A former Department of Agriculture employee who was forced to resign last year after the posting of a misleading video has filed suit against Andrew Breitbart, the conservative blogger who posted it.Get that money, Mrs. Sherrod! Breitbart deserves to be put out of business for this bullcrap.
Shirley Sherrod's suit was filed in District of Columbia Superior Court on Friday. The civil suit accuses Breitbart of "defamation, false light and infliction of emotional distress," according to a statement issued by the law firm representing her.
"This lawsuit is not about politics or race," Sherrod said in the statement. "It is not about right versus left, the NAACP or the Tea Party. It is about how quickly, in today's internet media environment, a person's good name can become 'collateral damage' in an overheated political debate.
"I strongly believe in a free press and a full discussion of public issues, but not in deliberate distortions of the truth," Sherrod said. "Mr. Breitbart has never apologized for what he did to me and continues -- to this day -- to make the same slurs about my character."
Breitbart, meanwhile, said in a statement, "I find it extremely telling that this lawsuit was brought almost seven months after the alleged incidents that caused a national media frenzy occurred." He said he believes it is "no coincidence" that the suit was filed the day after he held a news conference calling for a congressional investigation into the settlement of a case -- Pigford v. Glickman -- reached more than a decade ago between the USDA and minority farmers.
Question: Does Shirley Sherrod have a legitimate lawsuit on her hands?
