BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

Lawsuits Against Bloggers Seen Rising Since 2004, 159 Court Actions Have Targeted Citizen Journalists for Libel and Other Charges By HUMA YUSUF When Christopher Grotke answered a late-night knock on the door, he did not expect to find the deputy sheriff on his doorstep serving notice that he was being sued. Nor was he prepared for the charge: libel. Someone had posted a comment on his citizen-journalism Web site, iBrattleboro.com, stating that a woman in Brattleboro, Vt., was having an extramarital affair. The accused woman then sued Grotke and his Web site co-founder for failing to edit or delete the comment. The blogging community increasingly is subject to lawsuits and threats of legal action running the gamut from subpoenas to cease-and-desist notices. Since blogging became popular in about 2004, there have been 159 civil and criminal court actions involving bloggers, according to the nonprofit Media Law Resource Center (MLRC) in New York. Seven cases have resulted in verdicts agai...

BUT, BUT... ALL THE OTHER BILLIONAIRE WACKOS ARE DOING IT! Billionaire sought secret lair for sex, drugs, complaint says A lawyer for the Broadcom co-founder denies the allegations. By E. Scott Reckard and Kim Christensen Flush with wealth from Broadcom Corp.'s 1998 public stock offering, computer chip magnate Henry T. Nicholas III made a few additions to his equestrian estate in Laguna Hills: hidden doors and secret levers, an underground grotto, tunnels and a 2,000-square-foot sports bar he called "Nick's Cafe." But there was more, according to a claim made in court documents: plans for a "secret and convenient lair" with hidden entries for Nicholas to indulge his "manic obsession with prostitutes" and "addiction to cocaine and Ecstasy." The filing in Orange County Superior Court added that Nicholas had the interior built in warehouse space nearby, which became his "personal brothel" until his wife caught him having se...