Freedom of Speech vs. Libel-Slander
By Dan Murphy
In today’s modern media, where many of us get our news online, the legal question has arose: Are bloggers and website hosts under the same laws that newspapers are? And by what journalistic standards should those websites and bloggers be held?
Hezi Aris, publisher of the Yonkers Tribune online news source and website, has been served with a lawsuit by Yonkers Police Department Captain John Mueller seeking $7 million in damages for allegations of defamation of character and libel. Similar lawsuits against Hezi have come before; former Yonkers Fire Department Commissioner John Darcy filed a similar suit against Hezi last year that was dismissed.
The lawsuit focuses on two parts of the Yonkers Tribune. First is the set of stories that Hezi published, titled “Blue Truth,” which focused on allegations of wrongdoing against Yonkers police officers, primarily Mueller, Yonkers PBA Union President Keith Olson and Sgt. Brian Moran.
The second part of the lawsuit focuses on the comment portion of the Yonkers Tribune, and the comments that are either allowed or removed by Hezi for each story. Many a public figure in Yonkers, as well as this reporter, has been the target of nasty and negative attacks from anonymous posters who comment below Hezi’s stories.
“The lawsuit involves a prolonged and malicious campaign by defendant HEZI ARIS to defame, ridicule and harm plaintiff through his on-line publication, the YONKERS TRIBUNE. Defendant’s campaign of defamation, ridicule, libel and harassment consists of two distinct methods of defamation: first, Defendant HEZI ARIS has permitted, allowed and encouraged defamatory, false and libelous comments about plaintiff’s character and integrity to be published in the YONKERS TRIBUNE in violation of his own guidelines, and with the intent to defame, ridicule and impugn the integrity of plaintiff’s personal and professional character, with the specific intent to cause personal, professional, economic and emotional distress and harm.
“Second, Defendant ARIS has authored and published statements in his BLUE TRUTH articles which are defamatory per se, with knowledge that the claims he has made about plaintiff were false, defamatory and libelous at the time he wrote and published them and targeted plaintiff in his professional and personal capacity articles for over five years,” writes Mueller in his complaint, filed in Westchester Supreme Court.
The lawsuit alleges more than a dozen examples of the “Blue Truth” series of negative stories about Mueller, Olson and Moran, who were labeled by Hezi as ‘The Three Amigos” and who were the targets of Hezi’s wrath, that are factually untrue, and that Hezi had knowledge they were untrue. Mueller must prove that Hezi had prior knowledge that the “Blue Truth” columns that he penned were untrue in order to win his defamation-libel suit.
Hezi “publicly stated that plaintiff JOHN MUELLER has committed multiple criminal, unethical and immoral acts, inter alia, offering an illegal monetary bribe to a county political leader and state political leader; conspiring with others, including the leadership of the PBA, to illegally divert PBA funds to area politicians; committing the felony of perjury and maliciously claimed that plaintiff submitted perjured police reports to the Yonkers Police Department; stealing funds from a charity event and diverting the stolen money for his own illegitimate purposes; harassing and employing intimidation tactics against other members of the Department to further his own future ambitions; improperly hosting a ‘beer party’ in his police precinct in violation of departmental rules; and being insubordinate to the Police Commissioner by refusing a transfer order,” states the lawsuit.
Mueller and his attorney Andrew Quinn, pick apart each incident that they identify as false on “Blue Truth.”
In one “Blue Truth” column, Hezi alleges that funds were misappropriated from a joint YPD-YFD charity event, and Hezi. “Yonkers Police Commissioner Charles Gardner has been eclipsed by his doppelganger Commissioner Lenny Spano who had allegedly collected cash from the likes of past and most recent Yonkers Toughman Competitions which pits Yonkers Fire Fighters (YFD) against Yonkers Police (YPD) in a boxing ring. Entrance fees are collected in cash only within an hour of the exhilarating bouts beginning. No checks, no credit cards, only cash. The easier to be tabulated by the alleged likes of Yonkers Police Chief John Mueller, Yonkers PBA President Det. Keith Olson, and Det. Brian Moran, now retired. They are said to have pocketed some of the funds among themselves and disbursed some to the alleged likes of Lenny Spano as a conduit for the Westchester School for Special Children.”
The Toughman competition has raised more than $500,000 over the past decade and the entrance fees are collected weeks before the event. The money raised from Toughman has been publicized, with checks presented to each charitable organization over the years.
Hezi continued his attacks on Mueller, Olson and where the Toughman funds went in several “Blue Truth” stories, printing last year: “The Yonkers PBA has been exposed for police misconduct and its unwavering financial and political support of Mayor Mike Spano, and the Spano Brothers since 2012. Recent reports by people in the know have alleged that $30,000 in cash was given to Lenny and John Spano to benefit the school for special needs students on whose board they serve. The quid-pro-quo has yet to be fully explained but does not take much imagination to distill…”
The lawsuit states: “There was no cash donation given by the Yonkers Police Department to the Westchester School for Special Children. The $30,000.00 donation from the Yonkers Toughman Competition proceeds was given to the school publicly as a check, which was written from an account specially made for the Yonkers Toughman Competition years ago. Defendant HEZI ARIS knew that his published statement accusing plaintiff of ‘pocketing funds’ and diverting charity money to further his professional career was false when he published it.”
The lawsuit alleges that Hezi’s “Blue Truth” stories succeeded in the goal of denying Mueller the job of Westchester County Police Commissioner, and that Mueller held beer bashes in his police precinct.
“So as the Yonkers Police Chief runs around Yonkers begging for references to be sent to Westchester County Executive George Latimer, someone should let John Mueller know that he is not commissioner material, nor should he even be a Yonkers Police Chief. Mueller should have really thought about his future before he started… holding beer bashes in the precinct.” And “Sources say that Mueller was not picked for the County Job for a variety of ethical issues and a pending Federal Lawsuit, and some really troubling references. Sources lament that Mueller is not even fit to be chief within his current position with a proven track record of refusing transfers and throwing beer fest parties under his command.
The lawsuit states that Mueller “underwent an internal investigation which found that he did not throw a “beer fest party” or “beer bash” in the police precinct. In fact, the allegation that plaintiff threw a “beer party” in violation of departmental rules and guidelines is verifiably false.”
Mueller’s lawsuit also alleges that while Hezi monitored the comments section underneath his stories, he practiced selective enforcement when it came to removing comments that were inappropriate.
“Additionally, hundreds of ‘comments’ consisting of false, defamatory and libelous statements relating to the personal and professional character of JOHN MUELLER have been posted in the comments section; Defendant HEZI ARIS has maliciously and with knowledge that the statements contained provably untrue defamatory ‘comments’ allowed these false and defamatory statements to be published without edit or correction, and has maliciously prevented other commenters from posting comments that rebut, contradict, disprove and refute the false and defamatory ‘comments’ published in the YONKERS TRIBUNE.
“Many of the comments on the Blue Truth articles contain threats, including physical threats, to Plaintiff, JOHN MUELLER. Many of these comments also contain various curse words and epithets degrading women, homosexual people, and other groups of people,” states the lawsuit
The recent legal standard for websites and comments is that if a website host decides to edit or remove certain comments, they are responsible for all of the comments posted, including those deemed libelous.
Hezi has formed a GoFundMe page to help raise funds for his legal defense, and he writes: “Yonkers Tribune was hit by one lawsuit over a month ago and again only days ago, another lawsuit, brought forward by the best of friends using the same lawyer. One has been launched by Yonkers Police Deputy Chief Mueller and the second one by Yonkers Police Benevolent Association President Det. Keith Olson. The Mueller case has been received and responded to but the initial court hearing is not expected until the first week of March 2019. The second case is understood to be based on the same allegations, that is, that Hezi Aris, the Yonkers Tribune Editor-at-Large, engaged in malicious conduct which I unequivocally assert never existed and did not encroach into the demeanor of my reporting. The issues brought forward were corroborated through multiple sources and written under a series of articles that took place over 5 years in duration. The series of articles are part of the Blue Truth series. The two individuals are suing, upset over the comments posted. People are entitled and guaranteed to express their opinion by the U.S. Constitution and by New York State Law. No one threatened either of the two people mentioned, who it must be noted are public figures.
“Please consider supporting the efforts to fund the Yonkers Tribune Legal Defense Fund,” writes Hezi.
What Hezi does not mention in his GoFundMe request is that his attorney is none other than Yonkers City Council President Mike Khader, who represented Hezi last year for the lawsuit from YFD Commissioner John Darcy and has agreed to represent Hezi in his suit filed by two Yonkers police officers.
Some have questioned why Khader would represent Hezi, with Khader saying it’s an issue of “freedom of the press.”
PBA President Keith Olson has also filed suit against Hezi and posted on Hezi’s GoFundMe page: “The Yonkers Trib is a site devoid of all journalistic ethics and standards. It is also a haven for anonymous comments, which are rife with racist and homophobic bullying. One should take no pride in being an ‘acid tongued blogger.’ Yonkers deserves better than Hezi Aris and the Yonkers Tribune.”
“This isn’t a First Amendment issue, it’s about what is right and wrong,” Olson told Yonkers Rising. “I question how anyone can support Hezi’s efforts. He’s the ultimate bully, so when you have these anti-bullying campaigns at City Hall, realize that Hezi is the biggest online bully in Yonkers. This isn’t about the money it is about clearing our names and putting a stop to all of this. He has accused me and John Mueller of horrible and criminal things, all of which are not true.”
The legal hurdle for both Mueller and Olson to clear is a great one. Both will be considered “public figures,” and because of that are held to a higher standard of libel.
Hezi must have had prior knowledge that the Blue Truth stories he wrote were false, and Mueller and Olson must prove that in their lawsuit. This high standard of proof is one reason why many persons, slandered or defamed online, do not file a suit against the blogger or website host that printed a falsehood.
