Posted by Eugene Volokh:
A Rare Victory in a Candidate-Candidate Libel Suit:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_08_02-2009_08_08.shtml#1249339694
The [1]Las Vegas Sun reports:
State Sen. Mike Schneider today agreed to pay $150,000 in punitive
damages to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by his 2004 election
challenger, Danny Tarkanian....
Schneider accused Tarkanian of setting up telemarketing companies
that were later found to be running scams and that he turned
�state�s evidence� against the telemarketers to avoid being
prosecuted.
Tarkanian practiced civil law until 1995 and admitted he helped set
up the companies but had no involvement in the day-to-day
operations of any of them. He said he was not aware that any of the
companies were already engaged in illegal activity at the time that
he helped to set up them.
Lief Reid, a former Deputy Attorney General, testified that
Tarkanian was not part of the investigation into the companies....
Schneider testified that he relied on his investigator and campaign
team for the veracity of the information....
My sense is that such lawsuits by political candidates are quite rare,
for several reasons, including that:
1. The coverage of the lawsuit necessarily repeats the original
charges.
2. It�s hard to prove �actual malice� and therefore the plaintiff
will often lose even if he�s right on the substance.
3. Such lawsuits are very expensive.
4. Such lawsuits give the defendant an opportunity to conduct
discovery that might unearth other things that the plaintiff might
not want revealed.
Nonetheless, political candidates are as entitled to protection from
false and defamatory statements of fact said with knowledge that
they're false, or reckless disregard of the substantial risk of
falsehood, as are other public figures. And presumably the jury
concluded that the defendant did indeed know the statements were
false, or recklessly disregarded that possibility.
References
1.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/aug/03/danny-tarkanian-get-150000-punitive-damages-defama/
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