Punitive damages

The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a defamation suit over online accusations of child sexual abuse could still proceed, even though the plaintiff could not show he was harmed.

The decision upheld a 2010 appeals court ruling that New Jersey First Amendment attorneys hoped would lead to a change in the law by the state's Supreme Court.

The court could have compelled a reporter to testify as a witness in a patient's lawsuit against her plastic surgeons who handed over her partially nude photographs to a Missouri newspaper, a federal court of appeals has ruled.

A ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court could result in higher punitive damages for libel defendants in that state. In a decision released this week, the court clarified how interest rates will be factored into assessing punitive damages.

In what may be the largest defamation verdict in Minnesota history, a jury found that a Minneapolis TV news station acted with "constitutional malice" and awarded a naturopathic healer $1 million.

The jury found that the ABC news affiliate, KSTP, acted with reckless disregard for the truth when it ran a report more than two years ago about healer Susan Anderson and advice she allegedly gave her client, Cheryl Blaha.

A Florida appellate court this week ruled that a hospital whose chief executive stated that a former employee was not even fit to perform surgery on a dog is liable for punitive damages – to the tune of $5 million.