UPDATE: Another Defamation Suit Twittered Away

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeCount "Cookie Diet" Dr. Sanford Siegal as another mortal who couldn't "keep up" with the Kardashians, specifically, Kim Kardashian, reality tv star of  Kourtney & Kim Take New York and Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Ray J sex-tape co-star, and now-former libel defendant (See "TUOL" post 1/5/10).

The diet doctor's case, Dr. Sanford Siegel & Dr. Siegel's Direct Nutrititonals, LLC v. Kim Kardashian (Case No. 09-93439CA15), filed in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court for the 11th Judicial Circuit, apparently has been resolved, as the plaintiff last month filed a Voluntary Dismissal motion pursuant to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.420(a). Siegel's four-count defamation complaint against the 30-year-old Kardashian alleged his reputation was sullied by purported Kim-Tweets in which she accused Siegel of falsely stating she endorsed his Cookie Diet.

Included among her allegedly defamatory Tweets were: "Dr. Siegel's Diet is falsely promoting that I'm on this Diet. NOT TRUE! I would never do this unhealthy diet! I do Quicktrim!" Also, "If this Dr.Siegel is lying about me being on this diet, what else are they lying about? Not cool!"

Now that the litigation has ended, microbloggers will never know whether the Tweets were incendiary, or just inarticulate. More interesting, from a legal standpoint, as noted by Blog Law Online (www.bloglawonline.blogspot.com)  is the unresolved issue of whether a Web site is liable for a false statement made on the site to which the Web site has linked, as Siegel co-opted articles that appeared elsewhere on the Internet that wrongly stated Kardashian was a Cookie Diet-backer. (Not the same as saying "Kardashian has back," which is undisputed.) Besides sending samples to the Dancing With the Stars also-ran, Dr. Siegel had posted a hyperlink to a Kardashian weight-loss article, which he removed after receiving a lawyer-letter from Kardashian's kounsel, er, counsel.