February 12, 2012

Palazzo v. Willamette Week

NOTE: The information and commentary contained in this database entry are based on court filings and other informational sources that may contain unproven allegations made by the parties. The truthfulness and accuracy of such information is likely to be in dispute. Information contained in this entry is current as of the last event mentioned in the "Description" section below; additional proceedings might have taken place in this matter since this event.

Posted March 31st, 2009 by CMLP Staff

Summary

Threat Type: Lawsuit	Date: 03/04/2009
Status: Pending	Location: Oregon
Disposition: Retraction Issued	Verdict/Settlement Amount: n/a
Legal Claims: Defamation
On March 4, 2009, Randall Palazzo, a custom home builder in Oregon, sued the Willamette Week, a local newspapaper that also publishes a website, for defamation. According to OregonLive, several editors and staffers, including Ian Gillingham, the paper's... read full description

Parties

Party Issuing Legal Threat:	Party Receiving Legal Threat:
Randall Palazzo	Willamette Week; Ian Gillingham
Type of Party:	Type of Party:
Individual	Individual; Organization; Media Company
Location of Party:	Location of Party:
Oregon	Oregon
Legal Counsel:	Legal Counsel:
Montgomery Cobb - Cobb & Bosse LLP

Description

On March 4, 2009, Randall Palazzo, a custom home builder in Oregon, sued the Willamette Week, a local newspapaper that also publishes a website, for defamation. According to OregonLive, several editors and staffers, including Ian Gillingham, the paper's web editor, were also named as defendants.

The lawsuit concerns a March 12, 2008 story in the paper's "Rogue of the Week" column, which reported neighborhood complaints about rude and aggressive behavior by Palazzo and his employees. The Willamette Week posted a correction to the original article and let Palazzo Custom Homes publish a lengthy response after the lawsuit was filed, according to Palazzo's attorney (see comment below).

OregonLive reports that the complaint seeks to hold the Willamette Week liable for publishing defamatory user comments, despite the obstacle to such a claim posed by section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Inaccurate Post

Submitted by Montgomery W Cobb on Thu, 04/02/2009 - 11:27.

This post is inaccurate. Willamette Week refused to allow us to post our statement at all until after the lawsuit was filed. Willamette Week did not post a retraction on the page where the defamatory and false story about Randy Palazzo appeared until after the lawsuit was filed. Even after Willamette Week retracted the false statements in its story with a notice buried in an obscure portion of its paper and website, Willamette Week continued to publish the false statements on its website, without any contrary information appearing with it. Willamette Week left no choice but to sue. This is an abuse of the internet and of our right to freedom of speech. People also have the right to protect their reputations from those who abuse their First Amendment right of freedom of speech. Monty Cobb, Attorney for Randy Palazzo.

Thank You

Submitted by Montgomery W Cobb on Thu, 04/02/2009 - 13:48.

I appreciate your prompt correction of this post. This is a good example of responsible behavior on the web.

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Palazzo v. Willamette Week

Inaccurate Post

Thank You

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Palazzo v. Willamette Week

Inaccurate Post

Thank You

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