Defamation

NFL must prove guilt Sam Farmer Los Angeles Times The suspension of Jonathan Vilma was not too severe if in fact he offered $10,000 bounties to any teammate who took out Kurt Warner or Brett Favre. That's clearly crossing the line. But the thing is, did he actually do that? That's what the NFL needs to prove, or risk suspicion that the league rushed to judgment. It's time for the league to lay its cards on the table, reveal what specific evidence it has against the Saints, and put the matter to rest.

FANS OF THE First Amendment should take no pleasure in the recent jury verdict in the Ruthann Aron-William Brock defamation suit. Whatever else the verdict was, it wasn't a victory for free speech or anything else in the Bill of Rights, as proclaimed by some adherents who should know better.The issue that Ms. Aron, the unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate in 1994, raised against her opponent in that race was not freedom of speech. It was not the evils of negative campaigning.

Concerned that big developers might be using the threat of lawsuits to intimidate those who oppose their projects, some Baltimore-area lawmakers are pushing legislation that would protect community groups from such suits.One bill with 10 sponsors passed the House of Delegates by a 129-4 vote, while a Senate version is due for a committee hearing March 18. The bills are a reaction to suits filed in recent years by developers working in Harford, Baltimore, Anne Arundel and Frederick counties.

Kevin M. Lindsey, the McCormick Elementary School principal charged with sexually assaulting two former pupils only to have prosecutors drop the charges 18 days later, says he has received nothing but support from staff, students and colleagues since his return to work Tuesday. Nevertheless, the 50-year-old career educator and father of three can't help but wonder: "Are there people sitting there having their doubts? Probably, and that's my frustration. I should not be faced with anybody having concerns about my integrity."

A former employee of a Catholic girls school in Catonsville, who says she was fired after an affair with the school's former chaplain, is suing him, the school and the Archdiocese of Baltimore, alleging defamation and other transgressions, according to court documents. In the suit, filed last week in Baltimore City Circuit Court, Ellicott City resident Charyl Breidenstein alleges that the Rev. Timothy Fell, her former parish priest, had sexual contact with her over an approximately 18-month period, ending about June 2005.

Medifast Inc. filed a $270 million defamation lawsuit on Thursday against an ex-felon who became a fraud investigator for making allegations over the past year that a subsidiary of the nutritional products company was operating as a Ponzi scheme. The Owings Mills company is suing Barry Minkow and his Fraud Discovery Institute in California. Medifast said in a statement that Minkow, who spent seven years in federal prison for fraud he committed with his carpet-cleaning company, had issued "false and misleading reports" in an attempt to manipulate and profit from a drop in Medifast's stock price.

A Baltimore County Circuit Court judge dismissed Monday a defamation lawsuit filed by Dr. Mark Midei against St. Joseph Medical Center, barring the embattled cardiologist from seeking damages against his former hospital in the scandal over unnecessary heart stent procedures he's been accused of performing. The opinion by Judge Mickey Norman was not available, but electronic court records show that Midei's case was dismissed. Lawyers for Midei, St. Joseph and its corporate parent, Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives, all declined to comment until they had read the ruling.

A federal jury ruled yesterday that "The Amazing Randi," a magician, defamed a Finksburg scientist by calling him a child molester but the panel did not award any monetary damages.The jury in U.S. District Court in Baltimore found that Eldon Byrd, 53, the scientist, suffered humiliation, mental anguish, suffering and damage to his reputation because of the false statements. But the panel found that he was not entitled to any monetary damages after hearing testimony that he had sexually molested -- and later married -- his sister-in-law.

Gerald M. Rosen testified yesterday that he had no reason to falsify research data in scientific papers, and he blamed "mistakes" in his published works on the inherent chaos of a busy laboratory.Dr. Rosen, who is fighting for his professional reputation as chairman of the department of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, was the final witness in his defamation suit against a former research associate, Carmen M. Arroyo.Dr. Arroyo, who worked in Dr. Rosen's lab, alleged that he fabricated data in papers included in applications for federal grants without doing the experiments and used the results of her research without giving her credit.

The Republican candidate for clerk of Baltimore County Circuit Court is suing his Democratic rival for $2 million, contending that she defamed him in reporting to police that about 200 of her campaign signs were stolen or damaged. The suit by Richard J. Reinhardt II of Monkton does not claim that Julie Ensor directly accused Reinhardt of any offense. It argues that by saying Reinhardt signs appeared in locations where Ensor signs had been removed, Julie Ensor and her husband, Mark, "intended to charge, did charge" Reinhardt with the offenses of theft and malicious destruction of property.