New York enacts Libel Terrorism Protection Act

Gov. David Paterson signed the Libel Terrorism Protection Act on Thursday, helping New York set the pace in protecting American journalists from foreign libel verdicts.

The bill was first proposed in response to a ruling from New York’s highest court that the state could not exercise jurisdiction over Khalid Salim a Bin Mahfouz, a Saudi Arabian businessman and banker who obtained a default judgment in a defamation suit against American author Rachel Ehrenfeld in a British court. Bin Mahfouz is one of the world’s most notorious libel tourists, having used or threatening to use plaintiff-friendly British courts to sue for libel at least 36 times since 2002.

The law combats such international forum shopping on two fronts. It prevents litigants from enforcing foreign libel judgments in the state unless a New York court finds that the jurisdiction issuing the judgment provides the same free speech protections guaranteed under the U.S. and New York state constitutions.  Secondly, it grants New York courts jurisdiction over litigants who obtain a foreign defamation judgment against New York state citizens, allowing Ehrenfeld and others like her to petition a state court for a declaratory judgment rendering the foreign decision unenforceable on New York soil.

In signing the bill, Paterson recognized that New York has blazed a trail that other states and the federal government must follow. 

“Although New York State has now done all it can to protect our authors while they live in New York, they remain vulnerable if they move to other states, or if they have assets in other states,” Paterson said in a statement. “We really need Congress and the President to work together and enact federal legislation that will protect authors throughout the country against the threat of foreign libel judgments.”

Picking up on the tone set by his state, U.S. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) took the first step towards establishing similar protections on a national scale when he introduced the Freedom of Speech Protection Act (H.R. 5814), in the House of Representatives.

Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press

New York to Protect Writers from Foreign Libel Suits

New York Governor David Paterson signed into law yesterday the “Libel Terrorism Protection Act,” according to the New York Sun. This bill, for which Harvey and his colleague Samuel A. Abady have lobbied in the Boston Globe and the New York Post, is the direct result of the recent censorship of New York journalist and counterterrorism expert Rachel Ehrenfeld. In her book, Funding Evil, Ehrenfeld named Saudi billionaire Khalid bin Mahfouz as a leading financier of Islamic terrorism based on an exhaustive review of government documents. While Ehrenfeld’s scholarship, particularly her characterizations of Muslim charities, are controversial, there’s no doubt that her attack on bin Mahfouz is fully protected speech and does not even approach the threshold set for libel by New York Times v. Sullivan. Nonetheless, bin Mahfouz has been able to effectively muzzle Ehrenfeld by suing her in England, where 23 copies of her book were ordered online and where libel laws are much more plaintiff-friendly. Like most journalists, Ehrenfeld could not afford to battle a litigious billionaire in a foreign country. She had no choice but to accept a declaratory judgment that she pay $225,000 in damages and pulp remaining copies of Funding Evil. The “Libel Terrorism Protect Act” now allows her to challenge the British court’s judgment on American soil, where she will enjoy the full protections of the First Amendment. Let’s hope that civil libertarian groups around the country understand the importance of rallying their state legislatures to pass similar legislation

The Pheonix