5/1/08: Gov. Paterson (3rd from right) and Rep. Peter King (4th from right)
Yesterday, May 1, Governor David A. Paterson signed the “Libel Terrorism Protection Act”/ “Rachel’s Law,” which bars New York courts from enforcing libel judgments made in foreign courts of countries where the libel laws conflict with the United States First Amendment Rights.
“New Yorkers must be able to speak out on issues of public concern without living in fear that they will be sued outside the United States, under legal standards inconsistent with our First Amendment rights,” said Governor Paterson. “This legislation will help ensure the freedoms enjoyed by New York authors.”
Currently, libel plaintiffs can bring suit against an author in a country where the author sold only a few books. Foreign libel laws frequently place significant and expensive burdens on authors to defend their work. The statute combats such “forum shopping” in two ways. First, it bars New York courts from enforcing a foreign libel judgment unless the country where it was decided grants the same or better protection as US standards for freedom of speech. Second, it expands an individual’s ability to have a court declare a foreign libel judgment invalid in New York. Without this statute, an author could be forced to live indefinitely under the pall of a libel judgment, deterring publishers from disseminating that author’s work.
Governor Paterson noted that this is a problem of international scope, and urged the federal government to take greater action to protect the First Amendment rights of Americans against foreign libel judgments.
“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,” said Governor Paterson. “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.”
Congressman Peter King (R-Seaford) applauded Governor David Paterson, State Senator Dean Skelos, and Assemblyman Rory Lancman for their commitment to protecting free speech and safeguarding New Yorkers from libel lawsuits in foreign courts.
“Our authors and journalists are fortunate to be in a country that gives them the right to free speech, and we cannot let that be hindered by the threat of foreign lawsuits,” said Rep. King. “I applaud our New York State lawmakers for passing ‘Rachel’s Law’ in order to protect this constitutional right.”
Rep. Peter King has introduced a similar bill in Congress entitled the “Free Speech Protection Act” (HR 5814).
This bill, S.6687/A.9652, was prompted by the case of Rachel Ehrenfeld, a New York-based author who was sued for libel by an individual discussed in the author’s book about terrorism funding. That lawsuit was brought in England — where libel judgments are much easier to obtain than in the United States — even though only 23 copies of the book had been sold there.
