Meet the Lawyer Who's Fighting for Your Online Reputation

July 12, 2015, 8:00AM. By Brenda Craig

LAS Obtains Exclusive Interview with One of America’s “Rock Star” Anti-Defamation Lawyers - Neville Johnson

Beverly Hills, CA: At 65, there’s no sign Neville Johnson is anywhere near finished with his law career. An outspoken courtroom crusader, he’s earned $350 million in judgments usually fighting for actors, writers and musicians that have been cheated out of royalties or fair compensation.

His victories include a class-action lawsuit against the Writers Guild of America, West in 2005. The suit alleged the union was hanging on to millions of dollars that rightfully belonged in the pockets of the writers. He won. Over the decades, he’s represented everyone from Jack Klugman to Yoko Ono.

He’s found a new battleground in the world of Internet libel, invasion of privacy and other costly consequences for people damaged by negative images or outright lies posted on the web.

“It happens all the time and it is a huge problem,” says a relaxed and a very candid, as usual, Johnson, speaking from his office in Beverly Hills. “We have lots of these cases; it’s an invasion of privacy. People put images or messages on the Internet that are gross, or they post nude pictures of someone, or they post horrific things that are libelous in chatrooms or on websites.”

Johnson goes right to the heart of the problem. He blames Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

“This is a federal law that essentially provides immunity for Internet service providers. That means you can’t sue Google or Facebook or anybody else that hosts this material, so you are left having to go after people who aren’t defined, or have no money, or who are not mentally competent,” says Johnson.

“There is just a huge amount of hateful, bullying, invasion-of-privacy kinds of conduct that is going on,” he says.

In the pre-cyber-world days, it was a lot easier to protect people’s reputations and hold people accountable.

“Facebook, Twitter and these kinds of providers are impossible to get on the phone,” says Johnson. “You have to e-mail them.

“If I am defamed by a newspaper, you write them a letter and say you better retract or correct or we are going to sue you. But it doesn’t work like that with Internet service providers. They have immunity from litigation. That’s all because 20 years ago the Internet companies said we can’t be sued and now it is out of control,” he says.

In September, Johnson will be speaking at the CAALA (Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles) Convention in Las Vegas on Internet defamation and ways to combat it.

Interestingly, lawyers are often victimized by Internet hate posters.

“I have two cases where I am representing lawyers who are the target of hateful, horrible attacks,” says Johnson. “Lawyers are often the targets. Sometimes it is disgruntled clients or people who are just, frankly, nuts. It is a real big problem.

“We also have a big case pending where a young lady who is schizophrenic pushed pencils into her eyes,” says Johnson. “A photo was taken by a nurse who then began circulating it, and it was ultimately posted on a ‘Gore’ website. We are now suing the hospital,” says Johnson.

“What the clients really want is to get the stuff off,” says Johnson.

“We should be able to contact Facebook or some other website and say they just called me a child molester and I am not. But you can’t do that that easily,” he says.

What Johnson would like is a change in Section 230, but that too is not easily done, he notes.

“There needs to be some changes in the law,” he says. “But that is highly unlikely given the power of these providers. Google has hundreds of lobbyists on Capitol Hill. Who is the lobby for people who are about to be defamed? There is nobody. And people who have been defamed just want it to go away.”

Johnson not only represents musicians - he happens to be one. He recently appeared with his band in
Bakersfield, California. Yes, it is on YouTube.