Commentary: Heavyweight Irish lawyer picks fight with pending U.S. libel legislation

April 08, 2009 Paul Tweed, a fiftysomething libel attorney, reckons it will cost defamed U.S. stars big bucks and raw deals if federal libel legislation introduced in the House of Representatives gets the green light. The result for the celebrity usually comes in the form of a retraction or apology for the offending story, as well as damages. In a letter to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tweed writes that for those affected by the potential changes in the law, "the legislation will serve only to prejudice Americans who are libeled by U.S. publishers abroad, because in being deterred from suing, the defamatory allegations against them may be taken as being factually correct by an overseas readership who will be unable to comprehend their failure to take legal action."

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