"Defamation is becoming a necessity of life; inasmuch as a dish of tea in the morning or evening cannot be digested without this stimulant.” Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Norvell, 1807
National Law Journal describes it as the case of the dueling defamation suits -- squeaking under the statute of limitations deadline in New York, Jeff Kurzon, sued last year by Cooley Law School just before his firm launched class action suits for fraud against Cooley, has now filed a defamation claim against Cooley seeking $74,000 in damages.
At the time Cooley filed its defamation claims in Michigan against Kurzon and two of his partners, along with parallel suits against several anonymous bloggers, Dean Don LeDuc explained:
We believe these particular defendants have crossed the line legally and ethically, calling us criminals who deceive our students and steal their tuition money, and ascribing to us fraudulent student loans activities and default rates that, if true, would cause either the Department of Education or the Department of Justice to shut us down immediately.
According to NLJ, the Kurzon defamation complaint against Cooley challenges much of the dean's statement, as well as an assertion that Kurzon and partners circulated a draft class action complaint on Craigslist and Facebook to lure potential plaintiffs.
Meanwhile, one wonders if a contemporary Jefferson would amend the following observation in the Norvell letter to refer to blogs rather than newspapers:
Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle.
