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Eric Anderson Successfully Defends Tenants’ Rights Group BASTA in First Amendment Libel Suit
Eric Anderson’s win for successful tenants’ rights group BASTA was covered by Courthouse News Service and The Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal, among others. One of the biggest landlord-side law firms in Southern California had sued nonprofit BASTA over a parody Twitter (now known as X) account, created by an IT consultant. The account poked fun at the prominent landlord-sided attorney and was clearly labeled as a “parody” account. Regarding the language used in the tweets, Eric Anderson noted in his closing statements: “This is the sort of non-literal language people use to make fun of each other on Twitter.”
The jury quickly ruled in favor of BASTA. Its founder Danny Bramzon noted that the tweets could not be verified and were indeed jokes. The case survived an anti-SLAPP motion when a judge ruled that the speech was a matter of public interest and that the plaintiffs would likely prevail at trial.
The Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal