Recently in Defamation Category

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is being sued by the American Small Business League (ASBL) in United States District Court, Northern District of California for refusing to release the telephone records of SBA Press Office Director Mike Stamler. The ASBL requested Mr. Stamler's phone records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The ASBL believes Mr. Stamler engaged in an aggressive campaign to mislead the media and damage the organization's reputation.

The ASBL has won a series of federal lawsuits against the SBA, which forced the disclosure of information showing that the SBA had fabricated federal small business contracting data and covered-up the diversion of hundreds of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 companies and other large businesses.

The ASBL expects to file an additional lawsuit against the SBA for refusing to release all of Mr. Stamler's emails for the years 2006 and 2007. The ASBL began requesting Mr. Stamler's communications after several journalists informed the organization that Mr. Stamler had libeled and slandered the ASBL and its President Lloyd Chapman, and embarked on an aggressive campaign to impugn the organization's credibility with members of the media.

In one such example, after the Long Island Business News (LIBN) quoted ASBL President Lloyd Chapman in a story, the LIBN reporter received a profanity-riddled email from Mr. Stamler. In response, the LIBN reporter published a blog titled, "Expletives the SBA's Forte?" (http://libn.com/libizblog/2008/02/22/expletives-the-sbas-forte/)

The ASBL intends to continue gathering information on Mr. Stamler's campaign to libel and slander the organization and its President Lloyd Chapman in preparation for another lawsuit to be filed against the SBA for defamation of character.

The SBA's own Inspector General has released several investigations that found blatant fraud and abuses in SBA administered small business contracting programs. (http://www.sba.gov/IG/05-15.pdf)

In the past, the SBA responded to federal investigations and news stories, which found billions of dollars in small business contracts had gone to Fortune 500 corporations with a series of press releases claiming that the diversion of federal small business contracts to large corporations was a myth. (www.asbl.com/documents/sbamythvfact.pdf)

"There is no question that Mike Stamler and the SBA have tried to cover up the diversion of small business contracts to Fortune 500 corporations," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "Based upon the information we have obtained so far, it's obvious that they have launched a massive campaign to attack our organization and impugn our credibility as we continue to expose the rampant fraud and abuse that has gone unchecked since 2002."

SOURCE American Small Business League

A pending application to the New York Supreme Court seeks to force Google to divulge the identity of an anonymous blogger because of a few comments made on the Internet on one single day. The application brings to the fore the need to ensure that First Amendment free-speech protections continue to extend to anonymous web-based commentary.

A hearing on the motion to reveal the anonymous blogger's identity is scheduled for Wednesday, February 25th. The petitioner, fashion model Liskula Cohen, alleges that references to her as a "skank" and "ho" on the website "Skanks in NYC" constitutes actionable libel under New York law and on that ground seeks to unmask the anonymous blogger.

 

"Despite its seemingly petty underpinnings, this case carries serious implications," says Debra J. Guzov, co-founder of Guzov Ofsink, LLC, which is defending the anonymous blogger. "We strongly believe that if the plaintiff were to succeed in her efforts, it would move toward the erosion of our basic constitutional right to anonymous free speech."

Anonymity and the Internet

The Cohen proceeding could potentially have a chilling effect on anonymous commentary made all over the Internet. "Ideas are exchanged freely on the Internet in large part because participants can speak using assumed names or no name at all," says Ms. Guzov. She adds that anonymity not only encourages democratic discourse and allows dissenters from majority opinion to share their minority views, but it also provides vital protection from the fear of political, economic or even physical retribution for espousing those views.

"The Internet has become the predominant forum in modern society for the free exchange of ideas and opinions, however absurd, profane, insulting or rhetorical," says Anne W. Salisbury, a Guzov Ofsink attorney who specializes in First Amendment cases. "We do not have to condone everything people say on the Internet, but we must respect their right to say it."

Courts all over the country have already ruled that words such as "skank," "pimp," "tramp" and "douchebag" are not defamatory, especially in the context of blogs and other online commentary. "Context matters," Ms. Guzov notes. "Indeed, in this particular case, no reasonable person visiting a web site entitled 'Skanks in NYC' would expect to find assertions of verifiable facts."

SOURCE Guzov Ofsink, LLC

TROY, Mich., Feb. 11 / -- A former decorated U.S. Marine Sergeant filed a 10 million dollar claim against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on Friday, February 6, 2009 for being harassed and targeted because of his faith as a Muslim. Sgt. Affraz Mohammed was falsely accused, prosecuted, and later acquitted during court martial proceedings for allegedly attempting to purchase an unlicensed firearm.

During his wrongful prosecution, and because of his faith, Sgt. Mohammed was repeatedly harassed and tormented for being a Muslim and was repeatedly called a "Terrorist" and a "Taliban Marine." Sgt. Mohammed, who had an exemplary record with the Marines, was honorably discharged because he has been rendered disabled for suffering from extreme mental and emotional distress from the mental torture he had to endure.

Commenting on Sgt. Mohammed's ordeal, Mr. Shereef Akeel, his attorney said "This mistreatment of a decorated United States Marine who served his country with honors and distinction is shameful and simply unacceptable. This man should have been commended for protecting out borders with pride, not targeted because of his faith."

Akeel and Valentine, PLC has specialized in many civil rights and discrimination cases. For more information on this or other cases, please contact Akeel & Valentine, PLC, at (248) 269-9595 or visit their website at www.akeelvalentine.com

Park West Gallery, Southfield, Michigan, is slamming claims made by the website Fine Art Registry, that it sold some of its customers counterfeit artwork. Responding to a lawsuit filed earlier this year in Oakland County Circuit Court by Park West customers recruited by FAR, the gallery has filed a counterclaim against FAR, its founder Theresa Franks and Frank Hunter, operator of another website apart from the five plaintiffs of the earlier lawsuit, charging them with defamation, tortuous interference and civil conspiracy.

Park West is seeking a permanent injunction against these individuals and FAR as well as punitive damages.

To read more about the case click here.

Andy Kennedy, coach to the Ole Miss Basketball team, who was charged with misdemeanor and assault by the police for an incident that took place in December during which he allegedly punched a cab driver, has decided to retaliate. He sued the driver and a restaurant valet who came forward as a witness for defamation of character. His lawsuit seeks an excess of $25,000 for the alleged damage to his reputation.
On Friday, in response to Kennedy's lawsuit, the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas filed a counter-claim against the star coach and his wife Kimber Kennedy for initiating a frivolous lawsuit. In addition to this, the cab driver, Mohamed Moctar Ould Jiddou is suing Kennedy for assault and ethnic intimidation.
To read more about the case click here.

Two photographers who were sued by Bert Stern for the possession of seven transparencies of his Marilyn Monroe photographs have reached a settlement with him.
Under the settlement, Stern admits that the two photographers he sued, Donald Penny and Michael Weiss, did nothing illegal. He has also agreed to let them make a limited number of prints from the transparencies which he will get to keep.
Attorney Jamie Brickell represented Penny, Weiss and Robert Bryan. Bryan is one of Weiss's associates and he alleges that he found Stern's transparencies in a garbage can in the 70's. The images are part of a famous photo session that took place just before Monroe's death.  The session is popularly known as Monroe's 'Last Sitting.'
Stern had filed a lawsuit against the two photographers in September last year after they approached him with the transparencies to get permission from him to reproduce them. In his lawsuit Stern claimed $1 million in damages and legal fees as well as the return of the photos which he claimed were stolen from him.
In October, the photographers filed a lawsuit against Stern in retaliation in which they accused Stern of breach of contract, fraud and defamation amongst other claims.

A Newark, Ohio city employee, who filed a defamation suit against the city in June 2004, has finally reached a settlement.
Robert Gregory Ketter filed a federal defamation suit against the city in U.S. District five years ago alleging that public remarks made by then-Mayor Bruce Bain, had painted him as a criminal. In his lawsuit, Ketter had stated that his rights as a classified employee had been violated for which he was seeking damages.
A housing rehabilitation supervisor in the city's Community Development Department, Ketter was placed on paid leave in February 2004 during an investigation into the department's handling of federal community Block Grant money. He was reinstated on a probationary basis the next January, almost a year later, after the investigation did not turn up any evidence of wrongdoing.
Newark Law Director Doug Sassen said yesterday that the city and Ketter had reached a verbal settlement. Ketter's attorney, Mike Moses stated that the settlement vindicated Ketter.
The settlement includes monetary damages and allows Ketter to continue working at the department.

A disgruntled patient of a San Francisco chiropractor who was sued for posting a negative comment about the doctor's services on the popular peer-review website, yelp, recently reached a settlement with him.
This case is the first to sue a Yelp user for defamation for posting a bad review.
Yelp Inc., is a social networking, user review and local search website that is accessed by approximately 10.6 million people every month. It has gathered a lot of negative publicity over the fairness of the negative reviews on the site. Some business owners have alleged that the order in which reviews are placed is controlled and that this is used to pressurize them into advertising. Yelp has also been criticised over its alleged bias towards its sponsors whom it spares the humiliation of negative reviews by taking them off the website.
In the November of 2007, Christopher Norberg posted a review complaining of the billing practices of his chiropractor, Steven Biegel. He wrote that he had expected a bill for $125 but was instead sent a bill for $500. He also wrote that when questioned, his chiropractor could not give him a straight answer about the jump in price. What angered Biegel the most was Norberg's statement claiming that he had later found a much better, honest chiropractor.
In his libel lawsuit Biegel claimed that the post defamed him by suggesting that he was not honest.
On the website which he started to publicise the lawsuit, standforspeech.com, Norberg posted last Friday that 'a misunderstanding between both parties led us to act out of hand'. This statement came after the case was resolved through mediation.
To read more about the case click here.

Four trainers who were wrongfully notified that they had EPO positives and were hence prevented from entering events at the Red Mile, have filed a lawsuit against the premier, harness- racing institution, for the adverse publicity they received as a result of the declaration.
Jan Johnson, Jim Arledge, Jr., Bob McIntosh and Joe Seekman are suing the Red Mile for defamation. They are seeking a reimbursement for the cost of the additional testing, lost entry fees, potential lost purse earnings and attorney costs.
The four trainers were cleared of the doping allegation after more stringent and dependable tests were conducted to detect the hormone erythropoietin which is used to boost the formation of RBCs in the bloodstream. This form of doping is called blood doping and is used to improve an athlete's aerobic capacity and endurance. That because an increased RBC count directly causes an increase in the oxygenation of muscles. Blood doping can be done in several ways. To read about blood doping click here.
To read more about the case first reported in the Lexington Herald-Leader click here.

 A Lingerie Bowl player recently sued her ex-boyfriend for posting nude pictures of her on MySpace.com.
Melissa J. Berry, 24, who is a model and lingerie football league player, sued her ex-boyfriend, Mark C. Dawson, a safe dating expert, for posting nude pictures of her on the internet. She alleges that he even sent some of the pictures to her mother.
In her lawsuit, Berry alleges that Dawson used his cellular phone to take several nude pictures of her including one taken without her knowledge. She further states that she never agreed for the photos to be shown to anyone else.
Berry is worried that these pictures will damage her reputation and affect her work.
To read more about the case click here.

Dixie Chicks frontwoman, Natalie Maines, has earned the ire of a man who has sued the group for her actions for the defamatory remarks she made about him while participating in a rally in Little Rock, Arkansas.
This isn't the first time that Maines, known for her outspokenness, has courted controversy. In 2003, while at a concert in London she commented that the Dixie Chicks were ashamed that the President of the United States was from Texas. This resulted in a lot of negative publicity for the band who were boycotted by several country music radio stations and also received several death threats.
This time, Maines appeared in a rally in support of three men, tagged the 'West Memphis Three' who were convicted as teenagers for the death of three 8- year old boys. One amongst them was Steve Branch. At the rally, Maines publicly declared that new evidence from the crime scene indicated that Steve's stepfather, Terry Hobbs was responsible for his death and that his behaviour after his child's death was suspect.
Hobbs is filing a lawsuit for defamation, libel, intentional infliction of emotional distress by outrageous conduct and false- light invasion of privacy. He is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages alleging that the band had caused him unbearable embarrassment, humiliation, severe psychological trauma, loss of income and injury to his reputation.
To read the whole article click here.

A resident of Tacoma, Washington, whose name was in the papers after a construction crane that he was manning, collapsed in Bellevue two years ago, is suing The Seattle Post- Intelligencer and it's parent company, Hearst Communications Inc., for defamation. He alleges that the newspaper defamed him by unnecessarily reporting on his criminal past and drug use in the weeks after the accident.
Warren Yeakey, 36, also alleges that the newspaper invaded his privacy and cast him in a negative light thus inflicting emotional distress on him. The lawsuit filed by his attorney in the Pierce County Superior Court last week also names Texas Newspaper Inc., which owns a stake in The Seattle P-I and the two reporters, Andrea James and John Iwasaki, who wrote the front page article in November 2006, as a defendants.
Yeakey's name was later cleared with regard to the collapse of the crane when state Department of Labour and Industries conducted investigations which revealed that a flawed engineering design had doomed the crane. Yeakey, the department ascertained, had operated the crane appropriately and could not be blamed for the collapse.
The crane Yeakey was controlling collapsed in Bellevue slamming into surrounding buildings and killing a resident, Matthew Ammon. Yeakey was injured in the crash.
The lawsuit states that the front page article in the paper, listed Yeakey's drug related convictions in the past and also detailed the terms of his last conviction in 2000, falsely implying that he was somehow responsible for Ammon's death. This story ran before the state department finished its investigation and did not highlight how Yeakey had 6,500 hours of experience operating cranes and how he had been off drugs for six years.
Although it's been two years, Yeakey's attorney, Matt Renda, stated that the hurt caused by the media coverage of the incident is still fresh in his client's mind.

A former top official at Staten Island University Hospital who filed a defamation lawsuit against the hospital suffered defeat when jurors in Long Island federal court denied his claims.

Former executive vice president Joseph A.Psani filed a case against SIUH claiming that he had been made a scapegoat in a Medicaid fraud case. Jurors declined to award Pisani damages, fidning that the SIUH had not libelled him as he had alleged.

In his lawsuit Pisani alleges that the hospital, its president, Anthony C.Ferreri and its chief executive officer, had publicly humiliated him when they announced a $76.5 million settlement with Eliot Spitzer, then state attorney general, over fraudulent billing practices from 1998 to 2000. As a result of the settlement, Pisani was relieved from hi $480,000 position as executive vice president of Westchester County Health Care Corp. where he was working at the time of the SIUH settlement in May 2005.

For further details of the case read the complete article on SILive.com here.

A Wayne, NJ resident, who blew the whistle against the township last year, has filed another lawsuit against a lawyer who represented the township in the case last year. The defamation lawsuit alleges that lawyer Eric L. Harrison, bad- mouthed him while talking about the settlement to the media. Jeffrey DelVecchio is suing both Mount Olive, his former employers, and Harrison for falsely stating that his job as building inspector was terminated because of his rude and insubordinate behaviour.
DelVecchio has stated in his lawsuit that these defamatory statements violated the settlement agreement reached by both parties last year and also caused him mental anguish, stress, humiliation, pain and suffering. For this he is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
In October 2007, DelVecchio won a $130,000 lawsuit against Mount Olive under the Conscientious Employee Protection Act also known as the whistle- blower law alleging that he had been removed from his job in retaliation for reports he filed in 2005 about supposed violations of construction codes in the building of a Best Western hotel in Budd Lake. 

A student of the University of Delaware is filing a lawsuit against people who posted vulgar information about her on a gossip website called juicycampus.com. The identity of the plaintiff is being kept secret to protect her against further humiliation and her name has been stated as Jane Doe in the lawsuit. The identities of her detractors are yet to be ascertained. The plaintiff alleges that these people identified her by name and posted vulgar and false claims about her sexual history on the website. Apart from claiming damages for psychological impairment, emotional distress, loss of reputation and distraction from her school work, she is also asking for a public apology and for the comments to be removed from the site.
The anonymous posters did not stop at name calling and stated allegations about the plaintiff as fact. At least one of them (assuming they were different people) posted that Doe slept with three men on one night.
Such allegations are commonplace on the website which encourages students to post salacious gossip about their classmates anonymously.
The two year old site claims to provide absolute anonymity to people who visit it. They do not have a registration procedure and they don't ask for any information.
Jane Doe's lawsuit does not name the website as a defendant and many feel that they are equally responsible for Doe's defamation as they failed to enforce the terms of use of the consumer- fraud laws that require users to agree not to post abusive, obscene or defamatory content.
This legal battle is going to be hard fought and expensive since Doe needs to fight several legal battles before she can get the names of her detractors. Her first battle will be with the website to identify the name of their internet service provider. Next she will have to fight with the service provider to get the name of the account holder.

 

Kansas University basketball player, Sherron Collins can now heave a sigh of relief after a lawsuit filed against him was dropped. Jessica Brown, 36, alleged that Collins exposed himself and rubbed against her while they were travelling together in an elevator at Jayhawker Towers on the KU campus where she worked. She was seeking more than $75,000 in damages for mental and physical problems.
Brown dropped her case recently on the condition that Collins drop his counterclaim against her, accusing her of defamation.
Throughout the ordeal, Collins maintained that he was innocent.
Douglas County District attorney declined to file criminal charges against Collins as Brown had failed to provide sufficient evidence to support her claim.

Mailers sent out by Winter Springs, Florida, Commissioner Robert Miller, have landed him in a defamation of character and libel suit after he published false statements about Thomas Binford, treasurer of one of his rival's campaigns.
Miller's two mailers featured editorial cartoons that showed his rivals in bad light. On the back of the mailers, he stated that Thomas Binford, Jean Hovey's campaign treasurer, had been fined $4,000 by the Florida Election Commission. This statement was incorrect and was what landed him in a lawsuit.
Binford, who operates a paralegal business in Winter Springs, is representing himself in the case and has termed Miller's statements scandalous, false and libellous, damaging his reputation as a businessman in the community.
The two mailers that Miller circulated citywide encourage voters to support Gilmore and Poe. They further draw citizen's attention towards a 2006 Political Action Committee that was formed to hold a recall election against then commissioners Don Gilmore and Michael Blake. Miller filed a complaint against the PAC after the elections and ensured that the group was fined $4,000 on 10 counts of violation of election laws. While Binford was the secretary of the PAC at the time, he wasn't the one who was fined. George Markward, the PAC's chairman and treasurer was the one who got fined.
Miller has not been served the lawsuit yet. Once that is done he will have 20 days to respond.
Information: Seminole Chronicle, Florida

Matt Blunt, the governor of the state of Missouri, involved in a defamation lawsuit, failed to convince a Jackson County Circuit judge to dismiss the charges against him. Allegedly, Blunt ruined a staff member's reputation to cover up the destruction of public records. Judge Michael Manners did not accept the argument that Blunt had the authority to make derogatory remarks while performing his job. Such a stance would undermine public policy as expressed in the state's whistleblower- protection laws as well as in laws that encourage government accountability.
The judge wrote that, the state not only needed to encourage high ranking public officials to speak out on issues of public interest but also needed to support lower ranking public employees to blow the whistle on instances of misconduct by their superiors.
Scott Eckersley, the governor's former deputy legal counsel, filed the lawsuit. His allegations stem from a controversy that arose in the summer of 2007 over the destruction of e-mail messages in Blunt's office. Supposedly, Eckersley had warned Blunt's aides in mid September last year that destroying those e-mails was illegal following which he was fired. The e- mails that were destroyed ascertained that Blunt's staff had tried to use the Missouri Highway Patrol to discredit a political opponent and used state workers and state equipment to coordinate political attacks.
Blunt and his aides have denied that Eckersley ever suggested that they stop deleting e-mails. They maintain that Eckersley was fired in late October last year for his poor job performance. After firing him they also distributed packets of information to news houses containing memos that accused Eckersley of doing private legal work on state time, viewing adult websites on his state computer and allowing personal problems to interfere with work. Eckersley claims that Blunt and his staff did this to humiliate him and discredit his name as they were afraid he would publicly accuse them of destroying official records.
Eckersley eventually sued Blunt and his aides, seeking damages for injury to his reputation and wrongful dismissal. The lawsuit is also seeking damages for violation of the state's open-records law and of the state's whistleblower law, according to which disciplinary action against a state employee who discloses illegal conduct is prohibited.
Blunt's attorneys have stated that, as governor, Blunt has complete immunity against being held liable for any allegation he makes.
Manners disagreed, writing that, such an argument restricts the public's right to know, only encompassing the official version projected by high government officials. To allow a public official to defame his critics also undermines the objectives of whistleblower laws, he ruled.
Information from an article written by Kit Wagar on The Kansas City Star website.

A Northbrook man, undergoing a trial for his alleged sexual abuse of a child is suing the parents of the victim and the Lake Forest Day camp where he worked, for defamation.
David Goodman, 22, a former camp counsellor accused of sexually abusing a child has stated in a lawsuit filed by him last month in Cook County Circuit court that he never abused the 5 year old and that the Banner Day Camp where he worked, defamed him by sending out 1500 e-mails about the case.
Goodman alleges that as a result of the case his reputation has been injured and he has suffered severe emotional distress, humiliation and embarrassment.
Asking for over $50,000 in damages, Goodman pleaded not guilty on February 4 to four counts of criminal sexual assault of a child and four counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Goodman had to turn himself in, in December last year after a warrant was issued against him for the act that allegedly took place in the summer of 2007.
For the complete article click here.

The Deputy Sheriff of Mahaska County, Oskaloosa, Iowa, Richard Adams and his wife Melissa have been implicated in a lawsuit for allegedly, forcefully taking a child away from her father.
Ashley Elaine, 16, and her biological father, Robin Scott Evans, 47, accused the couple of abduction, false imprisonment, abuse of power, violation of civil rights and of harbouring a runaway child. The lawsuit was also filed against Mahaska County.
The couple had applied for and were granted co- guardianship of Ashley in 2007. This, the plaintiff claims, was done without notifying him and hence violated his rights to be informed about the due process of the application.  
In November 2007, responding to a 911 call from the Evan's residence, Richard and Melissa took Ashley away from her father and kept her location secret until they were forced to return her to her father by order of court issued 29 April 2008.
Judge James Q. Blomgren who presided over the 29 April ruling stated that the order to grant guardianship of the minor girl to the Adams was illegal and was a violation of due process. He further stated that factors such as the death of a parent, abandonment of the child or demonstrable harm to the child qualified the appointment of a guardian. In this case the Adams had failed to prove any of the above mentioned factors.
The plaintiffs have asked for a jury trial and their lawsuit requests damages for unjust imprisonment, violation of rights, humiliation and embarrassment, mental and emotional distress, expenses incurred in defending the guardianship petition of the Adams and exposure to public hatred and ridicule. The lawsuit is also seeking expenses incurred by the plaintiff in searching for his daughter.

 

A former police chief of North Arlington recently settled a civil dispute with the Meadowlands Racetrack and the New Jersey State Police over a dispute that has taken several years to sort out. Frank Italiano was taken to court for a disorderly persons offence that allegedly took place at the racetrack in 2004 where he trains horses. The judge decided to throw the case out as there wasn’t sufficient evidence against Italiano. After the judge’s decision in the original case, Italiano filed a civil lawsuit against the Meadowlands Racetrack and state police within ninety days. His claim was that the two departments had humiliated him and prosecuted him under false charges resulting in the defamation of his character.
The settlement was made out of court and the amount Italiano settled for was not disclosed.
Italiano was relieved that his name had been cleared. Victory was all the more important for him as it affected his reputation. During the whole ordeal, Italiano’s friends stood by him and vouched for him. Most of them were shocked about the nature of the charge as they stated that they had never known him to do anything improper.

A federal judge dismissed filmmaker Carlton Sherwood's defamation lawsuit against Sen. John Kerry, saying remarks linked to Kerry's campaign for the 2004 presidential race amount to political opinions.

Sherwood sued Kerry and John Podesta, a campaign aide, accusing them of blocking the release of his documentary about Kerry's anti-Vietnam War activities. He said they labeled him a "disgraced journalist" and a "Bush hack."

The Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. canceled plans to air the documentary "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal" on its stations before the November 2004 election.

U.S. District Judge John P. Fullam said he found no evidence that Kerry personally made any of the statements. "I do not believe any of these statements are actionable since they constitute expressions of opinion, and must be viewed in the context of a hard-fought political campaign," Fullam wrote in a ruling issued Thursday.

"More importantly, I am not aware of any basis for holding a political candidate personally responsible for statements made in press releases issued by his party's national committee," the judge wrote.

Former "Riverdance" star Michael Flatley can proceed with a $100 million extortion and defamation lawsuit against Tyna Marie Robertson who falsely claimed he raped her in Las Vegas. Flatley won an Illinois State Supreme Court ruling that he is allowed to sue and the case can proceed to trial.

According to court papers, the 48-year old dancer received a letter from Robertson's attorney D. Dean Mauro in January 2003 alleging that Flatley had raped Robertson the previous year in a Las Vegas hotel, where Flatley was appearing in a show.

Court papers state that Mauro threatened in the letter, and later during phone calls, that he would file a sexual assault lawsuit unless Flatley agreed to a "seven figures settlement." Police declined to press criminal charges and Flatley said the sex was consensual.

A jury has ordered a labor union to pay $ 17.3 million to the health care organization, Sutter Health for a defamation campaign unleashed against the hospitals run by the organization.

The Placer County jury found that Unite Here, one of the nation's largest unions, defamed Sutter Health early last year by mass mailing postcards to women of child-bearing age in Northern California. The postcards claimed that the organization's hospitals used unclean linens. The union was in a labor dispute with the laundry service that cleaned the linens at the time.

Sutter Health runs a number of Bay Area hospitals, including Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley and Oakland, Mills-Peninsula Health Services in Burlingame and Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch.

"We are pleased that leaders of Unite Here have been held legally accountable for recklessly frightening patients and the public through outrageous and false allegations," said Michael Roosevelt, chairman of Sutter Health's board of directors.

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Actor Bruce Willis has sued Anthony Goodrich, a paparazzi photographer, for defamation. Goodrich had alleged that Willis manhandled him outside a Los Angeles restaurant.

Willis' attorney Martin D. Singer said that Goodrich had made "malicious, fabricated and defamatory statements" about an incident on June 13 when Willis was entering the Los Angeles restaurant Koi.

"Plaintiff put his hand up in front of his face to shield his eyes from the blinding flash of the cameras in order to be able to see and walk into the restaurant," the suit said. "Goodrich falsely stated that Willis stiff-armed Goodrich, shoved the photographer and pushed his camera into his face, causing injury to Goodrich's nose and teeth."

The lawsuit said that Goodrich's comments have damaged Willis' "reputation and standing in the community, as well as causing shame, mortification, hurt feelings, embarrassment, humiliation and damage to the value of his name, likeness and goodwill"

Goodrich initially filed a battery report with the Los Angeles Police Department but later refused to prosecute.

The lawsuit seeks "$1 million in general, special and consequential damages as well as punitive damages to be determined at trial."

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