Hamilton County Judge Sonny Scaff ruled in favor of Tom and Madeline Moore of White Springs and placed an injunction against Joe E. Griffin, also of White Springs, ordering him to cease and desist posting defamatory comments about the Moores and to remove any such defamatory comments from his blogging website.

Additionally, Judge Scaff ordered the injunction stay in place indefinitely.

The Moores were represented at the June 4 hearing by Live Oak Attorney Lucas Taylor, who claimed Griffin’s web postings were causing substantial emotional distress on the Moores. The Moores were requesting removal of defamatory comments about the two of them that Griffin has posted on his blog.

Griffin’s defense was that he had a right to post whatever he wanted on his blog in the name of “free speech”.

Taylor stated, “Defamation is not free speech.”

Judge Scaff, after reciting the Communications and Decency Act and the new law on cyberstalking, ordered Griffin to remove the defamatory comments about the Moores and not to continue posting such comments.

After the hearing, Griffin told a Jasper News reporter that he apologizes for making certain references against the Moores. He said he wasn’t “unpleased” with the judge’s outcome and called the judge’s ruling “very narrowly drawn.”

Attorney Taylor said, “We’re pleased that justice was served.”