What a great Christmas present for Mike. It is back to square one for him with his lawsuit over what he views as libel by Mark Steyn and CEI.
For background, see this WUWT story:
Mann has filed suit against NRO (now the laughing begins)
Since the previous ruling this summer that said the lawsuit could go ahead was nothing less than a bad legal joke:
Mann-Steyn lawsuit judge inverts the defendants actions, botches ruling
…that ruling has now been nullified by a higher appeals court ruling, Mann’s case will now have to start over.
This new ruling seems pretty blunt. They basically accepted the ACLU amicus brief as fact, saying:
ORDERED, sua sponte, that the Clerk shall file the ACLU’s lodged amicus curiae response as its response.
The appeal was granted with no caveats or exceptions, suggesting that the appeals court views the decision by that wacky judge Natalia M. Combs Greene (now retired) this summer as being very badly flawed, much like the hockey stick itself.
FURTHER ORDERED, these dismissals are without prejudice to appellants filing new notices of appeals from orders denying a special motion to dismiss. Signed by Per Curiam
Here is the ruling:
Order_20131223144647 (PDF)
The order is a matter of public record as seen on the DC Courts website:
In related news, popcorn futures continue their unprecedented climb:
@Lady In Red: Anthony Winner, actually. My guess is Mann gets another shot to get past SLAPP. A SLAPP shot if you will.
Thanks, guys. I suspect the twerp will declare victory and not pursue it. Sad.
….Lady in Red
Damn, I wanted to see Mann crash and burn. I wanted to see his corpulent little form incandescent and screaming, running like a rat pursued by Japanese soldiers with biological weapons and sticks.
Mark Steyn has bigger fools to practice his “pen is mightier than …” against and Michael Mann and others should allow him the time to do so. There is too much suing and other attempts to stifle speech. Mostly insults and related comments should just be allowed to flow by. Get on with work and life.
It’s not like the climate thing is settled science. Mann might still contribute something! Okay, maybe not.
~~~
I loaded up on popcorn on Oct. 28, 2012. Must have been something going on then but I’ve forgotten. Maybe it was similar to Johnny Carson (1973) and the TP thing.
To MattN,
Are you a comedian, because I am still laughing at the idea that Mann would come to his senses. Merry Christmas all.
The hockey stick is an artifact of the output program. There is nothing indicating that in any graph from the calculations themselves.
The climate model exposing that little tidbit comes from the CRU/Hadley hack…the part that WASN’T emails.
commieBob;
The reason is…
“FURTHERED ORDERED that these appeals are hereby dismissed as moot because the trial court granted appellee’s motion to file his lodged amended complaint and and appellants then filed new special motions to dismiss, which remain pending…”
Appellee= Michael E. Mann
Appellants= Mark Steyn and CEI et all.
Sounds like Mann filed an amended complaint which mooted the previous order.
Are there any lawyers or paralegals that can confirm this is the situation by pulling the court docs?
Mark Steyn’s hilarious parody of Michael Mann was constitutional….
And if the university was capable of covering up child rape it would not be beyond the pale that it would cover up scientific misconduct.
Damn, I wanted to see Mann crash and burn.
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After hundreds of thousands of dollars in leagal fees, this is Michael Mann crashing and burning in court after being gloriously roasted by Mark Steyn.
‘I don’t bluff’……….Michael Mann’s lawyer says National Review must retract and apologize
Get Lost My response to Michael Mann. By Rich Lowry http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/314680/get-lost-rich-lowry
Stick It Where the Global Warming Don’t Shine…. by Mark Steyn • Aug 22, 2012 at 6:48 pm
http://www.steynonline.com/5118/stick-it-where-the-global-warming-dont-shine
Mann cloaks himself in a self-created juvenile myth where he fantasizes being a scientific hero. He is absurd.
He needs to hire a professional Hollywood script writer for his self-serving mythology instead of his childish attempts at creating his own mythology.
John
With respect, I don’t think the court of appeals’ order means what you say it means. The ACLU and others won the right to file briefs, but the defendants’ appeals were “dismissed as moot” because the court below had already granted Mann’s request to file an amended complaint, and the defendants’ had already moved to dismiss the amended complaint. The dismissal is without prejudice to the defendants’ right to file new notices of appeal in case the trial court denies their motions to dismiss the amended complaint.
So, unless I’m missing something, the only substantive effect of this order is that the ACLU and others get to file briefs. The matter is again before the trial court, which is now deciding whether to dismiss Mann’s amended complaint.
(Obligatory disclaimer: I am a lawyer but I am not YOUR lawyer, so do not rely on my posts for legal guidance.)
Wonderful news!
And a heartfelt Merry Christmas plus a huge Thank You to Anthony and all his helpers, contributors & others who make this website such a great resource for saving mankind from making a colossal, deadly mistake.
Looking forward to even more great science information in the future. Keep up the great work.
I really don’t speak legalese well, but I don’t think this means what you think it means. Looking at the rest of the ruling, I believe “the Clerk shall file the ACLU’s lodged amicus curiae response as its response” means filing it as the ACLU’s response, not as the court’s response. You see identical language with respect to the other amicus responses. Also, Stein and CEI were appealing the decision of the lower court, and their appeals were dismissed, not upheld. Granted, the reason they were dismissed was because they were ruled moot, because (I gather) Mann amended his complaint, and these appeals were in reference to the pre-amended complaint, and Stein and CEI have other motions (to dismiss) in the works against the amended complaint. Basically it sounds like the court is cleaning up the paperwork on this particular dead end. It’s neither good nor bad news.
Why can’t it work the other way? There are many people and many reasons to sue Mann. What’s more is it would be for legitimate reasons.
Steyn vindicated! Well…sort of.
It’s neither good nor bad news.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You’re joking, right?
ORDERED, sua sponte, that the Clerk shall file the ACLU’s lodged amicus curiae response as its response.
The attempt by the pusillanimous, pudibundous promoters of awarmist propaganda to pass themselves off as prize-winners persist elsewhere; a recent example can be seen in the latest Alumni News from the University of Tasmania:
How humble is the professor to allow such an important document to gather dust! So humble one might wonder how anyone learns of that dusty facsimile.
“Storyteller” seems about right.
It is difficult to translate the legalese, as always, but I found the ACLU amicus brief (finally!) and it made what was being decided here a bit easier to decipher, since the Court adopted the ACLU brief as its own opinion in this matter. (and it was a very well written and well reasoned brief, I must say) Very good news for Stein, but I don’t think anyone in these comments has yet done much of a job of explaining what was actually decided here:
Taking it from the top: Mann sued Stein because Mann didn’t like his published opinions. Mann filed the kind of lawsuit against Stein that is known as a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation), a type of suit intended primarily to make a critic shut up.
Many states and the District of Columbia have passed Anti-SLAPP statutes, on the basis that it should be against public policy to allow a litigious person with deep pockets to chill public speech. These statutes generally allow the defendant in such an action to file an immediate appeal for dismissal, without going to trial. They must simply show that the lawsuit falls under a SLAPP definition, and this is the type of appeal Stein filed.
Judge Greene dismissed Stein’s appeal, allowing Mann’s lawsuit to go forward, but she botched the ruling in an incredibly incompetent fashion. What the Appeals Court has done here is to throw out Judge Greene’s incomprehensible ruling. There is no prejudice to Appellant, which is Mark Stein, and therefore Stein is now allowed to refile his appeal, asking the Trial Court to immediately dismiss Mann’s lawsuit under the D. C. anti-SLAPP statute.
So, the legal maneuvering isn’t ended, and we’re not really back at square one, but it still is a major victory for Stein – especially since it required an unbelievable amount of both partisanship and incompetence for Judge Greene to have refused to dismiss the suit immediately.
You might as well ask for water not to be wet. That request will be more likely to succeed.
Michael Mann–the only person alive who believes he is being insulted when people don’t say anything about him.
Steyn
omnologos says:
December 23, 2013 at 3:36 pm
Can we avoid a…Green(e) judge this time around?
UK Sceptic says:
December 23, 2013 at 3:37 pm
Greene by name, green by persuasion?
__________________________________________________________________________
Let’s not paint all Greenes with the same brush. Some of us have enough problems being associated with the green movement. 🙂
I believe wws says: December 23, 2013 at 5:50 pm, pretty well nailed the meaning of the action. Not quite back to square one.
Meaning;
Manniacal doesn’t get to remake his Olympic grand entrance and Nobel glory speeches, again.
Mark Steyn and NRO can resubmit their appeals courtesy of the ‘without prejudice’ statement.
The decision is ‘per curiam’ adj. Latin for “by the court,” defining a decision of an appeals court as a whole in which no judge is identified as the specific author or dissenting judge.
hhmmm . . Judge Greene retired now . . .and she was ‘near the bottom’ of judges rated in D.C.
AND, if I recall corrrectly, there are a number of judges in the D.C. area that Obummer wants to appoint . .
. . . , AHH, YES, and now he can with little resistance because of Reid and the Senate’s recent actions on the ‘nuclear option’ , which now allows ‘simple majority’ for executive appointments AND FEDERAL JUDICIAL nominees , rather than the 60+ . . ..
I SEE NOW WHY THE SENATE DID THIS. LET”S HOPE WE ALL REMEMBER THIS NEXT NOVEMBER ! ! ! ( . . *!@&#!*! dammorats . . . not that the Repugnants are sometimes better, but the dammorats sinking this low – just beyond belief . . )
THROW ALL OF THEM OUT ! ! ! I support the ‘Tea Party’ principles more and more . .. !
especially since it required an unbelievable amount of both partisanship and incompetence for Judge Greene to have refused to dismiss the suit immediately.
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Yep, and it was Mann’s high dollar Tobacco Lawyer and cherry picked venue and they got spanked on the law….laughable as Mann’s hokey stick and claim to be a Nobel Recipient.
Dang!
I was counting on that liar’s lawsuit to force him into discovery.
That coward P.O.S. likely is counting his blessings that the suit was stopped by a third party and won’t file again.
Also the popcorn graph was crazy wacky there Anthony. I bet it is a crazy place there at the Watts’ on Christmas morning.