ESPN Founder Bill Rasmussen Files Libel Charges Against Naples Daily News; Seeks Millions in Damages.Business Editors/Legal Writers NAPLES, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 20, 2004 ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network founder Bill Rasmussen today filed a libel suit in Collier County Circuit Court seeking millions of dollars in economic and non-economic damages from the Naples Daily News, a subsidiary of the E.W. Scripps Company. In addition to the paper, the suit names Editorial Page Editor Jeffrey Lytle, Assistant City Editor/Business Gina Edwards, and Senior Writer Denise Zoldan as defendants. The suit charges the paper and its staff with intentionally, knowingly and recklessly libeling Rasmussen by publishing - and republishing in the paper and at its Internet site - hundreds of false reports about his alleged ongoing involvement with a criminal case in Collier County, Florida Collier County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 251,377. The U.S. Census Bureau 2006 estimate for the county is 314,649 [1]. Its county seat is Naples, Florida6. known as the "Stadium Naples Public Corruption Case." The libel suit accuses the Naples Daily News, which, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the suit, has a reputation for distorted reporting, of intentionally portraying the ESPN founder as a leading figure in the Stadium Naples Public Corruption Case to "gain sales and national visibility and exposure for the local paper." All charges against Rasmussen in the Stadium Naples Public Corruption Case were dismissed on August 27, 2002. Nonetheless, the libel suit charges, editors and writers of the South Florida newspaper acted with "actual malice Actual malice in United States law is a condition required to establish libel against public figures and is defined as "knowledge that the information was false" or that it was published "with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not. in continuing to ignore documented facts and other evidence" on the public record that directly contradicted the paper's ongoing reports. The articles published after August 27, 2002 continue to implicate im·pli·cate tr.v. im·pli·cat·ed, im·pli·cat·ing, im·pli·cates 1. To involve or connect intimately or incriminatingly: evidence that implicates others in the plot. 2. Rasmussen in the Public Corruption Case. Rasmussen's complaint asserts a belief that there is evidence that Naples Daily News editors sensationalized the news by altering facts in reporters' stories on the Stadium Naples Public Corruption Case prior to publication. As a result, the suit charges, the paper's editors and writers were at the center of maliciously focused reports aimed at intentionally defaming Rasmussen by continually publishing the same false statements "over and over again." The suit cites more than two dozen articles dated after the public corruption charges against Rasmussen were dismissed in which the paper knowingly published misstatements of fact in its print and online editions. The suit goes on to describe the Naples Daily News' callous use of its Internet edition - Special Reports - to spread falsehoods about Rasmussen. Since April of 1998 the paper has engaged in daily republishing of selected articles containing falsehoods about Rasmussen. Not a single one of those articles notes that the public corruption charges against Rasmussen were dismissed August 27, 2002. "The statute of limitations A type of federal or state law that restricts the time within which legal proceedings may be brought. Statutes of limitations, which date back to early Roman Law, are a fundamental part of European and U.S. law. prevents us from including the hundreds of additional repetitions of false statements regarding Rasmussen that occurred between January of 1997 and April of 2002," said Joel Magolnick, whose firm in Miami, Moscowitz Moscowitz & Magolnick, P.A., represents Rasmussen. "We believe that the defendants undertook a systemic pattern of printing falsehoods about Rasmussen to keep the ESPN founder in the news, thereby serving the newspaper's business interests while devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. Mr. Rasmussen's reputation and economic well-being. "As a result of the malicious reporting, Mr. Rasmussen has been irreparably ir·rep·a·ra·ble adj. Impossible to repair, rectify, or amend: irreparable harm; irreparable damages. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin harmed," said Magolnick. "That's the basis for our compensatory damages A sum of money awarded in a civil action by a court to indemnify a person for the particular loss, detriment, or injury suffered as a result of the unlawful conduct of another. claim. We believe that Mr. Rasmussen will be able to demonstrate a basis for seeking punitive damages Monetary compensation awarded to an injured party that goes beyond that which is necessary to compensate the individual for losses and that is intended to punish the wrongdoer. as well." |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion