Daniel Snyder, billionaire owner of Washington’s losing NFL team, is a staunch champion of free speech, when he’s the one talking. Sure, he’s suing an alternative paper for a scathing article about him and tried to ban football fans from bringing signs to games. but ten years ago he defended his right to verbally skewer a pair of groundskeepers.
The groundsmen sued Snyder for defamation, but his lawyers got the case dropped by explained that it is “entirely fair to use hyperbole or exaggerated language to criticize someone” and “the Constitution provides a sanctuary for truth.” Mike Madden of (where else) the Washington City Paper has the story here.
If you’re one of DC’s zillion attorneys, you’ll want to read the brief and memorandum.
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Tags: Constitution, Dan Snyder, Daniel Snyder, defamation, First Amendment, football, free speech, freedom of the press, libel, NFL, Redskins, Snyder, U.S. Constitution, Washington City Paper, Washington Redskins
NotionsCapital 
February 21, 2011 at 12:23 pm
Updates:
“Dan Snyder lawsuit: Who is Dave McKenna?”Jon Fine, TBD.com
“An Amusing Article Spawns a Laughable Libel Suit,” Trevor Timm, Legal As She Is Spoke