SLAPP Suits
On June 22, 2017, some companies owned by Bob Murray said that they had filed a lawsuit–a complaint to a court about something wrong someone else has done to them. The lawsuit was against John Oliver, HBO, and others close to Oliver. Bob Murray said that Oliver had defamed them–said untrue and bad things about Murray and his company. The plaintiffs said that they didn't like the way Oliver talked about the Crandall Canyon Mine collapse. They repeated what they had said before about the mine collapse–that it was because of an earthquake and that Oliver was lying. They also said that because so many people watch Oliver's show, that he was unfairly hurting Murray. Murray wanted money from Oliver, as well as a gag order–a court telling someone not to say something–stopping people from watching the segment.