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Crystal Cox Case: Blogger Crystal Cox Fined $2.5-M for Defamation

December 8, 2011 by  
Filed under Talk of the Town

Crystal Cox, an investigative blogger, has been ordered to pay a whopping $2.5 million after Obsidian Finance Group filed a lawsuit against her for defamation.

Crystal maintains several investigative blogs about finance and real estate. According to online reports, one of her blogs titled Obsidian Finance accused the Obsidian Finance Group and its executive Kevin Padrick of tax and govermental fraud and later sent her a cease-and-desist letter.

Cyrstal Cox, on the other hand, issued a statement saying she is a “self-proclaimed investigative blogger” and should be considered a journalist so she is not under Supreme Court Decisions.

“I am an Independent News Media. I am a Public Forum, my blogs do go out in news feeds and I am Legally Media,” she said.

Judge Marco Hernandez disagreed with her plea saying that due to Cox’s lack of education in journalism plus her failure to contact the other side to get both sides of the story, she’s not covered by the “journalistic shield” or freedom of the press. And because of this, Cox has been ordered to pay Obsidian $2.5 million in damages.

Meanwhile, Cox plans to appeal the ruling because according to her, bloggers need to be recognized as journalists to protect them from this kind of legal action.

“A blogger is a journalist, or a reporting in my opinion, when they take interviews, get tips emailed, get and research documents, study cases and depositions, talk to those personally involved, and post their story just as a traditional reporter,” she said.

“Oftentimes without the limitations of having to please your advertisers, or your local politician or corporate machine,” she added.


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