While not involving an online critic, the following may serve as a reminder that a company suit against a critic is no guarantee of a company's success in business. This can be true even if the company "wins" the suit - in this case by forcing the critic to apologize and accept a three year gag order.
Gag order ends for Livent critic
Alex Winch 'vindicated' but 'disheartened'
GAYLE MacDONALD
Entertainment Industries Reporter
Saturday, September 11, 1999
A three-year gag order imposed on Toronto money manager Alex Winch expired yesterday, and the long-time critic of Livent Inc. said he feels "vindicated" but "disheartened" by the company's gaudy demise.
"In my wildest nightmares I never imagined things would turn out to be as bad as they are now alleged to be," said Mr. Winch, whose personal and professional life was turned upside down in 1995 after he called the company's accounting "aggressive" in a letter to Forbes magazine, and was subsequently slapped with a $10-million libel suit by Livent co-founder Garth Drabinsky.
Mr. Winch fought back, but he ultimately lost the battle against Mr. Drabinsky, the theatre impresario who is notorious for launching, and never backing away from, a good legal tussle.
Mr. Winch settled out of court and as part of the deal published a (some would say) grovelling apology, and agreed to the three-year ban on speaking about Livent and its officers.
In the intervening time, however, Mr. Drabinsky and his Livent partner Myron Gottlieb face criminal charges in the United States linked to an alleged $100-million fraud at Livent. The company sought bankruptcy protection last November under then-owner Michael Ovitz, and was recently bought by SFX Entertainment Inc. of New York. ...
The full article can be found at: theglobeandmail.com
See also: sec.gov |
