Rand Simberg: "does he really want to litigate the hockey stick in a court of law? Does he in fact want to dig into any of his unscientific behavior in a venue in which he will be under oath, and he won’t have sympathetic colleagues covering for him?"

Twitter / MarkSteynOnline: Mann-made climate change t ...

Mann-made climate change turns up the heat on Steyn [roundup here] http://www.steynonline.com/5078/mann-made-climate-change-turns-up-the-heat-on …

Penn State scientist threatens legal action over Sandusky comparison - POLITICO.com Print View

Mann’s lawyer, John B. Williams, wrote that National Review had stepped way over the line, adding that “we intend to pursue all appropriate legal remedies.”

“[D]espite the fact that the case against Dr. Mann has been thoroughly investigated — and closed — your article nevertheless accuses him of academic fraud,” Williams wrote. “And further, you draw the insidious comparison between Dr. Mann and Jerry Sandusky, who, as you point out, was recently convicted of child molestation. This reference is simply outrageous and clearly subjects your publication to a claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

As of Monday morning, Mann said he has not received a response from National Review...
Mann will have a difficult time winning any future lawsuit because he “has already made himself a public figure” and “neither I, nor Mark Steyn or anyone else have written anything actionable or false, as far as I know,” Simberg said.

“I think he's just blowing smoke in hopes of getting a cheap ‘apology.’ I guess if he does decide to come after me, I'll crowd source a legal defense fund, or find someone to take it on pro bono. I suspect I'll have no shortage of support,” Simberg said, stressing that he is speaking for himself and not CEI.

Transterrestrial Musings - UnManned

[Rand Simberg] Interestingly, he seems much more upset about the accusations of scientific fraud than about the Sandusky comparison (the latter is almost an afterthought in the lawyer’s letter). But does he really want to litigate the hockey stick in a court of law? Does he in fact want to dig into any of his unscientific behavior in a venue in which he will be under oath, and he won’t have sympathetic colleagues covering for him? Does he really want those emails to be read aloud in court? And has he talked to the University of Virginia? Even if they continue to fight the FOIA, how will they fight a subpoena for the missing emails in a civil lawsuit?

If this goes forward, discovery will be very interesting, and very entertaining. I suspect that Peter Sinclair will end up choking on his popcorn.

I do think he’s bluffing

Twitter / JamesDelingpole: Damn you, @MarkSteynOnline ...

Damn you, @MarkSteynOnline . How come you get to be sued by Michael "hide the decline" Mann and not me?