Nearing and End to 'Libel Tourism'

Earlier this week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that will prevent foreign libel judgments from eroding free speech protection in the U.S. The Senate needs to act next, and that is what an editorial in today's New York Times calls for--before Congress adjourns. As we learned in class, Britain is a legal libel refuge because of defamation standards rooted in English common law. Their laws essentially assume that any offending speech is false, and the writer or author must prove that what she wrote is in fact true in order to prevail against the charge. What has been happening, as in the case of the book "Funding Evil," is that although the book was never published in England, at least 23 copies were sold online there. A British court heard the libel suit, awarded a substantial amount, and the Saudi businessman who brought the suit is now free to ask American courts to collect the judgment. The upshot is a First Amendment loophole that means that American authors are subject to being sued under British law (as we learned in class). This federal law will close that loophole. As of May 1, 2008, New York state protects writers from foreign judgments in countries that do not meet U.s. free speech standards.