Maryland Judge Kicks Melania's 'Escort' Suit Against Daily Mail Out of Court

[DonViejo]

Source: LawNewz


First Lady Melania Trump sued The Daily Mail and Maryland blogger Webster Tarpley after they each published stories with claims that Trump had worked as a paid escort in the past. Trump insists that this is flat out false and is accusing both Tarpley and the Mail of libel, and she sued both in Maryland federal court. Of course, there’s a problem with this, because The Daily Mail has little if anything to do with Maryland, so the court doesn’t have jurisdiction over the lawsuit, according to Judge Sharon V. Burrell.

Judge Burrell wrote in a decision published on Wednesday that because neither Trump nor The Daily Mail‘s parent company, Mail Media, Inc. (MMI) is a resident of Maryland, she cannot rule on the case against them. On top of that, MMI had mentioned in court documents that they don’t even publish the MailOnline website that ran the story about the First Lady. MailOnline is published and owned by Associated Newspapers Ltd., a United Kingdom company with its principal office in New York, so even if Trump had sued them, Maryland still would not be the appropriate venue.

Tarpley is a Maryland resident, which is likely why Trump sued there, but she tried to sue both him and Daily Mail in the same case, in the same court. But courts need jurisdiction over a defendant in order to rule on a matter, and the judge decided that the Maryland court did not have the authority to hear a case against a company that doesn’t have sufficient ties to the area.

Trump’s attorney, Charles Harder, had argued that there was sufficient connection to Maryland because MailOnline reaches Maryland users, publishes content geared towards an American audience, and runs ads targeting Maryland readers. Judge Burrell ruled that this was not a strong enough connection between Daily Mail and Maryland, given that the article in question had nothing to do with the state.

Read more: http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/maryland-judge-kicks-melanias-escort-suit-against-daily-mail-out-of-court/

[lark]

1. She's almost as bad as him.

Glad her frivolous stupid lawsuit got knocked down and look forward to seeing her lose the others as well. Goldigger isn't happy just taking money from Drumpf, now she's trying to expand her base, disgusting, lying vile person that she is.

[DemoTex]

2. Strange tales from strange times.

I'd love Hunter S. Thompson's take on this story.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. Incompetent tRumps can't even get the basics of suits right: wrong defendant, wrong venue. nt

[pamela]

4. She's still a paid escort.

Remember the interview where she was asked if she would have married pigman if he wasn't rich? Her response was "would he have married me if I wasn't beautiful?" That's pretty much the textbook definition of the escort services relationship.

[NastyRiffraff]

5. First Lady...sued

Never thought I'd see those words together.

Maryland: My state!

[mwooldri]

6. Wrong court. Try London.

Libel laws are more favourable there.

[LuckyLib]

7. The Trump cabal didn't do their homework? How can that be?

Wrong information, threaten by lawsuit? Gasp! The First Family!

[bucolic_frolic]

8. To sue for libel

is to put yourself on trial. So they don't have the bucks to sue in
three places at the same time (MD, NY, UK)? Hard to believe.

So maybe this is defending oneself without trying to hard.

[angstlessk]

9. Well, one must be deposed UNDER OATH...so there's that!

[mopinko]

10. sounds like it was intended to fail. now they get to cry about the mean judge

who refused to let fair lady defend her honor.
bank on it.

[NYC Liberal]

11. Maybe Donald didn't want to fork over the cash.

He only really cares about himself. Melanie's reputation isn't of much concern to him imo.

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. She is already also suing the Mail in London

According to the lawyers on Friday, Melania Trump is pursuing a separate lawsuit in London against the Daily Mail’s publisher.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/zoetillman/melania-trump-can-sue-a-maryland-blogger-for-defamation-judg?utm_term=.ofeVy7nea#.jhPNDbxrR

And her case against Tarpley is continuing in Maryland. It just looks like they tried to get the Mail on that suit there as well. Worth a try - the Mail is an unsympathetic defendant, who can reasonably be painted as publishing knowing it's false, with the intention of profiting from it.

[bucolic_frolic]

16. And one would never know that from the OP

and Tarpley as I recall issued a retraction soon after publication

It's still a messy business, disproving things that circulate.

Email! Email! Email!
Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi!

[msanthrope]

12. So she denies being a whore. And it's kicked out of court. nt

[orangecrush]

13. .

[mobeau69]

15. The best Lawyers. The best. LMAO.

It's seems like filing in the correct jurisdiction is kind of basic. They went over suing in the correct jusridiction in Intro to Law 101 didn't they? Now drumpf needs to sue his lawyers. What a clown show.



In NY they might get Denny Chin and another result like Al Franken did. Laughter in the court room!


In Courtroom, Laughter at Fox And a Victory For Al Franken
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/23/nyregion/in-courtroom-laughter-at-fox-and-a-victory-for-al-franken.html

[Grimelle]

17. I want to see

her Immigration papers...

[not fooled]

18. All that she's doing

is keeping the escort story in the news cycle. I guess when you're married to dump, you learn that striving for petty vengeance is more important than acting rationally.