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Tennessee woman, ACLU win appeal in "white supremacist" defamation suit

Rogue Valley

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Tennessee woman, ACLU win appeal in "white supremacist" defamation suit


AP/CBS
October 28, 2017

tennessee-supreme-court.jpg


NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A court has ruled that a Tennessee woman does not have to pay thousands of dollars to a man who she called a "white supremacist" on Facebook after she saw that his car had bumper stickers promoting a Southern nationalist group and featuring the Confederate flag. The Tennessean reports that the Tennessee Court of Appeals' Middle Division reversed a lower court's decision Thursday, finding that defendant Lisa Rung hadn't defamed Robert Weidlich and therefore doesn't owe $7,000 in damages. Representing the defendant, the American Civil Liberties Union said Rung was upset over comments Weidlich made against LGBT people at a school board meeting. After the meeting, Rung noticed Weidlich's bumper stickers, including one promoting the League of the South, which the Southern Poverty Law Center lists as a neo-Confederate hate group.

Interesting ruling. If it acts like a racist, waddles like a racist, clucks like a racist....

Related: Tennessee police on high alert for white nationalist and neo-Nazi rallies
 
Good ruling. In the US isn't knowingly telling a falsehood one of the requirements for libel/slander? If she thought he was a white supremacist, even if he wasn't, I don't see how it could be libel, especially since she could point to his bumper stickers for the reason of her belief, even if you disagree with her deduction.
 
Jesus... what are the courts thinking... free speech?
 
Good ruling. In the US isn't knowingly telling a falsehood one of the requirements for libel/slander? If she thought he was a white supremacist, even if he wasn't, I don't see how it could be libel, especially since she could point to his bumper stickers for the reason of her belief, even if you disagree with her deduction.

Libel is written
Slander is spoken
 
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