Posted on 07/14/2013 5:51:14 AM PDT by Gorilla44
George Zimmerman's not guilty verdict adds a new wrinkle to a separate legal case in the Florida courts: His defamation suit against NBC.
In December, Zimmerman sued NBC, reporter Ron Allen and two other news personnel on claims that the network's edits of his 911 call to police were manipulated to make it sound like he was a racist. The Florida judge in Zimmerman's case, Debra Nelson, put the defamation case on hold pending the result of the criminal trial.
Jody Armour, professor at USC's Gould School of Law, said that although it is "possible" that Zimmerman's claim against the network will be strengthened, it "may not have a big impact because he has to prove actual malice if he is trying to prove defamation."
He believes that Zimmerman "is almost certainly going to fall into the classification" of a public figure, raising the bar for plaintiffs, in that they have to prove knowledge that they knew that the information was false or had reckless disregard for the truth. (clip) In media defamation cases, plaintiffs have to show that the facts about them were false, that the news story was about them and caused harm and, in the case of public figures, that there was malice, or that the news outlet knew it was false and went ahead and published it anyway. Zimmerman was not a public figure before the shooting of Trayvon Martin last year, and an issue in his litigation may very well be the extent to which he falls into the category of a "limited purpose" public figure. Courts have weighed the extent to which a person voluntarily becomes part of public debate.
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
Here’s hoping NBC gets clobbered.
Bastards !
Hahaha!
Guilty as sin.
NBC altered 911 tapes to frame Mr. Zimmerman.
NBC altered 911 tapes for a quid pro quo from Obama
and his corrupt IRS.
Then he can go after the little fish. Sue 'em all.
That’s hilarious. Thanks for the laugh.
Beautiful!
NBC would be wise to pay up. They admitted wrongdoing already when they fired those who edited the tape
TERRIFIC !!
Since NBC actually fired the producers responsible, the lawsuit seems to be a surer thing than Zimmerman's "not guilty" verdict.
Well, seeing they intentionally altered a tape to make it seem something occurred that didn't, I don't think it would be difficult to prove.
Nbc to have all sharp ten on today. still baiting for news/ unrest. DON’T WATCH!
George should become quite wealthy, if only from out of court settlements.
More power to him in clobbering these filthy Marxist media thugs/slugs.
You, me, and everyone here, all know the same thing:
THERE WILL BE NO LAWSUITS AGAINST THE MEDIA.
Bill Ayers said it best: “Guilty as hell, free as a bird”.
Did this come up during the trial?
I’m hoping for GZvsABC in particular Matt Gutman.
No, he has to prove malice and that won't be as easy. He has to show that the editing was deliberate and done purposely in order to slander him.
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