Local Veteran suing Michael Moore

[SiameseRat]

I thought more than one of you would get a kick out of this.

Iraq Veteran Sues Michael Moore Over '9/11'
By DENISE LAVOIE
AP
BOSTON (June 1) - A veteran who lost both arms in the war in Iraq is suing filmmaker Michael Moore for $85 million, alleging that Moore used snippets of a television interview without his permission to falsely portray him as anti-war in "Fahrenheit 9/11."


Sgt. Peter Damon, a National Guardsman from Middleborough, is asking for damages because of "loss of reputation, emotional distress, embarrassment, and personal humiliation," according to the lawsuit filed in Suffolk Superior Court last week.


Damon, 33, claims that Moore never asked for his consent to use a clip from an interview Damon did with NBC's "Nightly News."


He lost his arms when a tire on a Black Hawk helicopter exploded while he and another reservist were servicing the aircraft on the ground. Another reservist was killed in the explosion.


In his interview with NBC, Damon was asked about a new painkiller the military was using on wounded veterans. He claims in his lawsuit that the way Moore used the film clip in "Fahrenheit 9/11" - Moore's scathing 2004 documentary criticizing the Bush administration and the war in Iraq - makes him appear to "voice a complaint about the war effort" when he was actually complaining about "the excruciating type of pain" that comes with the injury he suffered.


In the movie, Damon is shown lying on a gurney, with his wounds bandaged. He says he feels likes he's "being crushed in a vise."


"But they (the painkillers) do a lot to help it," he says. "And they take a lot of the edge off of it."


Damon is shown shortly after U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., is speaking about the Bush administration and says, "You know, they say they're not leaving any veterans behind, but they're leaving all kinds of veterans behind."


Damon contends that Moore's positioning of the clip just after the congressman's comments makes him appear as if he feels like he was "left behind" by the Bush administration and the military.


In his lawsuit, Damon says he "agrees with and supports the President and the United States' war effort, and he was not left behind."


He said that, while at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center recovering from his wounds, he had surgery and physical therapy, learned to use prosthetics and live independently. He also said that Homes For Our Troops, a not-for-profit group, built him a house with handicapped accessibility.


"The work creates a substantially fictionalized and falsified implication as a wounded serviceman who was left behind when Plaintiff was not left behind but supported, financially and emotionally, by the active assistance of the President, the United States and his family, friends, acquaintances and community," Damon says in his lawsuit.


Moore did not immediately return calls seeking comment Wednesday. A message was left for Moore at a personal number in New York and with HarperCollins, publisher of Moore's 2002 book, "Stupid White Men...And Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation!"


A spokesman for Miramax Film Corp., also named as a defendant, did not immediately return a call.


Damon did not immediately respond to a request for an interview.


"It's upsetting to him because he's lived his life supportive of his government, he's been a patriot, he's been a soldier, and he's now being portrayed in a movie that is the antithesis of all of that," Damon's lawyer, Dennis Lynch, said.


Damon is seeking $75 million in damages for emotional distress and loss of reputation. His wife is suing for an additional $10 million in damages because of the mental distress caused to her husband, Lynch said.


Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.

 

[BillK]

It is all I have heard on the TV and radios today

 

[tele_mark]

I'm sure the POS's investors insured him thru Lloyd's of London for such an occurrence, he probably doesn't care and won't lose a dime of his own money over it.

 

[dwarven1]

Go Sarge! Take that fat SOB to the cleaners!

At least such a high-profile case will, I hope, damage Moore's reputation. Unfortunately, I'm sure that most of the moonbats who believe his trash-talk will say it's a right-wing plot to bring down their favorite porker.

 

[JRyan]

Good luck to him.

 

[MrsWildweasel]

I personally hope he bankrupts the SOB.

 

[dreppucci007]

Go Sarge! Take that fat SOB to the cleaners!

At least such a high-profile case will, I hope, damage Moore's reputation. Unfortunately, I'm sure that most of the moonbats who believe his trash-talk will say it's a right-wing plot to bring down their favorite porker.

Unfortunately Ross, I seriously doubt this will damagae the fat bastard's reputation...His reputation already is being a piece of shit in many people's eyes, and a f***ing liberal martyr in most others. There aren't many people who don't already have an opinion on this guy, and this certainly won't change anyone's.

 

[jwilson]

Charles should have shot him !!! when he was at his front door!!

 

[Pilgrim]

Funny, I live in Middleboro, very active in veterans groups here, just came back from a Legion meeting and I hear about it here.

 

[Skald]

I don't think Insurance will cover something like this. I mean, being a documentary its assumed they would check the facts etc they claim as real.

But, still, be great to see the Lib's trying to say how our soldiers are all overwhelming against the war when its the complete opposite.

 

[Weerd Beard]

I recomend everybody to read "Michael Moore is a Big Fat Stupid White Man"

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060763957/103-9048098-6635838?v=glance&n=283155

According to them the Chuck Heston NRA Speech in bowling for Columbine (also the interview with Chuck at the end of the movie) was hacked to shreds and recombined to manipulate it to Mike's liking. It says that between cuts of stock footage of protestors outside the convention you'll actully see the curtains behind Heston change color because he actully cut into 3 Speeches, not just one. Of course that means I'd have to get my hands on another copy of Bowling for Columbine, and actully touch it **shudder**

Moore is a brilliant director, and his ability to seemlessly hack peoples own words and mould them like clay is very good. Too bad he uses his gift for evil and slander.

-Weer'd Beard

 

[Frizz]

Class action

Why doesn't someone make one big class action suit against him for all of the military personnel?

Frizz

 

[Lynne]

Michael Moore is a big, fat POS. I am SOOOOOOOO glad to see the Sgt. going after him. It's bad enough the poor kid lost both arms, but then he has to see himself portrayed as something he isn't and doesn't believe.