Nunes Family’s Lawsuit Against Reporter Fails to Meet Defamation Standard, Judge Rules
After analyzing the sixteen allegedly defamatory statements, U.S. District Court Judge C.J. Williams found that the plaintiffs had neither identified what about them was false nor provided any facts that would have shown them to be false.
Texas Supreme Court Rules That a Defamation Suit Against TMZ Can Proceed
On May 8th, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in a 5-3 decision that a defamation suit brought by a former NFL player against TMZ can move forward. Former Dallas Cowboys linebacker Robert Jones sued TMZ and its parent company, Warner Bros. Entertainment, in Travis County District Court in 2015, one year after TMZ published a story alleging that Jones tried to hire Watson to kill his sports agent.
Fox News Host Sean Hannity Threatens to Sue NY Times For Libel
On April 28th, Sean Hannity, a Fox News host, threatened to sue The New York Times over a column that linked a Brooklyn bar owner’s death from coronavirus to Hannity’s comments that downplayed the seriousness of the pandemic.
Harvard Law Professor Drops Defamation Lawsuit Against NY Times
On April 13, Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard Law professor, dropped his defamation suit against The New York Times after it made changes to an earlier story about Lessig’s defense of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology official who accepted donations from the late Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump Sues Wisconsin TV Station For Airing Democratic Super PAC Ad
Filed on April 13th in Price County Wisconsin Circuit Court, the lawsuit claims that the TV ad spliced together two video clips from separate campaign events to make it appear as if the president has said the phrase “The coronavirus, this is their new hoax.”
Texas Appeals Court Rejects Alex Jones’ Motion to Dismiss Heslin Defamation Suit
The judge has ordered Jones to pay Heslin $22,250 in attorney fees, making the total amount Jones now owes Neil Heslin just under $150,000.
Director Ava DuVernay and Netflix Sued for Defamation
On March 18th, Linda Fairstein, the former head of Manhattan District Attorney’s Sex Crime unit, sued Netflix director Ava DuVernay, and co-writer and producer Attica Locke for defamation. The lawsuit, filed in district court in Fort Myers, Florida, claims that DuVernay’s five-part series, “When They See Us,” contains scenes that portray Fairstein “in a false and defamatory manner.”
President Trump Files Third Defamation Lawsuit, Targets CNN
“These suits will likely fail in court but in the meantime they’ll gratify Trump’s base, distract the press and public, and deter speech and journalism that are vital to our democracy. That's presumably the point," Director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University Jameel Jaffer said on Twitter.