Posted on 02/27/2007 8:58:30 AM PST by EdLake
Hatfill Settles $10M Libel Lawsuit
By JOSH GERSTEIN Staff Reporter of the Sun
February 27, 2007 A former Army scientist named by investigators as a "person of interest" in the 2001 anthrax attacks, Dr. Steven Hatfill, has settled his $10 million libel suit against Vanity Fair and Reader's Digest after the two magazines agreed to retract any implication that the bioweapons specialist was behind the deadly anthrax mailings.
A statement issued today by a lawyer for Dr. Hatfill, Hassan Zavareei, said the case "has now been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of all the parties." He did not indicate whether any money changed hands.
A spokeswoman for Reader's Digest, Ellen Morgenstern, confirmed the settlement, but she would not elaborate. "All I can tell you is we're very satisfied with the results. I can't get into any detail," she said. A call seeking comment from Vanity Fair's parent company, Condé Nast Publications, was not immediately returned.
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
Is this a Richard Jewell situation?
Generally, the financial considerations in deals like this are subject to confidentiality agreements.
At the very least, his lawyers were well paid.
Anthrax ping.
Vanity Fair and Readers Digest will now be focused on Bob McCoy as a person of intrest in the anthrax attacks.
Oh, geez -- my first read of the title had me thinking the McCoys settled out of court. Sorry. ;-)
I remember reading the RD story and it sure looked like he was guilty. RD usually verifies their sources rather well, I think.
RD will cover the story in "I am Joe's verdict"
Actually, Dr. Hatfill acted as his own lawyer in this case.
It was being handled by the same lawyers who are handling the New York Times and the John Ashcroft lawsuits, but late last year that changed. Dr. Hatfill either decided to go alone, or the other lawyers decided it wasn't worth their time to pursue it any further.
A small law firm took it on, evidently just because Dr. Hatfill had to have legal help in court. For all I know, they could have been acting pro bono.
It's similar but a lot more complicated. Click HERE for details.
Who is Bob McCoy?
Obscure Hatfill and McCoy reference. I dont know who Bob is.
Well, if Hatfill DIDN'T do it, then it sure seems logical that someone connected with Fort Detrick and William Capers Patrick III DID...???
The list of suspects CAN'T be very long, given the nature of the goods involved and the limited access to such things.
Unless I am COMPLETELY off-base in this case...that was WEAPONIZED anthrax, which isn't exactly laying around unattended at the local veterinary supply house.....
The HatFIELDS and McCoys have been going at it for generations.....more often with flintlocks than anthrax, however...!!!
I know its Hatfield. Thats what made it so obscure. Apparently too obscure.
Oh well, sometimes my humor misses its mark.
Yep, you're just misunderstood. Keep on thinking that...
Maybe I should have called my wife before posting that one. After all, she is the funny one.
Maybe she's busy tumbling "Fluffy."
"Well, if Hatfill DIDN'T do it, then it sure seems logical that someone connected with Fort Detrick and William Capers Patrick III DID...???"
The Barbara Hatch Rosenberg "portrait" has long ago been dumped.
Yes, you ARE "completely off-base."
Douglas Beecher of the FBI Academy wrote a scientific article late last year where he said the anthrax powders mailed in the attacks of 2001 "were comprised simply of spores purified to different extents." He also discussed the "widely circulated misconception" that the Daschle and Leahy anthrax "spores were produced using additives and sophisticated engineering"
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