|
 Judge Cheryle Gering of the Union County Circuit Court in Elk Point,
South Dakota, dismissed claims against anchor Diane Sawyer, but said
ABC, a unit of Walt Disney Co, and reporter Jim Avila must defend
against such claims.
"A jury could determine that there is clear and convincing evidence
that ABC Broadcasting and Mr. Avila were reckless, that defendants
had obvious reason to doubt the veracity of informants, and that
they engaged in purposeful avoidance of the truth," Gering said
during a hearing last month.
The judge said Sawyer was different in part because "her actions as
anchor, which limits her involvement in doing research," were not
sufficient to establish defamation.
Gering did not rule on the case's merits. Reuters obtained a
transcript of the Feb. 8 hearing on Tuesday. The decision was
reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.
"We are pleased that the court dismissed all claims against Diane
Sawyer," ABC said in a statement. "We welcome the opportunity to
defend the ABC News reports at trial and are confident that we will
ultimately prevail."
BPI's lawyer, J. Erik Connolly, said his client looks forward to
proving how ABC "engaged in a disinformation campaign against a
company that produces safe and nutritious beef, leading to billions
of dollars in damages and hundreds of lost jobs."
A jury trial scheduled for June 5 could last eight weeks.
Lean, finely textured beef is made from beef chunks, including
trimmings, and exposed to tiny bursts of ammonium hydroxide to kill
bacteria.
BPI said ABC's reports in March and April 2012 implied that the
South Dakota-based company's product was not safe, not nutritious
and not even meat.
[to top of second column] |
The network has called BPI's lawsuit an attempt to chill media
coverage of the industry and inhibit free speech.
BPI has claimed up to $1.9 billion of damages, which could be
tripled to $5.7 billion under South Dakota's Agricultural Food
Products Disparagement Act.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has called BPI's product safe.
But some retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc, stopped selling
ground beef containing it after the ABC reports.
Several other defendants were previously dismissed from the case,
including a former Agriculture Department microbiologist said to
have coined "pink slime" in a 2002 email.
The case is Beef Products Inc et al v. American Broadcasting Cos et
al, First Judicial Circuit Court of South Dakota, Union County, No.
12-292.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additional reporting by
P.J. Huffstutter in Chicago; Editing by Dan Grebler)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
