Local blogger sued for defamation

The North County Times reports:

Saying that comments posted on a local blog have defamed him, a Murrieta man filed a civil lawsuit Thursday in what his attorney calls “a novel legal issue.”

Roy Holmgren claims in his lawsuit that statements made about him on murrietaopinion.blogspot.com have exposed him to “hatred, ridicule, contempt and disgrace.”

Holmgren is suing the operator of the blog as well as those who have posted the comments about him.

But, so far, neither he nor his attorney, Richard Ackerman, know who specifically they are suing.

“… the defendants hide behind the veil of the Internet to cover up their nefarious and tortious activities,” the lawsuit states.

Ackerman said Thursday that he has tried to find out who runs the blog from the host of the site, blogspot.com, but they have yet to cooperate.

“Whoever they are, they don’t have the right to publish defamatory material,” Ackerman said.

The lawsuit lists what it calls “false statements or general assertions” about Holmgren made on the blog.

According to the suit, bloggers said he was a stalker, that he is married to an illegal alien, that he has committed crimes that destroyed property, illegally gained credit report information, vandalized a blogger’s sport utility vehicle, and that he begs for money on the side of the road.

One blogger called Holmgren “a danger to this community” and wrote that he has mental and emotional problems he can’t control, according to the lawsuit.