Thomas More Society will defend Illinois bloggers sued for defamation by hotelier

Last fall Illinois Review, a blog I admire and I've written for on occasion, was sued for defamation by Satkar Hospitality Inc., which is owned by Sharad K. Dani and his son, Harish Dani. Satkar owns the Wingate by Wyndham hotel in Schaumburg, Illinois. Specifically named in the suit are Fran Eaton, IR's editor, and Dennis G. LaComb, Illinois Review's publisher.
The conservative blog ran a series of posts about former state Rep. Paul Froehlich (D-Schaumburg), who assisted some political contributors in appealing their Cook County property tax assessments. Froehlich denies anything improper occurred.

In my opinion, to quote Dorothy Parker, in regards to the defamation case, "There is no there there." I ran this information past a lawyer and he agreed with me.

The Thomas More Society agrees, as it stated in a statement:

The Thomas More Society has been engaged as legal counsel for the conservative pro-life/pro-family blog Illinois Review and its editor and publisher, in connection with a federal law suit accusing them of defamation and false light.

The suit takes issue with a blog post where Illinois Review reported on public information that linked an Illinois politician to financial supporters whose property taxes were lowered. The suit alleges that, based on Illinois Review's reporting, Chicago's FOX TV affiliate pursued the story on its website and television news broadcasts.

"We need to better appreciate media like blogs that do serious investigative journalism. The Thomas More Society sees this legal action against Illinois Review as frivolous, and we intend to have this case dismissed," said Peter Breen, Executive Director for the Thomas More Society. "According to the suit '...the Illinois Review blog 'had attracted a large goose-stepping audience.' Equating this blog's readers to Nazis is more offensive than anything Illinois Review is being falsely accused of."

The Satkar post was a follow up to the initial entry about Froehlich and and tax reassessments. Click here for the IR Froehlich-tagged posts.

Marathon Pundit's legal advisor tells me the use of inflammatory language such as "goose-stepping" is "quite unusual" in a lawsuit.

I called Satkar Hospitality to get their side of the story. I spoke to a man who identified himself as Sharad K. Dani's son, who referred my questions to the corporation's lawyer.

Also named in the suit are various Fox broadcasting entities, including reporter Dane Placko, as well as the Cook County Board of Review, Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios, and others. Satkar's attorneys posted their legal complaint on their website.

As for Illinois Review, I believe their work is nothing short of citizen journalism at its best. Eaton and LaComb should be lauded as diligent public watchdogs.

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