Newtown parents score a win in growing fight against hoaxers

[Applewood]

Newtown parents score a win in growing fight against hoaxers

The father of a victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre has won a defamation lawsuit against the authors of a book that claimed the shooting never happened — the latest victory for victims' relatives who have been taking a more aggressive stance against conspiracy theorists.

The book, "Nobody Died at Sandy Hook," has also been pulled from shelves to settle claims against its publisher filed by Lenny Pozner, whose 6-year-old son Noah was killed in the shooting.

More at:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/newtown-parents-score-a-win-in-growing-fight-against-hoaxers/ar-AAD2VKF?ocid=spartandhp

[mountaineer]

I don't see how it defames a parent to say the alleged event never happened (no matter how wacky the conspiracy theorist may be).

[Applewood]

I don't see how it defames a parent to say the alleged event never happened (no matter how wacky the conspiracy theorist may be).

Don't know the law and I didn't read the book in question, but I'm going to guess the "defamation" is against the parents' character by accusing them of perpetrating the supposed "hoax"  that their kids died at Newtown.

These conspiracy whackos have inspired their believers to seek out the parents and harass them.  They may not have outright told their readers and listeners to accost the parents and hurl accusations against them, but that is what has happened.  And it's about time these conspiracy nuts be held responsible for the damage they have caused.

[thackney]

I don't see how it defames a parent to say the alleged event never happened (no matter how wacky the conspiracy theorist may be).

I would say the confrontations exceed the right of free speech.

...Pozner has been pushing back for years against hoaxers who have harassed him, subjected him to death threats and claimed that he was an actor and his son never existed. He has spent years getting Facebook and others to remove conspiracy videos and set up a website to debunk conspiracy theories.

Lately, the fight has been joined by others who lost relatives in the Dec. 14, 2012, school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. After quietly enduring harassment and ridiculous assertions for years, some have changed their approach, deciding the only way to stop it is to confront it. Their efforts have turned the tables on the hoaxers, including Alex Jones, host of the conspiracy-driven Infowars website.

Robbie Parker, whose 6-year-old daughter Emilie was among 20 first-graders and six educators killed at Sandy Hook, spent years ignoring people who called him a crisis actor. His family moved to the West Coast, but still the harassment didn't stop. He would get letters from people who found his address. He was once stopped in a parking garage by a man who berated him and said the shooting never happened.

"You are taught when you are young that you ignore bullies and eventually they will leave you alone," Parker said. "But as time went on, and my other girls were getting older, I realized they weren't stopping and some of this was getting worse and getting more personal."...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sandy-hook-lawsuit-lenny-pozner-father-of-boy-killed-wins-defamation-suit/

...Wisconsin's Dane County Circuit Court Judge Frank Remington ruled Monday that Pozner had been defamed by Fetzer and Palacek, whose book claimed, among other things, that Noah's death certificate had been faked, according to Pozner's lawyer, Jake Zimmerman. A trial to decide damages has been set for October.

"If Mr. Fetzer wants to believe that Sandy Hook never happened and that we are all crisis actors, even that my son never existed, he has the right to be wrong. But he doesn't have the right to broadcast those beliefs if they defame me or harass me," Pozner said. "He doesn't have the right to use my baby's image or our name as a marketing ploy to raise donations or sell his products. He doesn't have the right to convince others to hunt my family."....

[truth_seeker]

I don't see how it defames a parent to say the alleged event never happened (no matter how wacky the conspiracy theorist may be).

Sd on college campuses, the left will employ political and police power, to conttrol speech.

Said book, is "hate" speech, hurtful, dangerous, etc.

[mountaineer]

After quietly enduring harassment and ridiculous assertions for years, some have changed their approach, deciding the only way to stop it is to confront it. Their efforts have turned the tables on the hoaxers, including Alex Jones, host of the conspiracy-driven Infowars website.

That's horrendously biased reporting. I still don't know what anyone actually did to these would-be plaintiffs.

[Applewood]

And in related news:

Alex Jones hit with sanctions by judge in Sandy Hook lawsuit as case gets a proposed trial date

A Connecticut judge on Tuesday sanctioned right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for suggesting that a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families, who are suing the InfoWars founder for his past claims that the 2012 shooting was staged, tried to frame him with child pornography.

The ruling, handed down from Bridgeport Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis, came after attorneys representing several Sandy Hook families in their lawsuit against Jones filed a motion on Monday asking the judge to review footage of Jones lambasting one of the attorneys in a Friday segment.

Bellis called Jones' behavior on the broadcast "indefensible," "unconscionable," and "possibly criminal behavior."

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/18/media/alex-jones-lawsuit/index.html

[Applewood]

That's horrendously biased reporting. I still don't know what anyone actually did to these would-be plaintiffs.

Some conspiracy theory sites actually published addresses and phone numbers of the parents.  People who believe this *bleep* have confronted the parents in person, by phone or otherwise, demanding to know where their kids really are.  Some parents have even been threatened with bodily harm. 

I mentioned  this before -- a woman I once worked with lost a niece at Sandy Hook.  She told me her sister and brother-in-law have been followed to supermarkets or other public places and confronted by these putzes.  Can you imagine losing a child under such terrible circumstances and having some idiot calling you a liar, a participant in a hoax or whatever and demanding to know where your child really is?

[Sanguine]

Slander and libel maybe?

[mountaineer]

Some conspiracy theory sites actually published addresses and phone numbers of the parents.  People who believe this *bleep* have confronted the parents in person, by phone or otherwise, demanding to know where their kids really are.  Some parents have even been threatened with bodily harm. 

I mentioned  this before -- a woman I once worked with lost a niece at Sandy Hook.  She told me her sister and brother-in-law have been followed to supermarkets or other public places and confronted by these putzes.  Can you imagine losing a child under such terrible circumstances and having some idiot calling you a liar, a participant in a hoax or whatever and demanding to know where your child really is?

Thanks for clarifying. Conspiracy theorists are an odd bunch, to say the least.