Posted on 11/15/2006 4:56:32 AM PST by spintreebob
Saying the Kane County Chronicle's management was negligent in its oversight of former columnist Bill Page, jurors awarded Illinois Supreme Court Justice Robert Thomas $7 million in his libel lawsuit against the newspaper and Page.
A Kane County jury deliberated for nine hours over two days before reaching the verdict Tuesday afternoon. More than 4.5 of those hours were focused on deciding how much money to award Thomas, jurors said.
Thomas dropped his head into his hands and shed tears of relief upon hearing the verdict. Page had a wide-eyed look of shock.
Thomas regained his composure and mouthed “Thank you” to the jury. He later shook hands with each juror before they left the courthouse.
“I thank God and thank Mr. (Joseph) Power and the jury for seeing the truth so clearly,” Thomas said.
Thomas filed a libel lawsuit against Page and Shaw Suburban Media Group for a series of columns in 2003 that accused him of trading his vote in the discipline case of then-Kane County State's Attorney Meg Gorecki in exchange for political support for his friend in a judicial election.
The columns accused Thomas of initially seeking disbarment for Gorecki in her ethics case - which was before the Supreme Court - as retribution for her running against the GOP pick in the 2000 primary.
re: "political support for his friend". WBBM and WLS reports used the word "friends" in the plural, meaning not just a candidate, but US.
This was a fight with the liberal media and liberal Republican establishment of Kane and DuPage Counties (Dillard, etal) vs conservative activists. The conservative activists dare to say things like "I thank God". The liberals think that they are God. The liberals think that the end of discrediting conservatives is a worthy end and the ends justify the means, even blatant lies about conservatives, in achieving those ends.
Furthermore, the Republican establishment is bent out of shape that both Thomas and Gorecki ran against them, and beat them (with our help). The Republican establishment is bent out of shape that Thomas is honest and will not be the normal Illinois Supreme Court Republican and protect them from charges of corruption. So, before he was elected, and even more so since he was elected, they have sought ways to destroy him.
The bi-partisan combine has always feared that we might run for governor/senator a Bob Thomas type who has both celebrity and high moral character. When Bob Thomas prays and associates with us who happen to be conservative activists the combine sees some sinister conspiracy developing.
The combine is hell-bent on bringing down to their level (of corruption) any prominent person who seems to have morality. Unfortunately, my friend Gorecki succumbed to the entrapment they setup for her. Then they tried to smear Thomas with guilt by association ... associating with friends of Gorecki.
The jury found against Page and the newspaper on every count, finding the 2003 columns at issue were defamatory, presented in a false light, untrue and published with actual malice....
Yikes! Under NYT v. Sullivan, getting the actual malice piece is very difficult. You almost never see this kind of suit succeed when a public figure is the plaintiff. Hats off the plaintiff’s counsel.
Sadly, the "Republican establishment" can take some credit for the losses suffered in this last election. It may be time for the good old boys to go and be replaced across the board, locally, state-wide, and nationally.
ROTFLMAO, etc. But, I support the idea. Speaking of support, the RNC has seen my last dollar.
Prediction: Dershowitz on the appeal of this award.
"Republican Establishment", ha ha, what a joke. They are all chiefs with no followers. Let's see, here in Michigan, Dick DeVos (qualification: son of billionaire) lost bigtime, while opposing Proposal 2, the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative. Proposal 2 won bigtime. So, lots of voters voted both for Proposal 2 and Jennifer Granholm, the Dem governor. Gee, what would make for a better candidate for the GOP, a supporter or opponent of the Civil Rights Initiative?
But in IL the bi-partisan combine needs to be bi-partisan so they have the cover of "everybody does it" . . . meaning both Rs and Ds do it.
And if the combine goes, who will distribute the pork to the pinstripe patronage? In IL, the establishment/R half of the combine is not ideological. The only time they care about an issue is when there is money and power in it for them. If there is no personal benefit to the gay issue, or abortion issue or gun issue, they just find those issues a nuisance.
And they find Christians like Bob Thomas who "Thank God" a nuisance because too much belief in God tends to make one be judgemental and think that things like "Thou shalt not steal" and "Thou shalt not bear false witness" are still relevant today. That last thing they want is a state supreme court justice who is judgemental.
I don't knwo the facts, but $7 million is over the top.
We need more of this nationwide.
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