I’ve been following a libel (or defamation of character) case in my old hometown, where one of the defendants went pro se for stretches of the litigation. She and another blogger were sued by minions of the local moneybags politician for claiming that the politician and her minions were evil, nasty people trying to bankrupt the city and probably involved in criminal activities.
It was quite obviously a SLAPP (strategic litigation against public participation) suit to shut up the bloggers. The minions suing wanted to drag out the litigation as long as possible trying to bankrupt the defendents, or make them give up in frustration. Since she understood the strategy, she spent much of the litigation pro se in an effort to save money (she is a stay at home mom). She probably also realized that the lawyer for the minions was an idiot, and the minions had no case whatsoever.
She got a lawyer back when it went to trial, though. After the prosecution presented their case, the defense move for dismissal was granted with prejudice. The funny part about the trial is still coming out, because the idiot minions agreed to cough up 10s of thousands of emails that showed that they were evil, nasty people trying to bankrupt the city and probably involved in criminal activities. Also highlighted a number of times when they perjured themselves. The judge still has to make a final judgement, and observers are hoping that he forces the plaintiffs to pay lawyer fees to the defendants. May also jail the minions. An entertaining case from an entertaining town.