Rall v. LA Times: What’s Up

5 years ago

Anyone who has ever been involved in court proceedings knows that Bleak House wasn’t a novel, it was a documentary. legal stuff takes a long time.

Here’s what’s going on. (I’m assuming that you’ve been following the case so I’m not going to repeat everything you already know. If my assumption is faulty, I suggest that you go back to earlier posts and updates.)

You already know that the California Supreme Court ruled in my favor against the LA Times in a dramatic reversal of fortune.

As we expected and as is the normal procedure, they remanded — sent back — my case to the California Court of Appeal in Los Angeles. Essentially, the Supreme Court told the lower court: “We ruled in favor of Wilson in Wilson v. CNN. Please reconsider Rall in light of our ruling in Wilson.”

So here’s what happens next.

Both sides, us and the LA Times, prepare briefs for the court. They’re due in about a month.

Several months later, there will be oral arguments again.

At some point after that, could be a few weeks or it could be months, the court of appeal issues their decision.

Whoever loses appeals to the supreme court again.

If the LA Times loses, the Supreme Court probably won’t accept the case. That means I get to begin discovery in the case actually becomes and the sword of Damocles of the anti-SLAPP motion goes away.

If I lose, there is still a chance that the Supreme Court would accept the case. If they do, I live on. If they don’t, I’m screwed and I owe the LA Times hundreds of thousands of dollars for their legal fees. Their lawyer charges $715 an hour.

Thank you everyone for your incredible support. I’m feeling good and confident that we are going to win. I’ll keep you posted.

Ted Rall

http://rall.com

Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."

2 Comments.

alex_the_tired
October 18, 2019 11:11 AM

The best of luck. Of course, I have no idea if this will actually post or go straight to “awaiting moderation.”

Some days, I just do not feel the wuv.
mhenriday
October 19, 2019 1:37 AM

Their lawyer charges $715 an hour.

Just to remind us how naive we were when choosing a profession….

Henri