In his blog, Flea had ridiculed the plaintiff’s case and the plaintiff’s lawyer. He had revealed the defense strategy. He had accused members of the jury of dozing.
With the jury looking on in puzzlement, Lindeman admitted that he was, in fact, Flea.
The next morning, on May 15, he agreed to pay what members of Boston’s tight-knit legal community describe as a substantial settlement — case closed. —Jonathan Saltzman —Blogger unmasked, court case upended (Boston.com)
Lindeman, on trial for medical malpractice, paid a hefty sum for his right to his opinion. He blogged about the trial anonymously while it was going on, and the prosecuting attorney found out about it.
Update: A Wal-Mart cashier who joked about bombing the store on his MySpace page has also been sacked. “If you have a MySpace site, you better act like you’re a politician,” he says, “Be politically correct and don’t try to be funny.” That’s a bit exaggerated… there was nothing “political” about his comment, and there are other kinds of humor.