PRESS RELEASE
NY COURT AFFIRMS CARTOONIST’S RIGHT TO SUE FOR E-IMPERSONATION
NEW YORK CITY, JUNE 5, 2001 - In a victory for First Amendment protections of the state’s
journalists, a New York court has ruled that syndicated cartoonist and author Ted Rall
may sue a self-described "prankster" for Libel Per Se. Mr. Rall filed a civil suit against
Danny Hellman, an illustrator for Screw and Brill’s Content, in response to an August 1999
e-mail spam sent to at least 30 of Mr. Rall’s employers and colleagues by Mr. Hellman under
Mr. Rall’s name. According to an opinion issued today by the Appellate Division, First Department,
New York State Supreme Court, that e-mail made Mr. Rall "appear as a rude, petty, self-absorbed
writer/cartoonist who sought to insult and attack New York City’s established cartooning industry."
Mr. Hellman, who had never even met Mr. Rall before his August 1999 e-mail impersonations,
admits that he targeted Mr. Rall in retaliation for a book review he had written for the Village Voice.
"Where, as here, an act of literary impersonation imputes facts to the person impersonated that
damage him in his trade or profession," the court wrote, "a cause of action for Libel Per Se
is adequately pleaded."
By rejecting Mr. Hellman’s request to throw out the case, the court paved the way for setting a
trial date shortly - as early as this fall.
In New York, case law has long provided protection for journalists and other creators against
career sabotage by impersonation through Libel Per Se. Libel Per Se is any act of libel so egregious
and outside the normal bounds of civilized behavior that it entitles its victim to punitive damages.
It is not necessary to prove quantifiable damages to win a libel per se judgment.
"This is an important day for freedom of the press," said Ted Rall. "Without New York’s special
protection of Libel Per Se, writers would live with the constant fear of retaliation whenever
they exercised their First Amendment rights."
Ted Rall, the author of seven books including the new graphic novel 2024, is a syndicated
cartoonist and columnist for Universal Press Syndicate. His work appears in more than 100
newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, Time Magazine, Village Voice, Newark
Star-Ledger, Philadelphia Daily News, Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle.
As is common in civil litigation, the justices dismissed several other counts. Nonetheless,
Rall remains optimistic: "As I’ve said all along, Libel Per Se has always been the crux of
this case. It’s wrong to write letters under someone else’s name in order to harm their career.
It’s still wrong if those letters are sent out over the Internet. The Appellate justices
obviously agree with my position, and I look forward to my day in court."
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