Appeals court upholds dismissal of libel suit

A defamation suit against a Wisconsin newspaper was correctly thrown out at the trial court level, a state appeals court has ruled, because the articles at issue relied appropriately on public records.

According to the Associated Press, the 3rd District Court of Appeals in Wausau upheld the dismissal of the suit against the Antigo Daily Journal over its reporting on an armed robbery case.  The court found that the news reports were substantially true and, in the AP’s words, "any harm from two 2006 stories was concocted by [plaintiff Brian] Maus and not a result of the articles."