libel news stories on Newser

Teen Sues Facebook Tormentors for Libel

John Johnson — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:34:52 CDT

When a 14-year-old girl in Georgia discovered a phony—and degrading—Facebook page created in her name, she went to her school, the police, and even Facebook itself without much luck. The page stayed up, and its creators went unpunished. As a result, Alex Boston is now suing two classmates...

Palin Threatens to Sue McGinniss Over Rogue

Mary Papenfuss — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 01:07:04 CDT

Here's something that's bound to get more people reading The Rogue . Sarah Palin is threatening to sue author Joe McGinniss and his publisher for his tell-everything tome about the former Alaska governor, which includes gossip about drug use and adultery, reports ABC News . The work was roundly criticized in the...

Vicious Small-Town Gossip Gets Online Forum

Matt Cantor — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 14:47:43 CDT

It’s small-town gossip 2.0: Tiny towns in the Ozarks, Appalachia, and elsewhere are increasingly turning to the Internet for local chatter—and when posts are anonymous, they can get nasty. On sites like Topix.com, cruel rumors get started virtually, and true or not, the fallout can be disastrous....

Strauss-Kahn Accuser Sues New York Post

John Johnson — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 13:23:29 CDT

The Dominique Strauss-Kahn case in New York City may disappear soon , but the DSK headlines keep coming. The maid who accused him of rape is suing the New York Post for reporting that she was a prostitute , notes Reuters . The stories were "an apparent desperate attempt to bolster its rapidly...

Food Blogger Jailed for Complaining About Noodles

Kevin Spak — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 10:38:05 CDT

Be careful what you blog about in Taiwan. One woman, identified only as Mrs. Liu, learned that lesson the hard way recently, after she complained on her little-read blog about the Sichuan Flavor Beef Noodle Restaurant in Taichung. The place, she wrote, was full of cockroaches, the owner was a...

Amanda Knox's Parents Ordered to Stand Trial

Evann Gastaldo — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 11:46:05 CST

As Amanda Knox appeals her murder conviction, her parents must now also go on trial. An Italian judge today ordered Edda Mellas and Curt Knox to stand trial for libel, after they repeated in a newspaper interview Knox's claims that she was mistreated by police during her night-long interrogation after...

Naked Sleepwalker Wins $15M Libel Case

Mary Papenfuss — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 04:29:00 CST

An executive arguing he was simply sleepwalking nude when he tried to enter his secretary's room on a business trip has won a $15 million libel judgment against his firm for portraying the incident as inappropriate. Serial sleepwalker Donal Kinsella, 67, won Ireland's biggest-ever libel case after he told a...

Israel Slams Catholic Call to End Occupation of Palestine

Matt Cantor — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 07:27:08 CDT

Israel blasted a statement by Catholic bishops made during a conference in Rome that called for “an end to the occupation” of Palestinian territories. “We express our disappointment that this important synod has become a forum for political attacks on Israel in the best history of Arab propaganda,” said Israel’s...

Palestinian Sues 'Bruno' for $110M

Jane Yager — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:03:55 CST

A Palestinian portrayed as a terrorist in Bruno is actually a Christian shopkeeper and activist, and he's suing for $110 million. Ayman Abu Aita, identified in Bruno as a member of the militant al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, filed libel and slander suits last week against Sacha Baron Cohen, David Letterman, and...