Thursday, July 29, 2004

More on the Roanoke city manager's defamation case

The Roanoke paper has this update ("Burcham suit to get outside judge," 7/29/04) which says among other things that defamation suits by local public figures are rare in the Roanoke area.

I'm no expert, but I'd say Ms. Burcham is a public figure for purposes of defamation law, which makes me think her chances of recovery are quite limited, but then again, right now the defendant doesn't have a lawyer, so maybe he won't figure out how to litigate the NY Times v. Sullivan malice issues.

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