Former BigLaw partner settles defamation suit against social media influencer
TikTok screenshots show social media influencer Robert Harvey and a listing of cases in which lawyer Allan A. Kassenoff was the lead counsel for Samsung, along with the tags @Samsung and @SamsungUS. (Images from Kassenoff’s Sept. 5, 2023, lawsuit)
A former Greenberg Traurig partner has reached a settlement with a social media influencer he accused of posting defamatory videos seeking to falsely depict the lawyer as an abusive husband and spouse.
A joint motion to dismiss the case against influencer Robert Harvey does not include details of the agreement. The July 5 motion does, however, ask U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II of the Northern District of Florida to retain jurisdiction to enforce the terms of the deal and to resolve disputes that arise.
Law360 has the story.
Harvey had posted videos of partner Allan A. Kassenoff yelling, telling his then-wife that he hates her and calling her a “fat, old loser.” The videos caused Kassenoff to lose his position at Greenberg Traurig and led to “hundreds if not thousands” of harassing emails, texts and voicemails, Kassenoff’s lawsuit had alleged.
Kassenoff’s wife had posted videos in a public Dropbox after saying on Facebook she was terminally ill and planning to die by medically assisted suicide.
Kassenoff alleged that his wife was lying about the diagnosis, and he received sole custody because she was an unfit parent. She had claimed that the custody determination stemmed from a corrupt court system.
Wetherell tossed Kassenoff’s defamation suit in February. The judge said many of the allegations were “replete with unnecessary commentary,” including an introduction that “reads more like a magazine article than allegations in a legal pleading.”
Wetherell allowed Kassenoff to file an amended suit, however.
Kassenoff had also sought a cyberstalking injunction in state court that would force Harvey to take down the videos. A judge refused to issue the injunction in April, saying Kassenoff had produced insufficient evidence.
