Vogue model sues Google over 'defamatory' blog

Lawsuit demands identity of 'old hag' libeller

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 7th January 2009 13:04 GMT

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Canadian model Liskula Cohen is demanding Google reveal the identity of the Blogger.com user whose Skanks in NYC blog is entirely dedicated to calling her a "skank", an "old hag" and other flattering descriptions.

According to the New York Daily News, 36-year-old Cohen has filed a defamation suit in Manhattan Supreme Court in the hope she can find out exactly who believes she's a "psychotic, lying, whoring, still going to clubs at her age, skank".

Cohen said of the blog: "It's petty, it's stupid and it's pathetic. And when I do find out who did this, at least I'll know who my enemies are."

She added: "I'm tall, I'm blond, I've been modeling for many years, and people get jealous. If I had to deal with everyone who is jealous, I wouldn't have time to do anything else."

Cohen's lawyer Steven Wagner admitted it's not easy to "identify bloggers who lob insults anonymously, as New York courts have generally declined to force them into the light". He did, though, insist: "We think we have a case. This is libelous, it's defamatory and you shouldn't just get away with this."

Cohen has previously appeared on the cover of Vogue, as well as clotheshorsing for Giorgio Armani and Versace. In 2007, she claimed her modelling career was prematurely ended by an unpleasant incident in which a Manhattan doorman hit her in the face with a champagne bottle.

Google declined to "discuss specifics" of her complaint against Blogger.com. ®

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