Actually...it was obviously a SLAPP to try and censor Allan Steele and the SF Chronicle, which they lost.
[forum.culteducation.com]
"Steele maintains that the lawsuit was designed to silence his public criticism. "It was nothing more than that," he said. "They wanted to shut me up." And he said he may sue the university to recoup his $300,000 in tuition fees and his $10,000 in legal bills."
Lafayette School Drops Suit Against Ex-Student;
Dan Reed, Chronicle Correspondent
San Francisco Chronicle 10-30-1992
More University, the Lafayette sensuality school that is battling county officials over its homeless encampment, has dropped its libel suit against a former student who claimed university officials encouraged students to take drugs and coerced them into prostitution.
In May, the university filed the $120 million libel suit against Allan Steele, a Florida hypnotherapist, claiming a letter that he wrote asking for a tuition refund "contained false and vicious allegations" that damaged the school's reputation.
Steele had sent More officials a copy of a letter addressed to the state Council for Private Postsecondary Education, which oversees the university. Steele never sent the letter, which outlined his allegations, to the state.
Among other things, the letter claimed that More's founding guru, Victor Baranco, and his wife, Cindy, gave Steele and his wife marijuana and prescription narcotics at the Baranco's home in Hawaii. ...
-------------------
"A California Appeals Court has ruled that members of the media are protected
by a California statute designed to deter and punish litigants who bring
defamation actions to chill speech. Under the law, which enabled the San
Francisco Chronicle to win early dismissal of a libel suit, the plaintiff
could be forced to pay the newspaper's attorney's fees. (Lafayette
Morehouse, Inc. v. The Chronicle Publishing Co., August 9, 1995)."
------------------------
SageGreen Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Anticult Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > (EXCERPT for educational research)
> >
> > Quote: "The articles also reported the
> allegations
> > of a former student, Alan Steele, who said that
> > More coerced students into prostitution and
> > provided them with LSD and other illegal
> drugs".
> >
> My understanding is that Alan Steele brought suit
> against Morehouse and lost and had to pay damages
> - anyone know how to get access to court records
> online?
>
> Thanks
[forum.culteducation.com]
"Steele maintains that the lawsuit was designed to silence his public criticism. "It was nothing more than that," he said. "They wanted to shut me up." And he said he may sue the university to recoup his $300,000 in tuition fees and his $10,000 in legal bills."
Lafayette School Drops Suit Against Ex-Student;
Dan Reed, Chronicle Correspondent
San Francisco Chronicle 10-30-1992
More University, the Lafayette sensuality school that is battling county officials over its homeless encampment, has dropped its libel suit against a former student who claimed university officials encouraged students to take drugs and coerced them into prostitution.
In May, the university filed the $120 million libel suit against Allan Steele, a Florida hypnotherapist, claiming a letter that he wrote asking for a tuition refund "contained false and vicious allegations" that damaged the school's reputation.
Steele had sent More officials a copy of a letter addressed to the state Council for Private Postsecondary Education, which oversees the university. Steele never sent the letter, which outlined his allegations, to the state.
Among other things, the letter claimed that More's founding guru, Victor Baranco, and his wife, Cindy, gave Steele and his wife marijuana and prescription narcotics at the Baranco's home in Hawaii. ...
-------------------
"A California Appeals Court has ruled that members of the media are protected
by a California statute designed to deter and punish litigants who bring
defamation actions to chill speech. Under the law, which enabled the San
Francisco Chronicle to win early dismissal of a libel suit, the plaintiff
could be forced to pay the newspaper's attorney's fees. (Lafayette
Morehouse, Inc. v. The Chronicle Publishing Co., August 9, 1995)."
------------------------
SageGreen Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Anticult Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > (EXCERPT for educational research)
> >
> > Quote: "The articles also reported the
> allegations
> > of a former student, Alan Steele, who said that
> > More coerced students into prostitution and
> > provided them with LSD and other illegal
> drugs".
> >
> My understanding is that Alan Steele brought suit
> against Morehouse and lost and had to pay damages
> - anyone know how to get access to court records
> online?
>
> Thanks