Virginia – -(Ammoland.com)- The Virginia Citizens Defense League Board of Directors, after careful consideration, has decided that the recent ruling dismissing the Virginia Citizens Defense League case against Katie Couric, et al, CANNOT STAND!
The lawsuit has far reaching implications for all Americans. If the media can be allowed to change a person’s words to suit the media’s own needs or beliefs, then a grievous blow will have been struck against the very core of the freedom that the United States stands for!
NO! We are going to fight this because too much is at stake.
Today, I have directed Virginia Citizens Defense League’s attorneys to move forward with the appeal to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, where it will be heard by a three-judge panel “de novo” (which means the merits of the case will be heard anew with no consideration of the judge’s ruling that recently dismissed the case).
Unfortunately fighting this kind of battle in court is not cheap, including the appeals process, for which we now have to budget. But the nature of the ruling is so dangerous to our liberty that Virginia Citizens Defense League must stay in the fight and prevail!
Virginia Citizens Defense League rarely asks for money other than your yearly $25 dues. But when we do, we make sure you understand why we are asking.
If you wish to contribute to help covering VCDL’s legal fees, click here: https://vcdl.org/Donate
Thank you in advance for any help you can provide!
You will be updated whenever there is breaking news on Virginia Citizens Defense League’s lawsuit.
About Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. (VCDL):
Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. (VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.
For more information, visit: www.vcdl.org.
Where is the appeal now? At Pacer you have to pay for this public information by the page just to look at it.
We all know who Katie is, what she does and what she believes. She has a history. With such a predictable outcome I cannot understand why the VCDL would even consider being participant in this documentary. As expected the entire documentary sends belittling subliminal messages about second amendment advocates. When you knowingly step into harms way why you not expect to get shot at? I appreciate the VCDL and got a whole lot of respect for Phillip, But participation was not a wise decision.
Tin man, There is no absolute predicting these things. Similar things were said when I was interviewed for a 60 Minutes segment, which turned out great (posted on the VCDL website). Also, there were concerns when Nightline did a segment on VCDL at one of our picnics in Tidewater, that also turned out very well (also posted on VCDL website). Look at it this way – if we didn’t respond to requests from the media, then the other side would never get any push back on their lies and deceptions. We were hoping for the best, but the audio recordings… Read more »
It’s my understanding that the judge was an Obama appointee. This would explain the dismissal.
It wasn’t just a long pause, it was a long pause that included none of their answers and a general manipulation of the editing, as well as lying to the plaintiffs to get them to agree to be interviewed. Let’s look at the questions first to the assembled group of 7 or 8 members of the group, Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) . Couric and this company have made other very misleading videos including one called “Fed Up” about the food industry. They need to be taught a lesson. The film/video is called “Under the Gun” and it was pushing… Read more »
Actually the case is about defamation and not libel.
Would love to see katie Couric personally held liable and be forced to pay monetary compensation for her bs stunt. Actually i would like to see all trash reporters/ tv show hosts personally held monetarily responsible for the lies they broadcast. Maybe if they had to pay out of their own pockets we would actually get tv worth watching again.
@PastorGlock Amen even though I’m a 1911 guy, ha!
Activist judges are in lock-step with the liberal media. Liberals for too long have been active in our schools indoctrinating our children into the liberal mindset. A parent’s primary job is to educate their children. Remember, it will take a generation of conservative parentage to slow and hopefully reverse the liberal influences on our children hence, our society.
The time has come for a law that if a judge does something contrary to standing law, they are removed from office and stripped of their law license. And other judges are not in charge of the removal!
Take a hard look at SCOTUS judge Ginsburg, who during the elections stated matter of factly “if Trump wins, I will resign” and now the POTUS’ Travel Ban is going in front of the SCOTUS??? How do you think that’s gonna go? How do we not hold people, especially a judge, accountable for their words and actions? Katie, and all of the rest of the liberal controlled media need to be taught the lesson of speak truthfully or don’t speak at all! We cannot allow the inflammatory fake or “Convenient” news media outlets to continue to pollute the airwaves with… Read more »
Activist judges should be recalled or impeached.
I didn’t follow the case, but my understanding is that the editing didn’t change anybody’s words, it just added a long pause to make the spokesman look stumped for an answer.
In order to prove libel, you have to prove actual damages, i.e., monetary damages or tangible damage to one’s reputation. Where are the damages here? This isn’t the same as, say, the NBC fake truck fire case. That one caused actual, tangible damage to the automaker.
I think what she did was despicable, but I don’t see any actionable libel here.
VCDL filed “per se”, which has a different set of rules for libel.
In this case the reputations of several people were not only badly damaged by this hack but their lively hoods were also damaged, now if you don’t think any damage was done then think again
How were their reputations or livelihoods damaged? Did the organization the spokesman represented lose members? Did the spokesman himself suffer any harm?
I’m not saying CBS was right. As I said, what they did was unethical and despicable, and is one of the reasons I no longer own a television. But in order to prove libel, you have to meet certain standards and prove certain facts, and the plaintiffs here didn’t do that.
Some of them are firearms instructors and firearm rights lawyers, making them look too stupid to answer a simple, commonly asked question is damaging to their reputations.
@Phil VC, What do you mean the rules are different, from what?
WB, there are four classes of libel, per se is one of them.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/libel_per_se
Oh, “Libel Per Se”! What threw me off was that he expressed it so poorly. They fllled “per se” I think that NY vs Sullivan will control.
No, that case established that “Public Figures” have a higher burden to recover, that being actual malice. None of these people was a Public Figure, The law of the State of Virginia applies (this as a diversity case). So, these general definitions mean nothing. Here is the law in Virginia. (which includes depictions such as silent video depicting you going into what appears to be a VD treatment clinic) are defamation per se. These statements are so egregious that they will always be considered defamatory and are assumed to harm the plaintiff’s reputation, without further need to prove that harm.… Read more »
@Heed, not four classes of Libel on its face, but four classic examples. Thank you for the link to Cornell Law School. I would print it here, but I would hate to hand a weapon to my enemies.
She edited out their immediate responses and put in the long silence and earlier video from when they were waiting to START the interview and were just looking around. Note they recorded the interview and that shows they immediately gave several minutes of replies the the question. Silence and looking around like they didn’t have an answer to her question vs several minutes of answers. The judge that dismissed the lawsuit should be censured if not impeached.