Posted on 02/14/2022 10:24:21 PM PST by conservative98
Legal experts have slammed the Clinton-appointed New York judge who tossed Sarah Palin's libel lawsuit against The New York Times while jurors are still deliberating the case and say he's effectively hobbled the jury.
'I would have expected the judge to wait for the jury to return its verdict before ruling on the motion for judgment as a matter of law, because there was no urgency to issuing that ruling,' attorney Mitchell Epner, of Rottenberg Lipman Rich PC, told Law & Crime on Monday.
'Nothing would have changed if he had waited for the verdict to have been announced, or for the jury to say that they couldn’t reach a verdict.'
While jurors have been warned to avoid reporting of the case until they've concluded their task, experts say it's inevitable that news of its dismissal will reach them, and potentially undermine their efforts to reach an honest, unprejudiced verdict which no longer carries any weight.
US District Court Judge Jed Rakoff made the ruling on Monday afternoon as the jury deliberated whether the Times defamed her by linking her to a 2011 shooting spree in Arizona that injured Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.
Rakoff claimed he'd done so because her lawyers failed to produce evidence the paper had acted maliciously. He used a 1964 precedent which states that journalists who defame people accidentally, and without malice, cannot be convicted, to justify his ruling.
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Rakoff said he will order the dismissal of Palin's lawsuit, but enter his order after her jury finishes its own deliberations. He added that he expected Palin to appeal
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
“Falsely accusing someone of a crime is defamation on its face.”
The burden of proof requires that Palin prove not only did the NYT print a falsehood that could damage her reputation, but they did in on purpose ‘with malice’. This is a very high bar and it is why celebrities rarely can win such a legal battle.
Nicolas Sandmann has been been able to prevail because he wasn’t ‘famous’ when the defamations against him were published.
Earlier thread on this topic had more germane comments towards the end. Judge wants jury verdict to be able to pass up to the appellant court for consideration, and final disposition if they go with a decision for Palin.
Because the Circuit Court will not like him undercutting their decision that the case go to trial and get a jury verdict. It’s not smart to piss off your superiors, and that’s what the trial court did.
When the Court of Appeals reverses the trial Judge, there will be language that includes a “bench slap”.
I get what you’re saying, now. He’s painted them into a corner.
Trying desperately not to be Arkancided.
He has not painted the Circuit Court of Appeals into a corner. He has only delayed the inevitable, and will embarrass himself in the process.
He would not have done this if he really believed Palin’s lawsuit had no merit. He did it because he knows her case has a great deal of merit.
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