A Small Newspaper in Iowa Wins a Libel Suit, but Legal Costs May Force It to Close

On July 17, 2017, the Carroll Times Herald was sued for libel after it published the first of a series of investigative pieces about a local cop who was having inappropriate relationships with teenage girls. The day after the Times Herald published its first article about the police officer, he filed a libel suit contending that his reputation had been destroyed, along with his employability as a law enforcement officer.