A San Diego court violated a retired teacher's right to free speech when it barred her from mentioning on her website the name of a law firm, an appeals court ruled this week.
The ruling came out of a long and winding defamation case. Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz, which frequently represents school districts, brought the suit against its acerbic critic, Maura Larkins.
Her blog once claimed "a culture of misrepresentation and deception exists at Stutz Artiano & Shinoff," and that the firm intended to obstruct education law.