Karin Calvo-Goller and her book

Remember the case of the author who filed criminal charges against a journal editor who published a bad review of her book? (It’s one of our most shared stories ever.)

Now, a judge has dismissed the case and ordered the author to pay punitive damages to the people she brought the charges against. According to a report in the Chronicle of Higher Education by Jennifer Howard, “The editor, Joseph H.H. Weiler,a professor at New York University’s School of Law, said he had been awarded €8,000 (about $11,000) as a result of the action brought against him by Karin N. Calvo-Goller, a senior lecturer at the Academic Center of Law & Business, in Israel.”

Calvo-Goller had sued Weiler for “criminal-libel” over a review of her book, The Trial Proceedings of the International Criminal Court, which he had published on the website of the journal he edits, European Journal of International Law. (The review was written by Thomas Weigend, but Calvo-Goller did not bring charges against him.)

In response to the charges brought against him, Weiler constructed a defense accusing Calvo-Goller of “forum shopping” — also known as “libel tourism,” or seeking jurisdictions that have appropriate laws to prosecute a case, whether or not that jurisdiction is particular appropriate to the case.

According to the Chronicle‘s report,

In the ruling, the court said the review expressed a scientific opinion of the book and did not go beyond the kind of criticism to which all authors of intellectual work subject themselves when they publish. It agreed with Mr. Weiler’s contention that the case did not properly fall within its jurisdiction anyway. It concluded that Ms. Calvo-Goller had engaged in forum shopping and had shown bad faith in bringing the complaint. It said it was ordering the plaintiff to pay the €8,000 to Mr. Weiler in reparation for the harm caused by the improper nature of her action.

Calvo-Goller could not be reached for comment. As for Weiler, he would only tell the Chronicle, “Whoever adds, detracts.”