Dart Dismissed
US District Court Judge John F. Grady has summarily dismissed Sheriff Dart’s suit against craigslist, concluding:
Sheriff Dart may continue to use craigslist’s website to identify and pursue individuals who post allegedly unlawful content. But he cannot sue craigslist for their conduct
Here is the full text of the judge’s ruling
Matt Zimmerman at the EFF has excellent analysis and commentary:
Meritless cases brought by law enforcement officers, amounting to little more than publicity stunts with little to no chance of success, do little to address the officers’ underlying concerns.
October 21st, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Good news!
The judge did his job. Although the ruling is a lengthy document, it hardly contains any surprises. Maybe next time he could keep it shorter.
Stephan
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Excellent news indeed!
Perhaps the self-promoting Tom Dart will now go after real criminals — I’m sure he’ll be able to find quite a few in his own police department. But I won’t be holding my breath waiting for that to happen.
And to think of the amount of taxpayers’ money this man has wasted so he could get his face in the papers and on TV. He should have his badge confiscated.
In fact, if Dart, that shameless media whore, is so concerned with prostitution, then he should have himself arrested.
October 22nd, 2009 at 6:24 pm
While this is great news, it’s nothing more than the inevitable outcome. Given the absence of any negative consequences to the Sheriff, it seems unlikely that this will dissuade other grandstanding public figures from similar frivolous suits and other harassment under the color of law. Perhaps the court should have required the Plaintiff to pay the defendant’s legal costs, since it’s quite clear to any reasonable observer that the suit was filed in bad faith.
October 22nd, 2009 at 6:56 pm
I love Matt’s comment. It’s pointed and hilarious!
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:52 am
[…] that appeared on the popular classifieds site, is unhappy with the decision of a federal judge to toss the lawsuit (full ruling embedded below). In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Dart said he was […]
October 24th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Great News! One more (small) victory for the webwide freedom! Go Craigslist! In my opinion, in some years, after the next generation is in charge, judges will not even deal with those kind of denuncations.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:45 am
good news. Maybe next time he could keep it shorter.
October 29th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Sheriff Dart,
Wow, i find it ironic to where… its alot like the whole “guns kill people” ever since the “issues” that have occuried from CL. People, make choices and each and every individual is held for there actions. Its an open, openminded, laid back, helpful (in more ways than 5 lol) type of site for all. Sheriff Dart… needs to get off his high horse, get over it and worry more about bigger issues such as… other extreme groups targeting small towns to large metro areas. Sheriff Dart, lets be honest… we both, sorry… we ALL know you and everyone else has checked out the pics and etc that are listed and available. Here in South Florida, people get shot just for crossing the wrong street and your worried about CRAIGSLIST on the internet? Just calm down over there… this is STILL AMERICA! Whats left of it from many people like yourself with a power trip and an agenda.
November 14th, 2009 at 5:13 am
Excellent news indeed!
November 15th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Good! These kinds of frivolous lawsuits are getting to be a dime a dozen, and are responsible for clogging up the court system with nonsense. No wonder the court calendars are booked so far in advance, and legitimate cases must wait months–or longer–to go to trial!
All of these kinds of things need to be dismissed without being heard! The judge made a step in the right direction, but outright dismissal of the suit would have been even better!
January 19th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
The judge did the right thing … excellent news!