Chicago, Illinois, April 6, 2004

FVLD scores 3 media law victories in March

Funkhouser, Vegosen, Liebman & Dunn Ltd. successfully represented media defendants in defamation decisions rendered in March of this year in three different courts.

On March 30, the Illinois Appellate Court upheld the dismissal of a defamation lawsuit filed by an Emerald Casino investor regarding a story headlined "Mob links hurt Rosemont casino bid" in the March 7, 2001, edition of the Chicago Sun-Times. The story referred to casino investor Joseph Salamone as a "reputed organized crime figure," prompting Salamone to file defamation and false light invasion of privacy action. FVLD filed a motion to dismiss the complaint and Cook County Circuit Judge Kathy M. Flanagan granted the motion. On appeal, Justice Robert Cahill authored a published opinion affirming the dismissal, finding that the Sun-Times characterized Salamone "not as a mobster, but as a person who is believed to be, possibly erroneously, an organized crime figure." The court agreed that "There is nothing in the remainder of the article that would support an opposite conclusion."

On March 24, FVLD obtained the dismissal of another defamation complaint, also against the Sun-Times, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Karla Knafel, the alleged former mistress of NBA star Michael Jordan, claimed that a Richard Roeper column defamed Knafel by describing her as a prostitute. Judge Amy St. Eve authored a memorandum opinion finding that the column was subject to an innocent construction as a matter of law.

On March 26, FVLD secured dismissal of a defamation suit against the Naperville Sun that was pending in the Circuit Court of DuPage County. FVLD successfully argued that the plaintiff’s criminal record rendered him "libel proof."

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