Saturday, March 23, 2019
Hasidic lawyer sues Skoufis, claims Facebook comments were blocked
A Hasidic lawyer from Monroe sued state Sen. James Skoufis this week, alleging that Skoufis violated his First Amendment rights by blocking his comments on Facebook after the lawyer challenged Skoufis over anti-Hasidic remarks that readers had posted.
Eli Wagschal filed the case on Monday in federal court in Manhattan, represented by another attorney from his Bronx firm. Wagschal is the son of Herman Wagschal, a Monroe resident who helped organize a pending petition to create a 1.7-square-mile village next to Kiryas Joel — the subject of the Faceback post by Skoufis in August that attracted a volley of reader comments.
Skoufis, then a Democratic assemblyman campaigning for the Senate, had criticized the Village of Seven Springs petition as “a revenge-fueled attempt to inflict harm on the people of Monroe and Orange County” and vowed to fight it. The younger Wagschal said in his suit that he responded online to the ensuing anti-Hasidic comments by voicing his disgust and telling Skoufis his failure to condemn them was “equivalent to an endorsement.”
“They are buying up land all over Orange County,” read one of a litany of comments quoted in the case. “Soon it will be theirs not ours.”
Wagschal said he was later blocked and his comments removed. He’s demanding the court restore his ability to comment on Skoufis’ Facebook page and award him an unspecified amount in damages for a “deprivation of fundamental rights.”
Skoufis said he couldn’t comment on the case.
https://www.recordonline.com/news/20190320/hasidic-lawyer-sues-skoufis-claims-facebook-comments-were-blocked
Eli Wagschal filed the case on Monday in federal court in Manhattan, represented by another attorney from his Bronx firm. Wagschal is the son of Herman Wagschal, a Monroe resident who helped organize a pending petition to create a 1.7-square-mile village next to Kiryas Joel — the subject of the Faceback post by Skoufis in August that attracted a volley of reader comments.
Skoufis, then a Democratic assemblyman campaigning for the Senate, had criticized the Village of Seven Springs petition as “a revenge-fueled attempt to inflict harm on the people of Monroe and Orange County” and vowed to fight it. The younger Wagschal said in his suit that he responded online to the ensuing anti-Hasidic comments by voicing his disgust and telling Skoufis his failure to condemn them was “equivalent to an endorsement.”
“They are buying up land all over Orange County,” read one of a litany of comments quoted in the case. “Soon it will be theirs not ours.”
Wagschal said he was later blocked and his comments removed. He’s demanding the court restore his ability to comment on Skoufis’ Facebook page and award him an unspecified amount in damages for a “deprivation of fundamental rights.”
Skoufis said he couldn’t comment on the case.
https://www.recordonline.com/news/20190320/hasidic-lawyer-sues-skoufis-claims-facebook-comments-were-blocked
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