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Appeals court overturns $8.2 million defamation win for Roy Moore
The panel found Moore failed to prove actual malice and sent the case back for judgment in favor of Senate Majority PAC.
- On Friday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed an $8.2 million defamation verdict awarded to Alabama politician Roy Moore, ruling he failed to prove the super PAC acted with malice.
- Moore's lawsuit challenged a 2017 political ad funded by the Senate Majority PAC, which he claimed created a false defamatory implication of soliciting sex from a 14-year-old by juxtaposing specific frames.
- U.S. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Branch noted the PAC made a 'negligent error at best,' concluding the evidence was inadequate to support a finding of the necessary intent for defamation-by-implication.
- Ezra Reese, an attorney representing the Senate Majority PAC, called the decision a 'total vindication,' while Jeff Wittenbrink, a lawyer for Moore, expressed disappointment and said they are considering an appeal to the Supreme Court.
- The Supreme Court may look at the whole doctrine of actual malice, Wittenbrink suggested, calling the appellate ruling an 'egregious overturning' of a jury verdict involving a public figure.
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Court reverses GOP candidate's defamation win over 'soliciting sex from young girls'
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has overturned $8.2 million in damages won by former Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore (AL) after he sued the Senate Majority PAC (SMP) for defamation over an advertising campaign that alleged that he was banned from a mall for "solicit...
·United States
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Total News Sources15
Leaning Left5Leaning Right1Center7Last UpdatedBias Distribution54% Center
Bias Distribution
- 54% of the sources are Center
54% Center
L 38%
C 54%
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