter

?x=648&y=496&infer_y=1

Too much to swallow ... One of the allegedly offensive tweets

The complaint goes on to recite how the fake Devin's Mom account "falsely stated please don’t call @DevinNunes compromised. He’s not at all. He’s a complete and total fucking traitor," and "falsely stated that Nunes knows a thing or two about throwing away evidence, don’t you Scabbers?" and, finally "falsely stated that Nunes has herp-face."

[Miles Archer]

16. Rick Wilson tweeted that image last night and claims it's the one that put him over the edge

Then he begged his followers to not re-tweet it.

[MineralMan]

17. Nunes knows those suits will fail. But, he also knows that any defense

will end up costing the people he's suing quite a bit of money, since lawyers will be needed. His lawsuits are designed to intimidate and to act as an example for others.

In an ideal world, Twitter would take on their member's defense actions and costs and let them off the hook. Problem there is that Twitter's attorneys will advise against doing that.

[TheBlackAdder]

23. Hopefully, it's in California, as they have a really tough anti-SLAPP law.

[Maeve]

18. Everytime I think Numnutz can't act more stupid, he shows he can

And as for being a total snowflake.....

[JAD]

20. Let's do a gofundme for Devin's mom and counter sue

I want to bankrupt the Russian Ass!

[cp]

27. What a twit

Me, I'm laughing til the cows come home.