Striking workers' newspaper faces down fixed libel suit
Posted by Lisette García on November 5, 2009 at 8:24 AM
A U.S. newspaper founded in 1978 by striking workers won partial vindication yesterday when a Pennsylvania supreme court ordered the retrial of a US$3.5M libel suit brought by the former business partner of a convicted mobster, The Citizens' Voice today reported.
The libel suit, originally won by juvenile detention center operator Thomas A. Joseph, stemmed from news coverage of a federal money-laundering investigation of Joseph and his business partner, William D'Elia, according to yesterday's court order. D'Elia, currently incarcerated on separate charges, is the reputed head of the Bufalino crime family.
The libel suit, originally won by juvenile detention center operator Thomas A. Joseph, stemmed from news coverage of a federal money-laundering investigation of Joseph and his business partner, William D'Elia, according to yesterday's court order. D'Elia, currently incarcerated on separate charges, is the reputed head of the Bufalino crime family.
With the new trial comes a renewed possibility of seeking outright
dismissal of the suit in the form of a request for summary judgment, The Citizens' Voice also said.
The Citizens' Voice successfully appealed the US$3.5 million judgment by showing bias on the part of the judges involved in the ruling, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported today. The judges involved were former President Judges Michael T. Conahan and Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. Conahan had apparently used his position to divert juvenile detention contracts to Joseph's facility in exchange for as much as $2.8 million, The Associated Press reported Friday. Ciavarella had apparently decided the subsequent libel suit in favor of Joseph at Conahan's behest.
The libel suit had been decided without a jury because none was requested by either party. All juvenile matters decided by Ciavarella between January 2003 and May 2008 were vacated Thursday, according to the American Bar Association Journal.
Proof of the judges' involvement in the kickback scheme came through a recording device worn by attorney Robert J. Powell, who faces disgorgement of profits and more than five years in prison for his role in the scheme, The Times-Tribune reported in June.
In 2000, The Citizens' Voice was sold by its employee-owners to a newspaper chain which has since evolved into Times-Shamrock Communications. No estimate on the newspaper's legal tab to date for defending Joseph's libel suit was immediately available. Nor is it clear whether the disgraced judges, or their former employer Luzerne County which ignored earlier complaints about the pair, will enjoy immunity from a civil suit. If the misconduct were deemed immune from suit by virtue of its taking place within the judges' official capacity, the judges and taxpayers would be spared from paying civil damages to those harmed, according to an April article in The Times Leader.
The Citizens' Voice successfully appealed the US$3.5 million judgment by showing bias on the part of the judges involved in the ruling, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported today. The judges involved were former President Judges Michael T. Conahan and Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. Conahan had apparently used his position to divert juvenile detention contracts to Joseph's facility in exchange for as much as $2.8 million, The Associated Press reported Friday. Ciavarella had apparently decided the subsequent libel suit in favor of Joseph at Conahan's behest.
The libel suit had been decided without a jury because none was requested by either party. All juvenile matters decided by Ciavarella between January 2003 and May 2008 were vacated Thursday, according to the American Bar Association Journal.
Proof of the judges' involvement in the kickback scheme came through a recording device worn by attorney Robert J. Powell, who faces disgorgement of profits and more than five years in prison for his role in the scheme, The Times-Tribune reported in June.
In 2000, The Citizens' Voice was sold by its employee-owners to a newspaper chain which has since evolved into Times-Shamrock Communications. No estimate on the newspaper's legal tab to date for defending Joseph's libel suit was immediately available. Nor is it clear whether the disgraced judges, or their former employer Luzerne County which ignored earlier complaints about the pair, will enjoy immunity from a civil suit. If the misconduct were deemed immune from suit by virtue of its taking place within the judges' official capacity, the judges and taxpayers would be spared from paying civil damages to those harmed, according to an April article in The Times Leader.
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Striking workers' newspaper faces down fixed libel suit.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.editorsweblog.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/19737
Leave a comment