Bilzerian v. TMZ

Dan Bilzerian sued TMZ for reporting on a lawsuit that he filed. We got the case thrown out under Nevada’s anti-SLAPP statute, and Bilzerian had to pay TMZ’s legal fees.

WHAT HAPPPENED

In August 2015, an anonymous woman posted on TheDirty.com that she had slept with Dan Bilzerian after his presidential campaign kickoff party and that he gave her chlamydia. Bilzerian, the “King of Instagram,” sued the site for defamation.

Three days later, TMZ ran a story about the lawsuit Bilzerian filed against TheDirty.com. The story quoted the comment Bilzerian was suing over and said Bilzerian was suing “a website for claiming he’s riddled with an STD.”

He added TMZ as a defendant the next day, claiming the story about the lawsuit defamed him.

WHAT WE DID

RLG represented TMZ and filed a special motion to dismiss under NRS 41.660, Nevada’s anti-SLAPP law.

This was public figure who filed a public lawsuit. TMZ reported on it accurately. Nevada’s fair report privilege gives the press absolute immunity for that. It does not matter that TMZ went to the source and quoted the actual allegation; a fair report does not have to stick to the plaintiff’s own sanitized version of his case.

Bilzerian argued that public figure status and actual malice were irrelevant to a defamation claim. He offered no evidence, no affidavit, no request for discovery. He said he would prove his case later. To say that he had shitty representation would be an insult to feces. But this is what happens when people with deep pockets hire un-creative big law firms.

THE RESULT

At the hearing, Bilzerian’s counsel conceded he is a public figure. Judge Rob Bare granted our motion from the bench and said TMZ “ought to be commended for looking and doing their homework.” The written order found no false statement, no malice, and no material difference between “has an STD” and “riddled with an STD.”

All claims against TMZ were dismissed.

Under the statute, fees are mandatory. We moved for TMZ’s costs and attorneys’ fees, plus the $10,000 statutory award the court can add to deter future SLAPP suits. Bilzerian fought the fee motion too. He lost that as well.

WHY IT MATTERS

Bilzerian was not just suing TMZ. He was trying to make a media outlet pay for covering a lawsuit he chose to file. If that works, every public figure gets a veto over press coverage of their own court cases.  But he really should have sued his lawyers for malpractice. They should have talked Bilzerian out of this case in the first place.

Nevada’s anti-SLAPP statute exists to stop exactly this kind of case. Marc Randazza helped write it in 2013 and helped defend it from repeal in 2015. In this case it did what it was designed to do: the suit was dismissed in its infancy, before discovery, and the plaintiff paid for bringing it.