SHORT ITEM

TEXAS– Judge dismisses part of beef defamation lawsuit against Winfrey. In mid-February the judge in the closely-watched defamation trial against Oprah Winfrey in Amarillo, Texas, dismissed part of a cattle rancher’s defamation suit against the talk show host.

After the rancher finished presenting his case against Winfrey, she asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit. According to the Wall Street Journal, federal District Court Judge Mary Lou Robinson held that the rancher could not prevail on the claims he made based on the state’s product disparagement law, one of thirteen such state laws and the first to be tested at trial.

However, she ruled that the trial could proceed based on older, more well-established defamation law. The judge gave no reason for her decisions.