CT Blue

What were these judges thinking?

A state appeals court has ruled that a newspaper can be sued for libel for reporting allegations from a lawsuit before any court proceedings have taken place.

The ruling reversed a lower court ruling that dismissed a libel claim against The Record of Bergen County brought by Thomas John Salzano, who alleged the newspaper defamed him in 2006 by reporting a federal bankruptcy court complaint that he misappropriated money from a Newark telecommunications company.

The court said The Record was not privileged to “republish alleged defamatory statements within a bankruptcy court complaint” and that the newspaper did not demonstrate the allegations were true or non-defamatory.

If Ted Stevens gets off on appeal can he sue every paper in the land for reporting on the allegations against him? Hopefully the NJ Supreme Court will reverse this case.