1. zeke was required to take down the offending posts by court injunction.

2. zeke took down the rest of his posts *voluntarily*, in order to avoid any problems before the june 21 hearing.

3. zeke is a gallery owner, and hence a “competitor” (tho if you know zeke’s indie gallery, calling them “competitors” is a bit of a farce), of mr. tremblay (also a gallery owner), and so must be more careful about what he writes - legally, ethically, and sensibly.

4. my objection is court rulings against a blogger linking to documents in the public record.

5. I have no problem with bloggers getting sued for libel, if what they say is libelous.

6. Once writing determined to be, or expected to be libelous been removed from a site, then the rest of the site should be allowed to live in peace.

7. @christian, the story *should* be built up to the extent that it could have a negative impact on people’s ability to write & link freely about things, short of libel. In the case that there is no legal impact on our ability to write (ie no court ruling barring people from linking to stories in the pubic record), then you are correct, this is a matter for zeke to sort out.

If anyone is interested, I just came across this:
http://tinyurl.com/2welne a list of some of the other times, M. Tremblay has sued people and the results.

First, mixing mafia with a fellow competitor’s reputation (even if journalists may do so) in a too short post was not very clever. Second, publicizing private talks with his lawyer was (1) not very fair (2) irresponsible because you should have perfectly guessed what the next step would be, Zeke. (3) Publishing the blue papers was totally stupid. Quite obviously, you never do that to a lawyer or you get prepared to pay the bill.

Now bringing the freedom of speech issue and requesting legal aid from tax payers in order to avoid predictable consequences of above mentioned acts is another proof of bad judgment. I am really sorry to say that but my feeling is that you should have stepped back a long time ago. Everyone can make mistakes but repeating them ad libitum and pretending to be a poor victim at the same time simply does not make sense.

That’s my opinion and I must tell you that I have waited a long time to express it in public but that I am certainly not alone to think that way. Please do not involve the larger bloggers community into your own troubles, thank you.

After talking with my lawyer guy, I decided it was best to take it down entirely. The judgment itself isn’t clear on what has to be removed, so I thought it best to err on the side of caution.

It is most likely and hopefully only a temporary (although tedious) move. 2,481 posts, each one taking three clicks in order to remove it without deleting it. I’m amazed that I don’t have a splint or a cast on my hand.

I gather Zeke got in trouble for posting about the legal issues as they arose (and was found potentially in contempt of court): posting the judgment, lawyers letters online etc.

But again, aren’t these things in the public record?