A journalist who writes a story describing the allegations leveled by one of the parties in a lawsuit can sleep easy knowing that the fair reporting privilege shields them from being sued for defamation. But the protection, it seems, runs ...

Tagged with: libel

A North Carolina newspaper has lost an appeal against a $6 million libel verdict awarded to a former firearms analyst at the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation after a Court of Appeals ruling finding that the evidence in the case ...

Tagged with: libel

Eshelman v. Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 002-011-17, 10 pp.) (James Dever III, C.J.) 7:16-cv-00018; E.D.N.C. Holding: Even if the statements in defendant’s website’s “Investor Presentation” were not individually false, taken together and in context, the statements, on slides ...

Tagged with: libel

The former state firearms examiner who won a stunning $9 million libel verdict against The News & Observer and one of its reporters has asked a judge to award her nearly $60,000 in costs along with interest on the award. ...

Tagged with: libel

Desmond v. News & Observer Publishing Co. (Lawyers Weekly No. 15-07-0499, 31 pp.) (Donna Stroud, J.) Appealed from Wake County Superior Court (Donald Stephens, J.) N.C. App. Holding: In a libel case arising from a newspaper’s articles criticizing the plaintiff-ballistics ...

Tagged with: libel

Skinner v. Reynolds (Lawyers Weekly No. 14-07-1027, 15 pp.) (Sanford Steelman Jr., J.) Appealed from Forsyth County Superior Court (A. Moses Massey, J.) N.C. App. Holding: Where the plaintiff-law student admits that he has accused various parties of fraud and ...

Tagged with: libel

Singer-songwriter Conor Oberst has dropped his federal libel lawsuit against a woman who accused him of sexual assault in online comments.

Tagged with: libel

North Carolina resident Brenda Wells was so vexed by her experience at a Texas psychiatric hospital that she started a blog to publicize her grievances. And since all her vexes live in Texas, a North Carolina federal court will apply that state’s law to the hospital’s libel suit against her.

Tagged with: libel

A North Carolina State University professor trying to sue his supervisor for libel over a bad performance review had his suit tossed out by the North Carolina Supreme Court because the justices didn’t think the complaint was specific enough. The decision creates new precedent about the importance of specifying whether a plaintiff is suing a public employee in her official or personal capacity.

Tagged with: libel

Being a criminal prosecutor is not the same thing as being an expert on libel law, and a spate of bad press is not the same thing as actual malice. Ousted Durham County District Attorney Tracey Cline may learn a thing about both of these points after filing a pro se complaint for libel against the Raleigh News & Observer on September 4.

Tagged with: libel