ACORN Filed Lawsuit Against Breitbart & VideoMakers

[red states rule]

The two employees seen in the video were fired after it was posted online. The lawsuit says the employees, Tonja Thompson and Shera Williams, suffered "extreme emotional distress."


APNewsBreak: ACORN Sues FilmmakersBEN NUCKOLS, Associated Press Writer
BALTIMORE (AP) ― ACORN and two former employees of its Baltimore office filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit Wednesday against the makers of a hidden-camera video that showed the employees giving tax advice to a man posing as a pimp and a woman posing as a prostitute.

The liberal activist group contends that the audio portion of the video was obtained illegally because Maryland law requires the consent of both parties to record private conversations.

The employees seen in the video, Tonja Thompson and Shera Williams, were fired after it was posted online. Thompson and Williams are plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which says they suffered "extreme emotional distress with attendant physical symptoms and injury to their reputations."

The lawsuit names James O'Keefe III and Hannah Giles, who played the pimp and prostitute in the video, as defendants. It also names conservative columnist and blogger Andrew Breitbart of Los Angeles, who posted it on his Web site, biggovernment.com.

Brietbart said he would respond with his lawyer to a request for comment. He told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday that he looked forward to a lawsuit because he expects unsavory details about ACORN to be unearthed in the discovery process.

O'Keefe and Giles could not immediately be reached. Asked by Fox News earlier this month about the possibility of a lawsuit, O'Keefe said, "Bring it on."

"It's not in their interest to attack me and Hannah," O'Keefe told Fox News. "If they want to equate sex trafficking of young girls with videotaping someone without their consent, that's their moral prerogative, but that just shows you how low they are."

In the video, the pair claimed they planned to employ teenage girls from El Salvador as prostitutes, and one of the ACORN employees suggested that up to three of the girls could be claimed as dependents.

O'Keefe and Giles made similar videos at ACORN offices in Washington, New York and San Diego, but the lawsuit, filed in Baltimore Circuit Court, involves only the Baltimore recording.

The lawsuit claims the video damaged ACORN's reputation and asks for injunctions barring its further broadcast or distribution. It seeks $2 million in compensatory damages — $1 million for ACORN and $500,000 for each of the two former employees — as well as $1 million in punitive damages from each of the three defendants.

Andrew D. Freeman — an attorney for ACORN, Thompson and Williams — said the former employees did not wish to comment but that the emotional distress claim "is not an exaggeration."

"They're doing their best not to watch television. They've sort of been prisoners in their own homes," Freeman said. "While everyone, including them, agrees that some of the things they said were dumb, in Maryland we have a right to say dumb things in the privacy of our homes and offices without fear of being taped and without fear of being splashed all over the Internet."

http://wjz.com/wireapnewsmd/APNewsBr...2.1203697.html

[avatar4321]

Well that's a loser lawsuit if I've ever seen one. It wasnt the video that caused them to lose their reputation. It was their illegal activities on the video that did.

That and the state law is unconstitutional if it interferes with the freedom of the press.

[red states rule]

Well that's a loser lawsuit if I've ever seen one. It wasnt the video that caused them to lose their reputation. It was their illegal activities on the video that did.

That and the state law is unconstitutional if it interferes with the freedom of the press.

I wonder who their lawyers are and what their connection is to Dems

Acorn apparently believes it will have the last laugh. If the judge who is assigned the case has integrity, we'll see.

If I had to bet, I would bet Acorn has its judge picked out already.

[Gaffer]

The judge will be on ACORN'S payroll for certain.

Same old system, make victims of the criminals.

[red states rule]

The judge will be on ACORN'S payroll for certain.

Same old system, make victims of the criminals.

Of course Obama could silence them by reminding them if they push this, ALL the dirty laundry will come out

It may be best to crawl away and come back later

[Rick OShea]

This is wonderfully, delightfully stupid of ACORN.

With the lawsuit comes discovery and much of the criminal enterprise known as ACORN will be open to subpoena. Breitbart's lawyers are gonna have a field day! Topping that, the lawsuit was filed not just by ACORN, but jointly with the very same employees they fired for the illicit behavior!

Interestingly the lawsuit was filed in Maryland . . . Unfortunately for ACORN, Inc. the parent organization of all things ACORN–forfeited its corporate charter in Maryland in 2006. ACORN Housing forfeited its corporate charter in 2008. Any ACORN office in the state of Maryland doing business was/is operating illegally.