The Hoboken Reporter • August 19, 2012 • 12
LAWSUIT
from page 8
and Star Ledger’s website), as well as their own sites. Although Pincus, Brice, and others have posted for several years, the suit quotes postings made from early June 2011 to mid July 2012 and claims that during that period, the 12 defendants caused the Bajardis injury to their reputation and their dealings with employers. The suit also charges that the posts caused emotional distress. Although internet postings accused the Bajardis of being paid by Mason as paid political operatives, Mason said last week that this was not true. “I never paid them,” she said. “We’re friends. They are not consultants of any kind. I’ve known them for years. Lane is a journalist. We both have an interest in journalism. We believe in many of the same things.” The lawsuit also included an online letter to the FBI from Pincus’ blog, in which Pincus said she would like to shoot someone – an act she said was satire. The letter made a reference to the location of the Bajardis’ residence. Pincus was asked to step down from the Zoning Board last year by Councilman Tim Occhipinti after she made the post about wanting to shoot someone. The issue became public after Pincus was visited by police. At the time, Pincus said the letter was satire and called the accusation absurd. “The press cherry-picks that quote out-ofcontext, but neglects mentioning in the same letter I wrote I’d ‘use the Vulcan Death grip’ or about sharing falafels at Mamoun’s with the FBI,” she said last week. “Or the fact it was one in a long satirical series. The fact that the press omits any context is proof of media bias against bloggers.”
Will the unnamed bloggers be revealed?
The majority of the City Council (which is pro-Zimmer) voted down the move to remove Pincus from the Zoning Board.
The suit said false and defamatory comments concerning the Bajardi couple were also posted under pseudonyms Bet Mazin, KlaussennFluffer, InfortainMe, SmartyJones, BluDiamonds, JAM, Redrider765, Plywood, Davidd, ss1959, Hobbs, and others. Several other unnamed bloggers were quoted in the suit including khoboken, ThisMeansWar, HobokenLeaks, redrider765, and Jam. One post on Patch by ThisMeansWar says, “Now what about your child? Have either of you losers EVER thought about the damage you are doing to him? … But he will be the kid who is KNOWN the second he walks through the doors of ANY schools as the progeny of you two hateful people. Children are cruel…. Stop thinking about how badly you want to hurt everyone associated with Zimmerman [sic] and reform and start thinking about how BADLY you are hurting your own child.” Pincus said many of the remarks quoted in the suit from this site were taken out of context and were part of an ongoing dialogue that grew heated. Pincus said that she believed that she was making these exchanges with one or both of the Bajardis. Pincus said she believed it was them because of the writing style and because after people began calling them Lane and Kim on-line, the anonymous posters did not deny being them.
Pincus’ history
Pincus also was the focus of controversy in which she was accused of using Nazi images on her blog to depict political enemies – a charge she refuted, but she eventually offered an apology to a state Jewish group. She said that the post in question was satire. Pincus, like Bajardi, Mason, and Zimmer, is Jewish. Pincus and other bloggers have routinely alluded to Lane Bajardi as either a target of a federal investigation or a cooperating witness. In the suit, Bajardi said neither allegation was true. Several postings implied Lane Bajardi was somehow involved in the theft of emails out of City Hall – a claim he also denied in the
lawsuit. A city employee was arrested for that crime last year. Pincus said the timing of the lawsuit was questionable. “This is a SLAPP suit against two named prominent reform bloggers and 10 John Does , plus 12 additional anonymous and unspecified ‘others,’ contained within the complaint designed to frighten reform side of the internet community, disable our blogs, and drag the mayor into it – just in time for the Labor Day mayoral race announcements,” she said. Zimmer is up for re-election in 2013. “This is a political dirty trick, and nothing more,” Pincus said. “This SLAPP is not about satire. This SLAPP is about icing speech on the reform blogosphere and dragging the mayor – who is irrelevant – into it.” Brice has posted a similar comment on his blog, calling the suit a SLAPP suit, which is a lawsuit designed to use litigation to silence critics (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation). In 2010, Brice accused Lane Bajardi of allegedly assaulting him and taking his camera during a Board of Education candidates’ forum. Bajardi filed a counter complaint and the matter was eventually dropped.
Difference between fact and fiction
The lawsuit has the potential to become a national issue following similar suits in which courts such as in Washington State ruled against bloggers who make unsubstantiated claims. The Washington suit was based on one comment left on a site. When asked what she would consider “going too far,” Pincus replied, “The First Amendment applies to all.” Many of the comments quoted in the suit are still on the internet. Bajardi declined last week to respond to questions for this story. In the suit, he has asked for a jury trial. According to legal sources, each of the defendants could be asked to pay $2 million in
damages, so the total liability of the suit may be more than $20 million. Both named bloggers have continued to post on their blogs. In a post on Aug. 10, Pincus referred to Bajardi as “Lane (redacted).” As of this past weekend, when news of the suit hit the press, most of the commenters named in the suit have stopped appearing on Hoboken Patch, the news site where many of the comments about the Bajardis were left. Patch’s editor did not respond last week to a request for comment. It is unknown whether the screen names were banned. Approximately a month ago, Patch began delaying comments on its site, holding them for several hours for review, as opposed to their past practice of allowing them to appear soon after they were submitted. The posts between the Zimmer supporters and critics battling it out numbered in the hundreds. But after the lawsuit became public, the comments on individual stories on the site were down, in several cases, to single digits. To comment on this story, email asullivan@ hudsonreporter.com or leave a comment at www.hudsonreporter.com