Here's an interesting timeline:
- 31 March: Lott's abrupt departure from the American enterprise institute.
- 10 April: Lott files his lawsuit alleging that Levitt has defamed him.
- 12 April: First Anniversary of Freakonomics publication.
I think all three events are connected.
There is a one year statute of limitations on libel, so April 11 was the last day he could sue Levitt. There are many reasons why AEI might want to let Lott go, but none of them are new. So it may well be that Lott's determination to sue Levitt was the last straw and caused his dismissal.
The AEI's refusal to investigate Lott's misconduct has been a disgrace, but this lawsuit seems to me to be much better than an AEI investigation. Levitt's defence gets to investigate Lott's conduct and question people under oath.
More like this
The Chicago Tribune reports:
Last year an anonymous person from the American Enterprise Institute
repeatedly tried and failed to remove all
criticism of Lott from his
wikipedia page. He
At the The High Road there was some discussion of the cherry picked Lott article I discussed here. One poster, "agricola", criticized Lott, linking to my blog.
On July 12 The Columbus Dispatch published a letter from Paul van Doorn replying to an earlier letter from David Mayer that I commented on. Here is an extract (hyperlinks added by me):
It might be that if the lawsuit goes wrong it could do harm to AEI as well as to Lott, and they made it clear to him that he'd have to step down if he wanted to pursue it.
I wonder if Lott might have resigned because AEI was lukewarm or hesitant about the lawsuit. He's always struck me as someone who genuinely believes that he's not at fault for his actions or misdeeds, he even seems to have rationalized the Mary Rosh stuff. People who behave that way don't often like people challenging their fabrications (even slightly).
For those of us aching to see our friend Mr. Lott eat some serious humble pie, a lawyer friend of mine offers a cautionary note: most of these lawsuits are settled and then sealed. Maybe we should pass the hat for a Steven Levitt defense fund - but only on the condition that he not settle. I'd kick in a few bucks for the discovery phase alone.
The Freakonomics authors also have a very interesting blog. Great post recently put up about the link between nutrition and violence.