Case against biz reporter, Hearst paper settled

Business reporter Teri Buhl, who previously worked for the Greenwich Time, writes for CTWatchdog.com that the lawsuit filed against her and the paper by SpongeTech co-founder Michael Metter has been settled out of court, but she does not know details of the agreement.

Metter had sued the paper and Buhl in small claims court to get reimbursed for the cost of hiring a security guard for his home and hiring an attorney to write a letter to the Hearst paper in an attempt to get it to take down a story that listed his home address.

Buhl writes, “I am still waiting for proof that this case has been withdrawn by the plaintiff Michael Metter and likely won’t know till it shows up online. It’s odd that Hearst didn’t have the professional courtesy to inform me they’d settle.

“Here is about the only fact I do know.

“The online version of the story, which ran February 9th on the cover of the Greenwich Time, magically doesn’t have Metter’s address in it any longer. But photos of the front and back of his home on One Tinker Lane, remain on line. So what did Hearst settle for? I have no idea if Metter was paid any of the $4,700 he claimed in damages. I doubt it- but what I find most disturbing about Hearst journalistic standards is that they settled at all.

“Metter who as we all know by now was arrested at his Greenwich home in May by the DOJ for obstruction of justice in an SEC investigation over a pump and dump penny stock scam, has now been indicted by a Grand Jury and awaits trial. Kaja Whitehouse of the New York Post, who first broke news of trouble at SpongeTech, wrote a scary tale about how she was harassed by Metter shortly after his arrest. Michael Metter has also filed a defamation suit against the New York Post, me, and the reporter who likely wrote the story that helped the DOJ and SEC charge Metter, Roddy Boyd.”

Read more here.