Got Justice? I Desperately Need Your Help.

I need a new lawyer.

A courageous lawyer in LA? They’re hard to find. When I Googled “crusading Los Angeles attorney,” all I found were obituaries. But that’s what I need — because my lawyer dumped me days before the most crucial hearing of my case.

Image result for latimes lapd

So if you know a great wrongful termination and/or defamation lawyer in LA or in CA and able to litigate in LA, I need to hear from you post haste. You can email me here.

In 2015 I sued the LA Times for defamation and wrongful termination. This was after they published two articles accusing me of lying in a blog post based on an audio tape they claimed to have gotten from the LAPD. In fact, the audio proved I’d told the truth — but the Times still refuses to admit they’re wrong, publish a retraction and give me back my job as a cartoonist.

Rather than do the right thing and back down, the Times hit me with three “anti-SLAPP motions” that accuses mean old me, their former $300/week cartoonist, of suppressing the First Amendment rights of sweet little LA Times, owned by a wee $416 million corporation. They want me to pay them $300,000 for their legal fees. Believe it or not, they claim in LA Superior Court that they have the right to lie and defame people because they’re a newspaper and because there’s a “public interest” in what they publish.

On June 21, the Times won the first of their three anti-SLAPP hearings, against the individual defendants: Austin Beutner, the ex-publisher who received the sketchy audio from his pal LAPD Chief Charlie Beck; reporter Paul Pringle, who pretended to investigate it; and the authors of the two libelous articles about me, Nick Goldberg and Deirdre Edgar. This can be appealed within 60 days.

I can’t get into detail about what went down with my law firm, but the basics are this: I was always super polite and nice. After our June 21 defeat, I wanted to meet with my lawyers to discuss strategy so that we didn’t get beaten again at the June 28 hearing, the main event against the LA Times and Tronc, the Times’ parent company. They said no, they didn’t have time. I asked for a more experienced litigator. They said no.

They sent me a Notice of Termination. I don’t know why.

(To any lawyer reading this and considering whether to look at my case: I’ll send you all this stuff so you can see I’m telling you the real deal.)

So here’s the deal: Unless I find a new lawyer by Friday, July 14th, I — former $300/week cartoonist — will have to appear pro se, representing myself on California’s complicated anti-SLAPP law against one of the state’s top experts in the field, a partner at a giant law firm. It will be very Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, but I’m not a lawyer.

If I get a lawyer, he or she will get a few weeks to familiarize themselves with the case.

Lawyers all over California are turning me down: not enough time, too busy, on vacation, too complicated, troublesome to take over a case from another lawyer, conflict of interest. Even so, most agree that if we can get past anti-SLAPP and get our case in front of a jury, they will rule for justice and against the LA Times, which has been corrupted by the LAPD.

I knew there would be bumps in the road when I decided to take on the LA Times and by extension the LAPD, and this is a big one. I desperately need your help.

I can’t do this alone.

P.S. People are asking about the ACLU of Southern California. They are not returning my calls or emails.

28 Comments.

  • ALCU are gutless swine. They were to first to cave when the Guantanamo crimes against humanity made their ugly presence known.

    Try CCR, Center for Constitutional Rights.

    https://ccrjustice.org/

  • Sent you an email a few minutes ago. 🙂

  • Shit.

    I gave up on the ACLU some time ago – they’re only interested in high-profile, politically-correct cases. White males with legitimate problems, not so much.

    It’s a long shot – but the Southern Poverty Law Center?

    There are a lot of ‘find a lawyer’ sites on the net, I can’t recommend any of them – but they might turn up something.

    Shit.

  • All I know is Martindale-Hubbell (https://www.martindale.com/), a list of the ratings of all the law firms in the US.

    Look for A-grade lawyers.

    (They didn’t do me any good. I was a cuckold, and every A-grade lawyer refused to take my case, since the law is very clear: all cuckolds must be incarcerated for life or executed to protect the Great Men of America like Clinton.)

  • This is rotten.

    Your former lawyers said, in effect, “Let’s you and me go into the lion’s den and kick its ass.”

    Then the lion growled, they ran, and left you as a snack for it.

    Really rotten.

    • Ted: “You owe me a refund!”
      Blackstone McShysterface: “So sue me.”

      You’d think that some A-Lister would take it on pro bono, or at least on contingency.

  • Let’s imagine the same situation on the other side: “Bad news, Susan needs to pull out of the case – the one where we slapped disgruntled ex-employee #4 with the first installment of the triple punch combo”. “Oh no, is Joe available?”. “Yes, Susan has arranged with him to take over and had Jill transfer all the files. Yes, the one with those nice long legs. Joe is familiar with the case anyway – we brought him in initially for his expertise in high stakes slapping. Standard procedure.”

    See, exactly the same.

    “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread.”
    – Anatol France

    • Anatol France nailed it, as did Abbott Joseph Liebling when he pointed out that freedom of the press is only guaranteed to those who own one….

      Henri

      • Well, guaranteed fairness, then before the eye of the blind Lady Justice, since they own latimes dot com while Ted owns rall dot com…

        And we all know that all web pages are equal.
        (But some more so than others.)

      • > And we all know that all web pages are equal.

        Not to worry, the FCC will close that loophole soon enough.

  • Where is Clarence Seward Darrow, now when we need him ?…

    As for the ACLU, from the posts and requests for support I receive from that organisation, I can’t see them supporting anyone who doesn’t buy into the «the dastardly Russians hacked the elections !» meme. They didn’t do too good a job during the McCarthy 1.0 period either ; plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose….

    Henri

  • TonyMillionaire
    July 9, 2017 4:43 AM

    This is one of the most entertaining comedies I’ve seen in a LONG time. Poor Ted sues and sues and sues to the point where his lawyers tell him to get lost. His response? “I don’t know why???”
    Everybody look at Ted, point at him and laugh. This is what you get when you attacked Spiegelman all those years ago and threatened lawsuits to everyone who defended him.
    HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! Ted is FUNNY NOW, $300,000.00 HA HA!!!

    (EDITOR’S NOTE: Tony Millionaire is a talented cartoonist and illustrator. Unfortunately, he has been attacking and trolling me for having had the temerity to criticize his friend Art Spiegelman way back in 1999, when I wrote a cover story for The Village Voice. Ironically, the main thesis of my piece was that Spiegelman had undue influence in the NYC cartooning scene and operated like a gangster, quashing all criticism. The fact that Millionaire is still attacking me 18 years later testifies to the enduring prescience and accuracy of that thesis.)

    • Yes, it’s very amusing that the rich have a different definition of justice than normal people. Maybe you can help ensure that only state-approved cartoonists can get published. Wouldn’t that be iconic?

      Ha. Ha. Ha.

    • Sad, but hardly surprising, that personal enmity is allowed to trump (no pun intended) over common interests. Welcome to the real world !…

      Henri

  • terrenceross
    July 9, 2017 8:36 AM

    Ted,

    Sorry to hear about your troubles with the LA S’limes.

    You are probably already working on this–but will this be your sequal to “My War with Brian”?

    It seems the natural progression of your work over the last few years to do something analyzing
    the main stream media.

    You’ve already got the publicity and people are clearly on your side so write your book — your war with Brian, take 2.

    • Others have said this could become a book. But the story is barely getting started — at least I hope. First I need to find a new lawyer, then appellate counsel.

      • I’ve heard you several times on Project Censored radio show. Maybe they know some lawyers? What about Greg Palast?

  • This cartoon reminds me of what happened to Gary Webb…

    • Or Michael Mahon Hastings (whom I mentioned to Ted some years ago, but he didn’t feel the evidence sufficed to warrant a cartoon)….

      Henri

Comments are closed.

css.php