I was glad to see that the California Court of Appeal published its opinion in Luo v. Volokh, following a request by the First Amendment Coalition. (In California, any person or organization may ask a court to publish an opinion that was initially released as nonpublished.) The opinion thus becomes precedent in California, and might prove helpful in cases such as Adams v. Gulley, the case discussed in the "California Judge Orders Removal of Reddit Criticism of Scientist/Consultant Who Publicly Criticized English Lucy Letby Murder Trial" post.
Here again is the key reasoning in the newly published opinion:
Appellant Xingfei Luo, also known as Olivia Luo, twice sought a restraining order against respondent Professor Eugene Volokh pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 527.6. Luo sought to prevent Volokh from identifying her in his writings….
[Cal. Code Civ. Proc.] Section 527.6 provides an expedited procedure to prevent harassment. By definition, harassment must have "'no legitimate purpose.'" "Legitimacy of purpose negates harassment." Constitutionally protected activity also is excluded from the definition of harassment….
Section 527.6 defines harassment as "unlawful violence, a credible threat of violence, or a knowing and willful course of conduct directed at a specific person that seriously alarms, annoys, or harasses the person, and that serves no legitimate purpose. The course of conduct must be that which would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress, and must actually cause substantial emotional distress to the petitioner." A course of conduct is defined as "a pattern of conduct composed of a series of acts over a period of time, however short, evidencing a continuity of purpose, including following or stalking an individual, making harassing telephone calls to an individual, or sending harassing correspondence to an individual by any means, including, but not limited to, the use of public or private mails, interoffice mail, facsimile, or email."
{Luo described the parties' relationship as follows: "Volokh has learned my info through litigation." Luo stated, "Volokh has published my info online and invited ha[t]ers to stalk, harass, threaten and commit violence against me. I continue to receive threatening and harassing phone calls and voice mails calling me cunt, slut, lying on men and indicating they will rape and kill me. At the end of July, I was forced to move out of my prior residence for safety concern."
Luo requested the trial court order Volokh to "[1] Remove any remarks, comments, or references from any publicly available documents or articles authored by [Volokh] that connect [her] real name with rape or sexual assault; [2] Remove any remarks, comments, or references from any publicly available documents or articles authored by [Volokh] that connect [her] with the cases in which she has received a protective order to proceed under a pseudonym; [3] Cease publishing any remarks, comments, or references that connect [her] with rape or sexual assault; [4] Cease drawing public attention to [her] name [when] associated with rape or sexual[ ] assault."
