Fund to support Mumsnet through the battle

[ChandraVilla]

Some other websites like Damsels, Downsizer and Freeforum have kindly offered to raise awareness and money to support Mumsnet through a legal battle.

As these posts are at a risk of being overlooked as have been posted in the long Nobody's threads, I'm starting this thread. If you want to contribute in someway, be it ideas to help MN or to send some money for the cause please post here

Blimey they are going for a CFA? They must be pretty sure of winning.

Is it right that under cfa a success fee will also be paid to the lawyers in addition to any costs /damages and the success fee might be 100% of the initial fee?

For a CFA even if you are claiming damages of a billion quid, if you win with an award of 1p that is success.

The law firm has to absorb their costs if they lose

That sounds ominous Justine
Hope it is just sabre-rattling from Foot Anstey

They also hike their rates absurdly if they win.

(I don't mean FA I mean lawyers in general)

(rapid arse covering from CD)

Heavens, what disappointing news Justine. I am so ignorant about legal matters regarding libel that I'm not entirely sure about the significance of the threats from the other side.
I have contributed & will happily contribute more, if required.
Is there anything else that can be done in campaigning terms? I don't have a great deal of freedom timewise for demos, but I can belt off emails & letters to anyone you can think of who would be useful.

If this is likely to become a precedent setting case about freedom of speech on the internet then is there not the possibility of getting one of the human rights law firms to take it on pro bono if it does go to court? Just a thought.

It may certainly be worth contacting the bar pro bono unit

I don't understand what the original issue is ... still the defamation, against mumsnet? Despite the fact that you pulled all the posts almost immediately?

So will you be defending that (a) you are not responsible and took all reasonable steps to remove it or (b) it was not defamatory or (c) both?

hey soapbox what do you mean

this is just a mummies chat board

it's not like anyone ever reads it

I have to say that this doesn't sound very positive, generally lawyers will go to court if they feel they have a high chance of winning a case, especially one that has the potential to be this high profile. If they lose, then a future reputation could be at steak and imo they wouldn't be wanting to risk that. Is it worth mn contacting someone like liberty or netfreedom.org (UK based internet freedom organization) to see if they would be interested in taking on the case?

Settling would be a very bad thing for mn, as usually out-of-court settlements also include gagging orders which mean mn would no longer be able to discuss the situation in public - either on here or in the media, and hence the campaign for mn would have to be closed as we couldn't go public.

I had "her" solicitors when unsuccessfully sorting out access for DS - hope it goes the same way for MN!

Thanks for the update Justine. Have a nice(r) holiday!

So, no backing down from FA hey? Oh well, this will be er, interesting, then.

Gosh, I'm not sure I'd do the same in GF's position tbh but then....mutter mutter mutter and other things I can't say

Happy to donate and otherwise get involved, I think this is an important issue.

WWW...idly wonder no more

Can someone please reassure a stupid person that if I put some money in the MN fund instead of buying a new breadbin, it will go towards paying legal fees and will absolutely definately not end up in nobody's pockets???

will donate tues when back off hols, but BUMP until then!

oh I dunnow, I think it is as much about the wider implications for them as it is for us. If they go to court and are successful, then this will have far reaching implications on every website in the country. If they win a case here and mn is shut down, then all other internet forums will be forced to moderate their posts more heavily. no-one will be allowed to say anything bad about anyone, and in time this will all blow over and book sales will get back on track. There will always be first time mums who have never heard of all this furory or the contravercy surrounding this case who will go out and buy the books, and because no-one will be able to read anything bad about them on the internet, people will be left to form their own opinions, but it will already be too late as they will already have bough the book. Even if mn decide to settle this matter out of court it will mean that other sites will change their policies for fear of the same kind of action in the future. The only way this will go in our favour and not hers is if mn goes to court and wins. anything else will be a loss imo.