[EL] damages awarded for defamatory campaign ad

[Richard Winger]

Bill might have added (but he didn't; I guess he wanted everyone to read the decision!)  that the Green Party candidate who brought that lawsuit (after she was charged with saying something factually untrue about her Democratic opponent) won her case in the Washington State Supreme Court.

Richard Winger

415-922-9779

PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147

--- On Mon, 4/9/12, Bill Maurer <wmaurer at ij.org> wrote:

From: Bill Maurer <wmaurer at ij.org>
Subject: Re: [EL] damages awarded for defamatory campaign ad
To: "Volokh, Eugene" <VOLOKH at law.ucla.edu>, "law-election at UCI.edu" <law-election at UCI.EDU>
Date: Monday, April 9, 2012, 10:34 AM



 
 




There was a case at the Washington Supreme Court, Rickert v. Public Disclosure Commission, 168 P.3d 826, that addressed whether the state may make it a campaign finance violation for
 statements that would meet the standards for a cause of action for libel or slander. 
 
   
Bill 
   


From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu]
On Behalf Of Volokh, Eugene

Sent: Monday, April 09, 2012 9:23 AM

To: law-election at UCI.edu

Subject: Re: [EL] damages awarded for defamatory campaign ad 


   


As I mentioned, I don’t think there’s any First Amendment problem with awarding libel damages for recklessly or knowingly false statements of fact in an election campaign, given
New York Times v. Sullivan and later cases.  But I do wonder whether the verdict in this case was supportable.  For instance, the plaintiffs apparently argued that the statements about “Bertrand’s company” must have referred to the small marketing companies
 that Bertrand owned, while in context it appears that a reasonable viewer would have seen the ad as referring to the company that Bertrand
worked for.  Under the independent appellate review standard set forth in 
Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union, an appellate court might well reverse the judgment, concluding that the particular statements in this case were either true or expressions of opinion. 
   
Eugene Volokh 
UCLA School of Law 
   
   
   
   
   
   

   


On Mon, Apr 9, 2012 at 7:27 AM, Kieran Williams <kierandwilliams at yahoo.com> wrote: 


A jury has awarded a candidate for the Iowa State Senate $231,000 in damages for allegations made by his 2010 opponent in a 30-second attack ad; details are

here. Note that the plaintiff who brought the suit did win the race, albeit very narrowly. Does anyone know of similar recent cases, in particular of any that did not get overturned? (I am not involved in this case in any way - I'm just interested in the
 boundaries of protected campaign speech.)



Kieran Williams

Drake University

Des Moines, IA  50311 









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