[EL] damages awarded for defamatory campaign ad

[Neil P. Reiff]

Check out Charlotte Pritt v. National Republican Senatorial Committee out of West Virginia.  It took about ten years to go to trial and she finally lost at trial in 2006.


Neil P. Reiff

Sandler, Reiff, Young & Lamb, P.C.
1025 Vermont Ave., NW
Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20005
w. (202) 479 - 1111
f. (202) 479 - 1115

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From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Kieran Williams
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2012 10:28 AM
To: law-election at UCI.edu
Subject: [EL] damages awarded for defamatory campaign ad

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<http://www.bleedingheartland.com/diary/5432/gop-state-senator-wins-defamation-case-over-2010-ad>. 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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