Articles Tagged with Libel

On Tuesday, February 15, 2022, jurors returned a unanimous verdict of not-liable in Sarah Palin v. The New York Times Company and James Bennet. Palin, the former governor of Alaska and Republican vice presidential candidate, alleged that The New York Times defamed her in a June 2017 editorial.

On Friday, January 28, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld a district court's ruling dismissing a lawyer's lawsuit concerning negative online reviews. The appeals court ruled that the negative reviews were expressions of opinion that could not support a libel claim.

On Tuesday, February 19, 2019, the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari in Katherine Mae McKee v. William H. Cosby, Jr., 586 U.S. ___ (2019), a lawsuit concerning Katherine McKee's claim against Bill Cosby for defamation where Cosby's lawyers released a letter allegedly damaging McKee's reputation for truthfulness and honesty. The First Circuit found McKee became a limited-purpose public figure when she made sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby and, as such, would need to prove that the statements in the letter were both false and made with actual malice. United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, writing a concurring opinion in the Supreme Court's denial of certiorari, called for a reconsideration of the doctrinal basis for First Amendment cases concerning defamation and libel.