New York gladly welcomes foreign tourists and their money, but now the state is ready to turn away those who come shopping for a place to enforce dubious libel judgments won abroad against journalists and publishers.
Under the guidance of Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) and Assemb. Rory Lancman (D-Fresh Meadows) the “Libel Terrorism Protection Act” was unanimously passed by the State Legislature last month. Gov. David Paterson should waste no time signing it.
The law’s title stems from a case involving Rachel Ehrenfeld, a Manhattan author who investigates terrorist networks. Her book, “Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It,” named Khalid bin Mahfouz, former banker to the Saudi royal family, as a financier to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida. Mahfouz, who vehemently denies funding terrorists, sued Ehrenfeld in London, winning a $225,000 judgment against her.
International plaintiffs choose British courts because it’s easy to win a libel judgment there. Ehrenfeld’s book wasn’t even published in England, but Mahfouz won because 23 copies purchased over the Internet were shipped there.
The Skelos-Lancman bill would prohibit New York courts from enforcing any defamation judgment obtained in a foreign jurisdiction that did not provide the considerable free speech and free press protections provided in the United States by the federal and state constitutions. Now that’s having a day in court.