Libel

A North Carolina appellate court reversed part of a lower court's decision on Tuesday that could reignite a county judge's defamation lawsuit against a citizen activist for statements he made on Facebook criticizing sitting judges' support of a state senatorial candidate. The court held the activist was not constitutionality protected for making false statements, even if he claimed they were his personal opinion.

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by a former employee of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) over comments a spokesman made to The New York Times.

A Texas judge has dismissed a defamation lawsuit against a neighborhood blogger in Dallas, who was sued by a local bar owner for posting stories about customer violence and business ordinance violations.

A jury has awarded a Texas couple $13.78 million in damages in their defamation lawsuit against a number of individuals who anonymously posted more than 25,000 comments about them online.

"The jury found that reputations are priceless, or at least very expensive," said William Demond, a Texas attorney who represents Mark and Rhonda Lesher.

The Leshers were subjected to accusations of sexual assault, sexual deviancy, and all manner of crimes for approximately a year and a half, according to Megan Hassan, who also represents the Leshers.

A Florida judge has dismissed a former U.S. Senate candidate's libel suit against the St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald.

An Iowa jury awarded a state senator $231,000 in a defamation suit last week, finding that his opponent and the local Democratic Party defamed him in a TV ad that ran during the 2010 senate race.

State Sen. Rick Bertrand, a Republican, filed the suit with the Woodbury County District Court within 48 hours after the campaign ad aired claiming that Bertrand “put profit over children’s health,” according to the senator. The ad was paid for by the Iowa Democratic Party and approved by his opponent Rick Mullin, who would eventually lose the election to Bertrand.

A federal judge denied a motion for retrial in the case of a self-described investigative blogger, ruling that private figure plaintiffs do not have to establish “negligence” or “actual malice” to hold a non-media defendant liable in a defamation suit arising out of speech not on a matter of public concern.

The U.S. District Court in Seattle dismissed a lawsuit against a website that profiles and rates lawyers, doctors and dentists across the country under the Washington anti-SLAPP statute.

CNN's decision not to include closed captioning services for its online video content was not First Amendment protected conduct, and because of that the company is not entitled to early dismissal of a lawsuit under California's anti-SLAPP statute, a federal judge has ruled.

A U.S. District Court judge ruled that a civil lawsuit can continue against a Louisiana police chief and four officers accused of violating a former officer's constitutional rights. The court declined to dismiss the civil rights case against the officers who arrested the police veteran for criticizing the chief in email messages to a local newspaper.