Federal court says "no" to International Cyber Bully: Appeal not frivolous

Homophobic Blogger Douglas Handshoe

Today Mr. Doug Handshoe is spouting lies again, this time referring to "the frivolous appeal . . . . pending before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals." Yet for some reason, when a Mississippi federal district court filed its decision February 25, 2013, flatly denying the Slabbed blog publisher's motion for a whopping $60,000.00 "appeal bond," it did not end up published on Slabbed.  

Mr. Handshoe's usual dispatch in publishing court documents had vanished. In fact, some web site in Nova Scotia had to break the news. Wonder why? Slabbed blog publisher Handshoe and his attorney had been unequivocal about their money victory:

"This has been a hard fought and significant victory; but, it is not over, as they will now owe you for your attorney’s fees under the SPEECH Act, and they have submitted to the Court’s jurisdiction." Handshoe attorney Jack "Bobby" Truitt, December 19, 2012 

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". . . .  a litigation instigating loser pays the fees. . . .  Perret and Leary landed themselves in the position of paying for my excellent lawyer, Bobby Truitt. (Thanks guys)  The bottom line is the federal court system has very efficient ways of dealing with frivolous litigation designed to “sue” a journalist “into bankruptcy”."

. . . . .

"As I understand it the court will require the bond before the appeal can move forward. As I understand it my lawyer intends to enroll the award in every foreign jurisdiction these nuts job have property located plus here in the US.
Jr if not for other people’s money Perret would be in a white coat working for Pip Brennan."

As I understand it the court will require the bond before the appeal can move forward. As I understand it my lawyer intends to enroll the award in every foreign jurisdiction these nuts job have property located plus here in the US.
Jr if not for other people’s money Perret would be in a white coat working for Pip Brennan.
- See more at: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:KrrLI9s5oIIJ:www.slabbed.org/2012/12/28/reality-check-time-for-trout-point-lodge-a-eco-libel-tourism-update/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=de&client=firefox-a#sthash.NnxuhKKC.dpuf

As I understand it the court will require the bond before the appeal can move forward. As I understand it my lawyer intends to enroll the award in every foreign jurisdiction these nuts job have property located plus here in the US.
Jr if not for other people’s money Perret would be in a white coat working for Pip Brennan.
- See more at: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:KrrLI9s5oIIJ:www.slabbed.org/2012/12/28/reality-check-time-for-trout-point-lodge-a-eco-libel-tourism-update/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=de&client=firefox-a#sthash.NnxuhKKC.dpuf

As I understand it the court will require the bond before the appeal can move forward. As I understand it my lawyer intends to enroll the award in every foreign jurisdiction these nuts job have property located plus here in the US.
Jr if not for other people’s money Perret would be in a white coat working for Pip Brennan.
- See more at: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:KrrLI9s5oIIJ:www.slabbed.org/2012/12/28/reality-check-time-for-trout-point-lodge-a-eco-libel-tourism-update/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=de&client=firefox-a#sthash.NnxuhKKC.dpuf

Doug Handshoe, December 28, 2012. 

As I understand it the court will require the bond before the appeal can move forward. As I understand it my lawyer intends to enroll the award in every foreign jurisdiction these nuts job have property located plus here in the US.
Jr if not for other people’s money Perret would be in a white coat working for Pip Brennan.
- See more at: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:KrrLI9s5oIIJ:www.slabbed.org/2012/12/28/reality-check-time-for-trout-point-lodge-a-eco-libel-tourism-update/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=de&client=firefox-a#sthash.NnxuhKKC.dpuf

Not only did the judge not award any attorney's fees whatsoever, he also awarded no costs--either for the proceeding before him or for the appeal perfected by the Plaintiffs. In fact, Mr. Handshoe had apparently counted his hens before they hatched, promising to pay lawyers for his defense against defamation claims against him in federal district court in Louisiana with monies from his assumed appeal bond victory:

Slabbed New Media is accepting auditions for the fabled legal team

Folks I am spreading the wealth on my travails with the Aaron Broussard’s henchmen as recently laid out on these pages.

Hasn't anyone told Mr. Doug that he should never assume? Mr. Truitt also had more things to say on Twitter, before the decision:

The Handshoe/Truitt motion did not stop the appeal from moving forward. In addition, the decision  made clear that the Chief District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi did not find the appeal by Charles Leary, Vaughn Perret, and their business Trout Point Lodge to be "frivolous litigation." So much for enrolling "the award in every foreign jurisdiction these nuts job have property." So much for what Mr. Doug "understood." Should Mr. Truitt really be publicly calling Leary & Perret, his client's legal opponents, "cowards"???


Here's key parts of the decision it seems Handshoe would rather that no one see:

ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO REQUIRE COST BOND FOR APPEAL

BEFORE THE COURT is the Defendant Douglas K. Handshoe’s [38] Motion to Require Cost Bond for Appeal Filed by Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs Trout Point Lodge Limited, Vaughn Perret, and Charles  Leary have filed a response, and Defendant Handshoe has filed a reply. The Court finds that the Motion is not well-taken and should be denied.

. . . . .
Handshoe has not provided any documentation or other evidence of his costs in support of his request for a bond in the amount of $60,000.00.

. . . Handshoe argues that attorney’s fees incurred on appeal are not prohibited from inclusion in a Rule 7 bond, but as noted above, the Fifth Circuit has not determined that attorney’s fees should be included in such an order. In any event, Handshoe has not convinced the Court that it should exercise its discretion to order a bond in this case. The Court’s Order on summary judgment involved a matter of first impression for this Court, and there is no suggestion that the appeal was frivolous. . . . Because Handshoe has neither provided support for the amount of security he requests, nor convinced the Court that attorney’s fees are included in Rule 7 “costs,” the Motion will be denied.

In fact, the federal judge never gave Mr. Doug attorney's fees in his original decision. Nor did he ever say that the Nova Scotia judgment against Handshoe was "repugnant." He never called Leary & Perret "libel terrorists" or even libel "tourists." He never criticized the Nova Scotia judge, either. You might think differently reading the homophobic blog "Slabbed."

Mr. Handshoe had crowed: 

Judge Guirola found both the money judgment and Hood’s injunction repugnant to the constitution of the United States  under the SPEECH Act but Perret and Leary are in full tilt damage control mode after Guirola’s decision.  I’d submit Perret, a self proclaimed Park Avenue lawyer is fooling only himself, beclowning himself in the process.

And:

. . . sophomoric antics work up in Nova Scotia, in fact I was counting on it when I termed NS Justice Hood a twit back in the day. The accompanying loss of professionalism on her part was duly noticed and noted by Judge Guirola in his decision.

The appeal to the 5th Circuit Appeal Court is proceeding, according to PACER.The decision was even published, curiously unlike the one denying the Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment.