As Ivy League-educated pediatrician Robert P. Lindeman sat on the stand in Suffolk Superior Court this month, defending himself in a malpractice suit involving the death of a 12-year-old patient, the opposing counsel startled him with a question.
Was Lindeman Flea?
Flea, jurors in the case didn’t know, was the screen name for a blogger who had written often and at length about a trial remarkably similar to the one that was going on in the courtroom that day.
In his blog, Flea had ridiculed the plaintiff’s case and the plaintiff’s lawyer. He had revealed the defense strategy. He had accused members of the jury of dozing.
Shortly before the end of his second day on the witness stand, while focusing on Lindeman’s views of a pediatric textbook, Mulvey asked him whether he had a medical blog, she recalled. He said he did. Then she asked him if he was Flea. He said he was.
The exchange may have been lost on jurors, but Meyer said Mulvey had telegraphed that she was ready to share Lindeman’s blog — containing his unvarnished views of lawyers, jurors, and the legal process — with the jury.
The next day, the case was settled.
from the Boston Globe
Is there any such thing as anonymous blogging anymore? Is a blogger with a track record as extensive and injudicious as that of the Dowbrigade permanently disqualified from seeking legitimate employment, a fair shake in the judicial system, public office or jury duty?
Budding bloggers beware – it may be too late for the Dowbrigade, but you still have time to save yourselves……
