Re: 10/20/00 - [HITT] Judge Dismisses Libel Suit Against Bloomberg L.P.
Judge Dismisses Libel Suit Against Bloomberg L.P.
LOS ANGELES, Oct 20, 2000 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Judge Paul Boland of the Los Angeles County, California Superior Court today dismissed a lawsuit against Bloomberg L.P. and David Evans. The lawsuit alleged that Bloomberg News columnist David Evans libeled Hitsgalore.com, Inc., in a May, 1999 story which revealed that the Hitsgalore.com had failed to disclose to the Securities and Exchange Commission that its CEO had been sued by the Federal Trade Commission for making false and deceptive statements about an online advertising company that he worked for.
In his decision, Judge Boland relied on California's anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) statute in dismissing the case. The statute allows courts to dismiss libel claims when the defendant's statements concern a "public issue" and the plaintiff is unlikely to succeed on the merits. The statute protects parties from "generally meritless suits brought by large private interests ... " which are designed "to chill the defendant's First Amendment rights."
The court found that Bloomberg met its burden under the statute to show that the Bloomberg News story was a form of free speech "in connection with a public issue" because Hitsgalore.com was a public company with 49 million outstanding shares valued at $1 billion. Since Hitsgalore.com could not prove "falsity of the express factual statements in the articles," it could not establish a "probability that it would prevail on the merits of its libel claims." The judge also found that Hitsgalore.com could not prove actual malice. The suit was dismissed and Hitsgalore.com was ordered to pay Bloomberg's attorney's fees.
About Bloomberg
Bloomberg L.P. is a global, multi-media based distributor of information services, combining news, data and analysis for financial markets and businesses. Bloomberg provides real-time pricing, historical pricing, indicative data, analytics and electronic communications 24 hours a day through 147,000 BLOOMBERG PROFESSIONAL systems used by over 250,000 financial professionals in 100 countries. Bloomberg media includes television, radio, publishing and Internet operations worldwide.
Source: Bloomberg L.P.
Contact:
Edward Skyler, 212-893-3981, eskyler@bloomberg.net, or Chris
Taylor, 212-318-2660, taylorc@bloomberg.net, both of Bloomberg L.P.
URL: bloomberg.com
siliconinvestor.com |
