Today, the Minnesota Court of Appeals filed a decision regarding a lawsuit by list member Jana Metge against list member Basim Sabri for defamation and interference with her contractual relations.
http://www.courts.state.mn.us/opinions/coa/current/c202249.html The case involves actions in the ongoing CNIA dispute. Of particular interest to the list is that one of Metge's defamation claims was based on a posting on this list by Basim on April 23, 2001 in which he accused CNIA leadership of misappropriating $110,000 of NRP funds.* The post did not specifically mention Metge, but Metge claimed that the post implied that she was responsible. The court of appeals, in upholding the dismissal of this claim, stated as follows: "Sabri's posting was part of a continuing on-line dialogue related to the CNIA and NRP. Discussion of matters in the public interest and involving public persons justifies robust, and sometimes even caustic, debate. [Diesen v. Hessburg, 455 N.W.2d 446, 453 (Minn. 1990)]. We conclude that the posting represents a statement of opinion and does not contain such an omission or juxtaposition of facts as would be necessary to establish genuine issues of material fact for defamation by implication." This should not be interpreted as any legal advice for people posting their opinions on this list, but it seems that this court believes that there should be some latitude in expressing views in this sort of forum. Jordan Kushner Powderhorn * The following is the excerpt of the post that was alleged to be defamatory: "And in fact, there were many files pertaining to NRP [Neighborhood Revitalization Program] funds and programs, along with many other materials that were necessary to operate the organization and NRP business that had disappeared when the new board came into office. Not only is there $110,000 of NRP funds currently missing, but as we all know, it costs a lot of money to generate those files and reconstruct those files that are now missing. I hold the NRP * * * responsible for filing formal charges and investigating this matter. However, to this date, they have done nothing to resolve this very important issue after a formal request was given to them. Isn't it ironic that the ED at that time (Jana) is currently the ED of another neighborhood group that receives NRP funds? I am wondering when the NRP office will start holding individuals accountable for their actions. Frankly, I don't see it happening under the current operation of the NRP. We must have reform and we should start holding people accountable for public money that is clearly misappropriated." _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
