Here is a story involving: a bankruptcy attorney and his disgruntled client who also happens to be a blogger.  A recent opinion from a Federal District Court on involving these characters holds that a blogger is not afforded the protections of a journalist.  Thus the disgruntled client may be more apt to be held liable in her ex lawyer's defamation suit than if she was considered to be a journalist.  "A federal judge in Oregon has ruled that a Montana woman sued for defamation was not a journalist when she posted online that an Oregon lawyer acted criminally during a bankruptcy case, a decision with implications for bloggers around the country.

Crystal L. Cox, a blogger from Eureka, Mont., was sued for defamation by attorney Kevin Padrick when she posted online that he was a thug and a thief during the handling of bankruptcy proceedings by him and Obsidian Finance Group LLC.

U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez found last week that as a blogger, Cox was not a journalist and cannot claim the protections afforded to mainstream reporters and news outlets."

Here is a link: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BLOGGER_DEFAMATION_SUIT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-12-07-20-39-18

Michael