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Thursday, October 15, 2009
Courts - More on "the future of media in New Jersey "
The story about the defamation suit against the Bergen New Jersey Record, quoted in this long ILB entry from Oct. 12th, is discussed in this WSJ Law Blog entry today headed "New Jersey Defamation Case Turns On Mysteries Of Legal Terminology" that makes two interesting points, quoted below:
- Novergence, a New Jersey company, filed for bankruptcy, leading to a civil complaint accusing John Salzano (the son of the company’s owner) of “converting” hundreds of thousands of dollars in company funds.
But in referencing this complaint, The Record of Hackensack, a garden-state newspaper, used the word “stole” ─ not convert ─ to describe the accusations of Salzano.
Salzano, who has denied involvement in Norvergence and has had some of the claims against him dismissed, sued the Record, claiming the article damaged his reputation.
- As it stands, the press enjoys a “fair-report privilege” to write about allegations in court filings without fear of being sued for defamation. According to this AP report, media lawyers argued that the newspaper was covered by the privilege because the story accurately and fairly reported the allegations in the suit.
But a lower appellate court in the Salzano matter, ruled that newspapers can be held liable if they report on allegations in just-filed criminal or civil cases and the claims don’t stick. The appellate panel, Braun writes, “ruled if the press were free to describe unsubstantiated charges, then bad faith litigants and prosecutors can use the media to destroy reputations.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 15, 2009 06:50 PM
Posted to Courts in general