Germany In September 2017, a naturopath in Arizona named Colleen Huber filed a defamation lawsuit, preceded by two cease and desist letters, against Britt Marie Hermes, a naturopathy whistleblower. The lawsuit was filed for Hermes' blog post criticizing Huber for using naturopathic remedies to treat cancer and speculating that Hermes' name was being used without her permission in several registered domain names owned by Huber.Devlin, Hannah (27 March 2018) "The naturopath whistleblower: ‘It is surprisingly easy to sell snake oil’", The Guardian. Retrieved 23 June 2020. The lawsuit was filed in Kiel, Germany where Hermes was residing to pursue her PhD in evolutionary genomics. Jann Bellamy of Science-Based Medicine speculates that this is "due to good old forum shopping for a more plaintiff-friendly jurisdiction" as there are no protections against SLAPP lawsuits in Germany. Britt Hermes is a notable scientific skeptic and the organization Australian Skeptics set up a fund to help with legal costs on the case. In an interview at CSICon 2019, Britt Hermes told Susan Gerbic that she had won her case on 24 May 2019. According to Britt Hermes, "the court ruled that my post is protected speech under Article 5 (1) of the German constitution".
Germany In September 2017 a naturopath in Arizona named Colleen Huber filed a defamation lawsuit preceded by two cease and desist letters against Britt Marie Hermes a naturopathy whistleblower The lawsuit was filed for Hermes' blog post criticizing Huber for using naturopathic remedies to treat cancer and speculating that Hermes' name was being used without her permission in several registered domain names owned by HuberDevlin Hannah (27 March 2018) "The naturopath whistleblower ‘It is surprisingly easy to sell snake oil’" The Guardian Retrieved 23 June 2020 The lawsuit was filed in Kiel Germany where Hermes was residing to pursue her PhD in evolutionary genomics Jann Bellamy of Science-Based Medicine speculates that this is "due to good old forum shopping for a more plaintiff-friendly jurisdiction" as there are no protections against SLAPP lawsuits in Germany Britt Hermes is a notable scientific skeptic and the organization Australian Skeptics set up a fund to help with legal costs on the case In an interview at CSICon 2019 Britt Hermes told Susan Gerbic that she had won her case on 24 May 2019 According to Britt Hermes "the court ruled that my post is protected speech under Article 5 (1) of the German constitution"