Libel, old chap

The Gropinator and two of his minions are being accused of libel in a British court.

Their efforts to fight the case aren't going well.

The claim pertains to earlier accusations by Anna Richardson, a British TV host who alleges that Schwarzenegger fondled her breast after an interview in 2003. Richardson now argues that dismissive statements made by the Governor and his spokespeople — specifically, that she had fabricated the advances and (this gets confusing) also invited them — damaged her reputation as an interviewer.

The legal document describing the proceedings can be seen here as a PDF.

Schwarzenegger libel bid stopped
(this is the world's worst headline: the "bid" that was "stopped" was Arnold's attempt to have the case dismissed on jurisdictional grounds)

(BBC) Anna Richardson is suing the California governor and two of his aides over comments they made about her claims that he groped her in December 2000.
In January, the Appeal Court ruled the actor's spokesman could be served with UK libel proceedings abroad.
Now Mr Justice Eady has ruled the actor can also be served with proceedings.
Ms Richardson is suing Mr Schwarzenegger, his spokesman Sean Walsh and another publicist, Sheryl Main, claiming they tried to ruin her reputation by dismissing her assertions the Terminator star touched her breast during a press event at London's Dorchester Hotel.
She alleges that following her revelation, his spokespeople - Mr Walsh and Ms Main - libelled her in a Los Angeles Times article that also appeared on the internet.

More is available about the original news of the suit (from FemaleFirstUK) and about these recent developments (from Reuters).

The 2003 LA times article in which the allegedly libelous comments appeared is not available for free. The archive link is here:

Women say Schwarzenegger groped, humiliated them.
The acts allegedly took place over three decades.
A campaign aide denies the accusations.

...at least, I think it is; I can't be sure without reading the article first. I think I speak for all of us here at Marching Orders when I say that we'd all love to see it. Anyone have a Lexis-Nexis account or some other way to look it up? If so, drop me a line.

The libel trial, should it ever take place, will likely happen sometime in the (wait for it) fall of 2005, when Arnold hopes to be jockeying his special election back here in California.

Yee. Haw.

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Libel, old chap

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