Lawsuit idea gets overwhelming support

We’ll admit it: we were over-awed and very moved by your flood of responses to yesterday’s post in which we discussed the self-outing of the author of the Dearman Does Hampstead blog.

It brought home to us—yet again—the strength and determination of this community, and your dedication to doing the right thing and seeing justice done.

In yesterday’s post we mooted the idea of an international lawsuit, targetting the patent illegality of the DDH blog. The blog was formed with the express goal of defaming RD. Every post on DDH is in direct violation of the court order issued in February 2015, and yet the blog’s author, Kristie Sue Costa, has been allowed free rein to harass and defame her innocent target.

We brought a lawsuit up as a possibility that we’d been researching, and you threw yourselves behind it wholeheartedly.

How difficult is international litigation?

We had noted that UK to US lawsuits can be tricky to set in motion, but Ghost of Sam offered some reassurance, noting that in fact, defamation is less complex to pursue in the U.S. courts than here:In addition, he said that U.S. lawyers have a number of tools at their disposal, such as the use of liens to keep defendants from disposing of assets prior to judgement, and demanding that defendants guarantee court costs should they lose, if it appears they might try to frustrate the court process. Useful information, indeed!

Sarah Phillimore pointed out that this case, like a growing number of internet-based defamation and harassment cases, could point to the need for a complete rearrangement of our current court jurisdiction arrangements:

Building a fighting fund

The idea of crowdfunding a ‘fighting fund’ was raised, and many of you threw yourselves behind it with enthusiasm:

Looking out for the children

One important theme you raised was ensuring that RD’s children, who continue to be victimised by people like Kristie Sue Costa, should have their interests represented, and their futures secured. We fully agree, and would like to add that the other Hampstead children whose personal details have been spread across the internet have also faced many repercussions because of the Hoaxtead mob, and will likely continue to find themselves garnering unwanted attention as they grow older.

Where do we go from here?

It’s clear that there is an interest in pursuing legal remedies for the damage Kristie Sue has inflicted upon RD, his children, and the entire community of Hampstead.

You’ve given our team a great many ideas to think about, and we don’t want to take your suggestions, or your personal support, lightly. With that in mind, we’ll be holding some important discussions over the next few weeks, to determine the best course of action.

One thing is clear: no one is content to just let this lie. And for that, we thank you all.