Cisneros v. Sanchez, No. 2005-CCL-01024-A (Tex. County Ct., filed Aug. 24, 2005).
Status: Settled for $150,000
Robert Sanchez, who lost a 2005 race for the Brownsville, Tex. city commission, maintained his former campaign web site (www.robertsanchez05.com) to advertise his restaurant , with a blog on local politics (formerly at http://www.robertsanchez05.com/phpBB2/index.php?c=2). The wife of Carlos Cisneros, who defeated Sanchez in the race, sued for defamation for statements on the site. The suit eventually settled for $150,000, after the plaintiff showed that Sanchez’s computer was used to write comments to the web site. As part of the settlement, Sanchez admitted that he posted the comments under various pseudonyms; he also wrote a letter vindicating Elena Cisneros’ good name and apologizing to her children for the comments on the website.
Links and Court Documents:
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/site_66261___article.html/cisneros_web.html
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/sanchez_66364___article.html/lawsuit_baird.html
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/court_67939___article.html/federal_sanchez.html
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/court_68828___article.html/sanchez_lawsuits.html