Tendler v. Doe, No. 1-06-cv-064507 (Cal. Super. filed 2006); also see Tendler v. Doe, No. ________ (Ohio C.P. filed Feb. 2006)
Status: Discovery order issued; denial of attempt to enforce order in California reversed and remanded for further proceedings (164 Cal.App.4th 802, 79 Cal.Rptr.3d 407, 36 Media L. Rep. 2025 (Cal.App., 6 Dist., June 10, 2008)).

Orthodox Jewish rabbi Mordechai Tendler of New Hempstead, N.Y., was expelled from the Rabbinical Council of America in March 2005 and dismissed by his congregation in 2006 after several women accused him of sexual abuse and harassment.

Various blogs, including www.rabbinicintegrity.blogspot.com, www.jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com, www.jewishwhistleblower.blogspot.com and www.newhempsteadnews.blogspot.com, anonymously reported on these developments.

Tendler filed a libel lawsuit in Ohio against the anonymous bloggers, and as a preliminary matter obtained a court order ordering Google, owner of blogspot.com, to reveal the bloggers’ identities.

The company refused to obey the Ohio order, so Tendler filed suit in California state court. In that court, the bloggers responded by filing a motion to strike under the state’s anti-SLAPP statute. Although Tendler then withdrew the suit, the California judge held that the suit would have been dismissed under the anti-SLAPP law and that Tendler must still pay the defendants’ legal expenses.

Links and Court Documents:
http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=2233
http://www.citmedialaw.org/threats/tendler-v-does
California appeals decision: http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/nonpub/H031130.PDF

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