'Last Week Tonight' host John Oliver celebrated his legal victory against Murray Energy CEO Robert Murray with a song in Sunday's SLAPP lawsuits episode.
A West Virginia judge has tossed out a lawsuit filed by a coal magnate who was ridiculed on HBO’s late-night show “Last Week Tonight” by host John Oliver.that blasted his company, criticized the standards of the coal industry at large and touched on the company’s long history of threatening litigation against its critics. Oliver also called Murray a “geriatric Dr. Evil” in the piece and harangued him through a “Last Week Tonight” staff member dressed in a squirrel costume.
He explained that SLAPP lawsuits are ubiquitous, “frivolous suits with no legal merit, specifically designed to stifle public debate or dissent.” Oliver noted that 30 states have some form of anti-SLAPP laws but West Virginia, where Murray brought his “Last Week Tonight” lawsuit, isn’t one of them. “Even if they are baseless, his lawsuits can do major damage. Ours wound up costing over $200,000 in legal fees. And even though our insurance covered part of it and we were lucky that HBO stood by us, this lawsuit was infuriating, took up a lot of time and resources and resulted in a tripling of our libel insurance premiums despite the fact, to reiterate, we ... won this case!”
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