Second blow to celebrity climate scientist in less than two months, already ordered to pay National Review half a million dollars for failed litigation.
Climate scientist says he hopes verdict will send message that "falsely attacking climate scientists is not protected speech.”
Arguing against their own interests: While legacy media celebrated the $1 million punitive libel award against conservative blogger Mark Steyn as a "victory" in protecting climate scientists from "attacks," they've so far ignored the decision to reduce the award to $5,000.
The National Review is hoping to recover $1,037,247.41 in legal costs from Dr. Michael Mann, famous for his controversial "hockey stick" graph.
One witness’s deposition revealed that Mann, the litigious environmental scientist, had emailed the editor of a scientific journal in 2007 to stop a paper written by another climate scientist from being published. Mann often refers to those critiquing his infamous "hockey stick" graph as "climate deniers."
A 2012 blog posting compared investigation into Mann’s research practices to the university's investigation into assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, who was found guilty of sexually abusing 10 young boys over the course of 15 years.
Jacobson’s case involved an article published in a scientific journal, which may have afforded it some protections, based on the court’s ruling, but questions remain about free speech protections for those publishing outside scientific journals.