A judge has reversed an order banning a Michigan man from criticizing a class action settlement on Facebook. A McDonald's restaurant in Dearborn, MI, allegedly advertised non-halal meat as halal, outraging Muslims who ate there. A class action lawsuit was filed, resulting in a settlement that would give money to the named plaintiff, two charities, and the plaintiff's lawyers, but not to any other Muslims who were affected.

A Muslim attorney named Majed Moughni posted a note on Facebook objecting to the settlement. Under the terms of the class action settlement, any victim who didn't object to the settlement would lose their right to sue McDonald's without receiving compensation. Moughni argued that compensation should be paid to affected McDonald's customers, not to area charities that had no real connection to the case.

But the plaintiff's lawyers, who were in line to receive thousands of dollars from the settlement, asked the judge to order Moughni's comments removed from Facebook and replaced with the official class action notification. Last month, Public Citizen agreed to represent Moughni and filed a request to lift the judge's gag order.

The plaintiff had argued that Moughni's statements were defamatory, and that he was misleading affected Muslims about their rights (or lack thereof) under the proposed settlement. Public Citizen pointed out to the court that the plaintiff's attorneys had not demonstrated that Moughni's statements were untrue. Moreover, the judge's order barred Moughni from making any comments about the settlement, which Public Citizen argued was a clear violation of the First Amendment.

On Monday, (the aptly named) Judge Kathleen MacDonald lifted the gag order. But Public Citizen said her reasoning leaves open the door to future retaliation. Rather than clearly ruling on First Amendment grounds, she accepted a request from McDonald's to drop the injunction after Moughni promised that he was not seeking to represent potential objectors.

Public Citizen's Paul Alan Levy, Moughni's lawyer, wrote in a blog post that even as she lifted her gag order, "the judge proclaimed that she had done the right thing in suppressing Moughni’s speech in the first place," Levy wrote. If Wayne County judges don't change their tune, Levy suggested, "serious intervention from the appellate courts is going to be needed."

Moreover, McDonald's may not be done trying to punish Moughni for speaking out. "There have been indications that McDonald’s line of reasoning was intended to set the stage for later efforts to force Moughni to pay damages for having had the audacity to oppose the settlement," Levy wrote. McDonald's recently described Moughni as a "third-party tortfeasor", suggesting that the company might be planning further legal action against him once the settlement has been approved.