If you know what's good you won't talk bad about the people in this building

By Alex Wukman

It was a strange weekend for Houston media. On Saturday a SWAT situation in downtown Houston didn’t have a single live broadcast by any of Houston’s TV news crews. Instead the most up to date information was coming from Kyle Nielsen’s twitter feed. Instead of broadcasting live footage of HPD storming  a parking garage where a man who had shot two officers was hiding KPRC broadcast an infomercial.

Then on Monday word came out that the Fort Bend Star a small suburban weekly had been hit with a $1 million judgment in a libel case and now word has reached our ears that beloved Houston blog Swamplot has been sued for defamation of character. The suit stems from comments posted to Swamplot about the residents of a West University high rise located at 2520 Robinhood and Kirby.

In classic internet tough guy mode some of Swamplot’s more energetic readers threatened to burn down the high rise condominiums and beat one of the homeowners “into the hospital.”  The lawsuit claims that the comments have made condo residents fear for their safety. The comments were posted to stories about the ongoing fued between the condo residents and local West U pub Hans Bier Haus, which is located directly across Robinhood from the high rise condo.

The feud has been extensively covered by Swamplot who reported on the pounds of rotten meat dumped on the bar’s doorstep as well as the blocks of ice dropped through its roof. The suit claims that by failing to police its comments have caused actual financial damage to the condos. However, some familiar with lawsuit claim that it is without merit. However, even a meritless lawsuit will still incur attorney costs.  

So the Free Press offers words of encouragement to Swamplot: stay strong Gus, it’s tough out there for a blogger.