An attorney for the Whitefish woman suing a neo-Nazi website publisher says a trial date has been set for early 2019. This after a federal magistrate judge today concluded that Andrew Anglin could be held liable for the conduct of readers who carried out an anti-Semitic "troll storm" against Tanya Gersh's family.
Judge Jeremiah Lynch recommended that Gersh be allowed to proceed with her lawsuit's claims against Anglin, the publisher of The Daily Stormer.
Helena Attorney John Morrison represents Gersh in this case.
"It's a very well organized and well reasoned and well supported order by Judge Lynch, and we're very pleased by it," he says.
Gersh claims anonymous internet trolls bombarded her family with hateful and threatening messages after Anglin published their personal information, including her 12-year-old son's Twitter handle and photo.
Anglin's lawyers argue that he has a constitutional right to express his "political speech" about Gersh and isn't liable for his readers' words or actions. But Judge Lynch said it isn't clear that Gersh's claims are "barred as a matter of law" by the First Amendment.
Gersh's attorneys argue the First Amendment doesn't protect Anglin's "coordinated, online attack" on her family.
Anglin also faces at least two other federal lawsuits over his online trolling campaigns.
The magistrate’s recommended findings can be reviewed by a district court judge, and his order isn't a final ruling on Anglin's request to dismiss the case.
