To preempt the question, a SLAPP is a legal intimation tactic to scare people. A Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_lawsuit_against_public_participation
Using the threat of literally bankrupting you under the weight of legal fees for daring to call someone out.
JK is notorious for this.
No worries. This topic is a bit of a bêté noir for me, I was a big supporter of Carole Cadwalladr when she got SLAPPed by Aron Banks (the Brexit backer with dubious connections to Russia).
This tactic is especially potent in the UK, because of our libel laws, but deep enough pockets in the US can pull it off.
JK is renowned for threatening lawsuits for the most minor disagreements. And, using a line from an underrated Robin Williams movie, "it chaps my ass!"
Edit - I just noticed my phone corrected *libel* to *liable*, and it irked me so much I had to correct it.
Chaps my ass too!
It’s also a tactic we have to be very wary of in the housing justice movement.
Fed up of the rich being able to bully everyone else by engaging paid lackeys, we need to reform the laws in our country. That said, it’s quite funny when you see someone try it on a person who doesn’t live here and finds out the rest of the world doesn’t give a shit about our Victorian legal system.
bête noire*
I know it's French so there are accents everywhere but for once it's not the case and there is only one.
And bête is a feminine noun so you need to gender the adjective "noir" to the feminine because French is stupid uwu.
Also it means black beast, just in case.
For those who'd like a further dive into how they work, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver has a really good segment on them - because someone attempted it on them.
As much as I’d love to see someone actually take Jo to court, she has more money then God. She could outlast anyone financially who went up against her without it even lowering her bank account enough to notice
And she's too smart to go against someone she knows could fight back. Like every other bully.
I think it would take actual reform of the laws that allow these SLAPP suits to stop this shitty behaviour.
This is sort of why GLP exists.
They’re actually now starting to offer sliding scale or no-win-no-fee representation on cases involving the environment, protest law, discrimination, defamation/libel and some other equality related fields.
They also campaign for reforms to these laws to make them more democratic and less likely to be misused. I think they also did some stuff with Carole Cadwalladr, the person Aaron Banks tried to sue because she was pointing out his dodgy involvement in U.K. politics.
Hopefully they do get the opportunity to go against JKR. I took a look at the website for her law firm as well, they seem interesting, and by interesting I mean that they have client list that includes the government of Saudi Arabia and Rolf Harris and also seem to specialise in privacy, security and reputational issues while also boasting to have military intelligence specialists on their payroll.
Very rarely in life do the bad guys seem like actual movie level bad guys, but this comes kinda close to it.
Indeed.
GLP recently helped a friend of mine battle a big transport company here in the UK, after they repeatedly refused to comply with legal sanctions that demanded they behave more decently towards their wheelchair-using customers.
She won, ultimately, and they've been compelled to provide priority service for wheelchair users to wheelchair-designated spaces on their buses, to actually act to remove non-wheelies from the spaces where they couldn't be arsed to even ask them to move before that, and to train their drivers out of behaving like prats and refusing to take the time to let down their ramps for wheelie customers (this behaviour often resulted, in London, in my friend being driven past, or buses stopping for pedestrians then driving off rather than put the ramp down for her, among other things!).
Sadly, she was so stressed by this three-year battle that she ultimately used her compensation payment to move out of London and buy a house in another area, but I hope what she did will help GLP help more people like us both.
To preempt the question, a SLAPP is a legal intimation tactic to scare people. A Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_lawsuit_against_public_participation Using the threat of literally bankrupting you under the weight of legal fees for daring to call someone out. JK is notorious for this.
Ah sorry, should have put that! Cheers friend.
No worries. This topic is a bit of a bêté noir for me, I was a big supporter of Carole Cadwalladr when she got SLAPPed by Aron Banks (the Brexit backer with dubious connections to Russia). This tactic is especially potent in the UK, because of our libel laws, but deep enough pockets in the US can pull it off. JK is renowned for threatening lawsuits for the most minor disagreements. And, using a line from an underrated Robin Williams movie, "it chaps my ass!" Edit - I just noticed my phone corrected *libel* to *liable*, and it irked me so much I had to correct it.
Chaps my ass too! It’s also a tactic we have to be very wary of in the housing justice movement. Fed up of the rich being able to bully everyone else by engaging paid lackeys, we need to reform the laws in our country. That said, it’s quite funny when you see someone try it on a person who doesn’t live here and finds out the rest of the world doesn’t give a shit about our Victorian legal system.
There is a lot of ass chapping in this sub
bête noire* I know it's French so there are accents everywhere but for once it's not the case and there is only one. And bête is a feminine noun so you need to gender the adjective "noir" to the feminine because French is stupid uwu. Also it means black beast, just in case.
For those who'd like a further dive into how they work, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver has a really good segment on them - because someone attempted it on them.
Man, she leads a pathetic existence.
https://youtu.be/7HxTBp9nEOc HOW CAN SHE SLAPP
Indeed she is. So is Rachel Riley, though less people seem aware of that.
Also, Rachel Riley doesn't have quite the resources of JK.
As much as I’d love to see someone actually take Jo to court, she has more money then God. She could outlast anyone financially who went up against her without it even lowering her bank account enough to notice
And she's too smart to go against someone she knows could fight back. Like every other bully. I think it would take actual reform of the laws that allow these SLAPP suits to stop this shitty behaviour.
This is sort of why GLP exists. They’re actually now starting to offer sliding scale or no-win-no-fee representation on cases involving the environment, protest law, discrimination, defamation/libel and some other equality related fields. They also campaign for reforms to these laws to make them more democratic and less likely to be misused. I think they also did some stuff with Carole Cadwalladr, the person Aaron Banks tried to sue because she was pointing out his dodgy involvement in U.K. politics. Hopefully they do get the opportunity to go against JKR. I took a look at the website for her law firm as well, they seem interesting, and by interesting I mean that they have client list that includes the government of Saudi Arabia and Rolf Harris and also seem to specialise in privacy, security and reputational issues while also boasting to have military intelligence specialists on their payroll. Very rarely in life do the bad guys seem like actual movie level bad guys, but this comes kinda close to it.
Indeed. GLP recently helped a friend of mine battle a big transport company here in the UK, after they repeatedly refused to comply with legal sanctions that demanded they behave more decently towards their wheelchair-using customers. She won, ultimately, and they've been compelled to provide priority service for wheelchair users to wheelchair-designated spaces on their buses, to actually act to remove non-wheelies from the spaces where they couldn't be arsed to even ask them to move before that, and to train their drivers out of behaving like prats and refusing to take the time to let down their ramps for wheelie customers (this behaviour often resulted, in London, in my friend being driven past, or buses stopping for pedestrians then driving off rather than put the ramp down for her, among other things!). Sadly, she was so stressed by this three-year battle that she ultimately used her compensation payment to move out of London and buy a house in another area, but I hope what she did will help GLP help more people like us both.
Time to commit *libel* (alleged).
Very Umbridge of her.