Murray Energy, ACLU Clash Over John Oliver Restraining Order
Murray Energy CEO Robert Murray's favorite hobby is suing or threatening litigation against people making political statements he dislikes, the ACLU of West Virginia said in an amicus brief (in Pacer) Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Wheeling, West Virginia.…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
The brief -- on behalf of HBO, Time Warner and comedy talk show host John Oliver -- was in opposition to a Murray motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. It also asked the court to issue an order to show cause why the case shouldn't be dismissed. The snark-filled brief called the case "beyond meritless" and at one point puts a picture of Murray alongside a photo of the Austin Powers franchise character Dr. Evil and says, in response to the defamation claim that Oliver compared Murray to "a geriatric Dr. Evil," that "truth is an absolute defense." The restraining order motion (in Pacer), filed in June, sought to bar the defendants from rebroadcasting the defamatory statements subject to the Murray lawsuit and publicly discussing the substance of the litigation. The Murray plaintiffs said that after suing in June, Robert Murray, his family and employees "have been inundated" with threats and harassment and that continued publication and public access to the defamatory statements "will only enlist additional people to Defendants’ perverse 'call to action,' with additional grave consequences." Murray outside counsel didn't comment.