Why did the English libel court exercise jurisdiction over Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld?
In her work Funding Evil, Dr. Ehrenfeld made particularly defamatory claims that Mr. Bin Mahfouz and other prominent citizens of Saudi Arabia were funders of terrorism. Though the book was published primarily in the United States, the offending chapter was made available on the ABCnews.com website that was viewed by over 100,000 English viewers per month. The book was also sold into England over the internet. Though the counsel for Mr. Bin Mahfouz had no way of knowing total English sales, he was able to confirm the sale of at least 23 books to third parties in England. Dr. Ehrenfeld has publicly claimed that she never intended the book to be sold in England, and that the large bulk of the publication occurred in the United States. If so, she could have raised a substantial challenge to the exercise of jurisdiction. Prospective defendants have the right to challenge the Court’s jurisdiction in a threshold proceeding and argue that another country’s courts would provide a more appropria
