Banks v. Milum, No. _____ (Ga. Super. Ct. verdict for plaintiff Jan. 27, 2006), aff’d, 283 Ga.App. 864, 642 S.E.2d 892 (Ga. App. March 5, 2007), cert. denied (Ga. June 4, 2007).
Status: $50,000 award for plaintiff affirmed

NOTE: This is the first case against a true blogger of which MLRC is aware that has gone to trial and resulted in a liability verdict.

Attorney Rafe Banks III sued political activist David Milum for statements made on his website on local politics in Forsyth County, Georgia, aboutforsyth.com (under new management). Several postings on the site alleged that Banks had delivered bribes from drug dealers to a now-deceased judge. After a four-day trial and six hours of deliberation, the jury awarded Banks $50,000 in compensatory damages, but no punitive damages. After the verdict, Milum said that someone else was taking over the web site. On appeal, the verdict was affirmed.

Links and Court Documents:
http://www.citmedialaw.org/banks-v-milum
http://www.forsythnews.com/news/stories/20060129/localnews/61856.shtml
http://www.forsythnews.com/news/stories/20060129/opinion/61864.shtml
http://www.forsythnews.com/news/stories/20060125/localnews/60583.shtml
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1173363835339
http://www.forsythnews.com/news/stories/20070308/localnews/160529.shtml
Appellate decision: http://www.dailyreportonline.com/Editorial/PDF/PDF%20Archive/A06A2_394.pdf