Congratulations to John Gray and Alex Hilton

Sorry if this is a bit late off the mark (and thanks to Modernity for posting on this already). John Gray and Alex Hilton must surely be very glad to be able to get on with their lives without a frivolous lawsuit hanging over them.

If you are unfamiliar with the case Jack of Kent has an excellent background post. Better to read that than read my mangled words!

the litigant was Johanna Kaschke who is not happy with the result. According to her Mr Gray is a fat ponze. I have no idea what a fat ponze is - there is no such word as ponze in the two vol version of the OED. I would suggest, using real words, that her attitude is ponerine if not downright musaceous!

Schwarzwalderkirschtortegate: in court tomorrow

Dave Osler is one of three bloggers to face libel proceedings from Tower Hamlets Tory Johanna Kaschke.

Dave is in court tomorrow. A pre trial review an application notes will be heard in the High Court of Justice at 1030.

If you are unfamiliar with the case here is a brief summary from an earlier post:

In 2007 Kaschke nominated herself as Labour candidate for Bethnal Green & Bow but she received just one vote. Shortly after she defected to the Respect party then a little later to an unnamed Communist Party. Not long after she became a Conservative. This is a matter of record. However, Kaschke contends that listing her affiliations denies her the right to freedom of association under the European Convention on Human Rights.

The court case will also be asked to decide whether calling her 'one cherry short of a Schwarzwalderkirschtorte'. Is libellous. This was not written by Dave Osler but by a person leaving a comment on his blog.

Clearly this is an idiotic case brought by someone who might need to have her sanity tested. I hope the case is given the regard it deserves and is struck out tomorrow.

Good news on the libel front

Johanna Kashcke?

Yesterday’s Independent carried this short item

Alex Hilton, star of the Labour blogosphere and Labour candidate for Kensington & Chelsea, won a minor victory in the High Court this week, in a case which illustrates how easy it is to get sued for libel in the UK. He owns the website Labourhome, on which another Labour blogger, John Gray, wrote about a political activist named Johanna Kaschke, who left the Labour Party in 2007, to join George Galloway's Respect Party, then joined a communist party of some description, and since autumn 2007 has been an active Conservative. In 1975,

Kaschke was falsely suspected by the German police of links to the Baader Meinhof terrorist gang. She was arrested, but eventually released and awarded compensation. She objected to having this old story dug up on LabourHome. Hilton removed the post and offered right of reply, but she decided to go to court. She lodged five complaints, but this week, the court struck out four. One point m'learned friends may yet have to deliberate, seriously, is whether it is actionable to describe someone as "one cherry short of a Schwarzwalderkirschtorte".

I have written about this idiotic case before. In my view it underlines the sheer and utter stupidity of our libel laws. How the hell can one be libelled for stating items of record? Kaschke was suspected of support for the Baader Meinhof, she did take a strange journey from Labour to the Tories

As for the “one cherry short of a Black Forest Gateau” comment. Oh come on! I hope that this final aspect of her spurious claim is treated with the same contempt by the law courts and as quickly as possible.

My thanks to Modernity blog for this.

Also see Jon Gray’s blog. John Gray and Dave Osler were also defendants in this idiotic case