Libel
No Defamation Liability for False Statement That Congressional Witness's Lawyer Was Partly Paid for by Trump PAC
So a federal judge rules in a case brought by Tony Bobulinski, who testified about the Bidens before the House Oversight Committee, against Jessica Tarlov, a Fox News commentator and co-host of The Five.
Court Decision About Discovery in Libel Lawsuit Against Council on American-Islamic Relations Foundation
CAIR's allegedly libelous press release about a dismissed former high-level employee "opened the door" to discovery about various allegations the employee had made about CAIR.
College Baseball Coach's Defamation Case, Alleging School Said He Was Fired Because He Acted in Racist Ways, Allowed to Go Forward
After the federal judge denied the university's motion for summary judgment, the case settled. Among other things, the judge concluded that allegations that a coach acted in a racist way were "defamation per se," so that plaintiff didn't have to show specific damages stemming from the allegations.
Project Veritas' Defamation Lawsuit Against CNN Can Go Forward
Veritas had been suspended from Twitter for including an interview subject's house number; CNN "suggested on-air that Twitter banned Veritas for 'promoting misinformation.'"
Are Punitive Damages Available in Publishers' Lawsuit Over Harassment Campaign by eBay Employees?
Fort the answer—or rather, answers—a court has to resolve a choice of law question.
Recent Political Candidate Is Public Figure for Libel Law Purposes
The allegedly libelous claims about the candidate were made three months after he lost the election; a Magistrate Judge had held the candidate was no longer a public figure, but the District Court disagreed.
Massive Campaign of Online Insults Can Lead to Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress Liability
The court also concluded defendant had libeled plaintiff, but the court held that even the nonlibelous expressions of opinion could lead to emotional distress liability. The total verdict of $6.8M.
Teacher's Defamation Lawsuit Over Allegations She Mistreated Muslim Student Can Go Forward …
against the online critic who first posted the allegations, but not against CAIR (the Council on American-Islamic Relations), which echoed them.
No Civil Court Claim Over Publicizing Religious Court's Statement That Litigant Refuses to Appear in the Religious Court
Plaintiff had argued that defendants' publicizing the religious court's statement "serves as a form of social pressure, calling on the community to shun or ostracize the individual until they comply with the court's demands."
Young Kansas City Chiefs Fan's (and Family's) Defamation Lawsuit Against Deadspin Based on Blackface Allegations Can Go Forward
To support the Chiefs, the young fan "wore Native American headdress, painted his face black and red, and donned a Chiefs jersey"; Deadspin said this was "black face" and showed "hate" towards "Black people and the Native Americans."
MSNBC Pundit's Tweet Accusing Lawyer of "Coach[ing a Witness] to Lie" Is a Potentially Defamatory Factual Assertion, Not an Opinion
Plaintiff (Stefan Passantino, Cassidy Hutchinson's former lawyer) may thus eventually prevail, if the claim is shown to be false, and if the defendant is shown to have spoken with "actual malice" (if plaintiff is a public figure) or negligently (if plaintiff is a private figure).
Fired College Security Chief's Libel Claim (Over Allegations That He Mistreated Black Alumnus) Can Go Forward
The court concluded that the Director of Safety and Security at a small private college didn't qualify as a "public official or public figure" for purposes of the state's anti-SLAPP statute.
Ruth Shalit Barrett's Defamation Lawsuit Against The Atlantic Survives in Part
The opinion includes some interesting discussion of defamation by implication.
QAnon "Patriot Reporter" Claims Newspaper Libeled Him by Saying He Had Admitted to "Sexual Relationship" with 15-Year-Old
But he loses: "As a result of Godlewski's guilty plea to 'inappropriate text [m]essages' and 'contact' ..., as set forth in the Affidavit of Probable Cause quoting the offending text messages admitting and memorializing a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old minor, Godlewski is collaterally estopped from denying his participation in [the] sexual relationship ...."
Claim That Someone Is "Racist" or "White Supremacist" Is Opinion and Thus Not Libel, Though …
claims that someone has engaged in specific conduct may be factual assertions and therefore potentially libelous.
No, Not That David Sackler; No, Not That State Law
Law students: Take that Choice of Law (often called Conflicts of Laws) course your law school offers; it can be tremendously important.
$1.85M Award in #TheyLied Lawsuit Over False Accusation of Rape
The award consisted of $1.5M compensatory damages and $350K punitives.
Sarah Palin Gets New Trial in Libel Lawsuit Against N.Y. Times
"[T]he district court’s Rule 50 ruling improperly intruded on the province of the jury by making credibility determinations, weighing evidence, and ignoring facts or inferences that a reasonable juror could plausibly have found to support Palin’s case."
Russian Opera Singer Anna Netrebko's Sex Discrimination Lawsuit Over Firing by N.Y. Metropolitan Opera Can Go Forward
But her national origin discrimination claim (apart from the sex discrimination component) is rejected, as is her defamation claim.
Unusual Fraud Claim Against Scientific Co-Author Over Alleged Research Problems Fizzles Out
The claim was brought too late, the court holds, and the associated defamation claim is barred by the judicial proceeding privilege.
Plaintiff Claims P. Diddy's Defamation Damaged Plaintiff's Drug Smuggling Business
Plaintiff says he was "always willing to set up business deals with the rich for drugs."
Nina Jankowicz's Libel Lawsuit Against Fox News Network Dismissed by Federal Judge
The judge concludes Fox's statements about Jankowicz's plans as Executive Director of the DHS Disinformation Governance Board, and the circumstances of her leaving the position, were constitutionally protected opinion—and, even if they were viewed as factual assertions, were substantially true.
"Someone Must Have Taken the Bar Exam for You" Was Just Insult, Not Libel
"[A]nyone who has used Facebook is aware that it is a platform that breeds spiteful and juvenile exchanges."
Moving to Unseal Material in Pennsylvania Sen. Douglas Mastriano's Lawsuit Related to His Ph.D. Thesis
Sen. Mastriano (who is running for reelection to the state senate, and who ran in 2022 for Governor) is suing for, among other things, libel—but trying to keep the allegedly libelous material under seal.
Calling Someone an "Amateur" May Sometimes Be Defamatory
“This Court rejects Defendants’ argument an ordinary person could find ‘amateur,’ in this circumstance, to refer to ‘one who engages in a pursuit, study, science, or sport as a pastime rather than a profession’ or a ‘devotee, [or] admirer,’ given the surrounding context and circumstance.”
Libel, Fire, Healing Chakras, and Real Housewives of New York
“The article also documents Plaintiff’s four failed attempts at appearing on the Real Housewives of New York, and the potentially circumstantial evidence that the fire was used as a publicity stunt as it occurred just one day prior to Plaintiff joining a talk show wherein she talked extensively about the fire.”
Journal of Free Speech Law: "Adding Injury to Insult: Kant on Defaming the Dead," by Prof. David Sussman
An article from the Defamation: Philosophical and Legal Perspectives symposium, sponsored by the Center for Legal Philosophy at UC Irvine.
