A New York appeals court decided that a upper New York state man could not sue for defamation after someone called him gay. The court argued that the history of legal precedents on the act was based on the assumption that it was a disgrace to be described as gay which is now no longer the case. -db From the New York Post, May 31, 2012, by Dareh Gregorian. Full story
A New York federal court ruled that scientific hypotheses are not libelous so that a pharmaceutical company ONY, Inc. could not sue the Journal of Perinatology for publishing a critical study of one of their products. The court said that the dispute should be played out in peer-reviewed scientific journals rather than the courtroom. -db From the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, May 25, 2012, by Raymond Baldino. Full story
After found not guilty of sexual assault of a woman in their Texas community, a couple were attacked anonymously on Topix, accused of drug abuse and dealing, murder and encouraging pedophilia. The couple was forced to move out of town, and the wife lost her business. After Topix helped the couple find the identity of those making the anonymous postings, the couple sued the perpetrators and won a $13.8 million judgment by a jury. -db
The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals took a dim view of the claims by a former Kentucky teacher that a principal had committed “libel by pantomime” by escorting her out of the building when she protested that she was not allowed a representative at a meeting. She claimed that escorting her out of the building would lead those observing to think she had done something wrong. -db From the First Amendment Center, April 19,
The U.S. Supreme Court decided a libel case in favor of the Tampa Bay Times. A doctor sued over a series of 2003 articles about his demotion from chief of medicine at a medical center to a cardiology specialty. A jury decided for the doctor, but the trial judge threw out the verdict and the $10.1 million judgment on the grounds that the plaintiff’s evidence did not pass First Amendment muster. -db From the Tampa