News

Judge clears the way for defamation case to head to trial

A South Dakota judge has ruled against a motion from ABC to dismiss the defamation case brought against them by Beef Products, Inc.  The lawsuit claims ABC News’ negative coverage of lean finely textured beef caused nearly 2-billion-dollars’ worth of damage to the company.

Judge Cheryle Gering tossed the defamation claims against anchor Diane Sawyer, but left accusations against ABC News and journalist Jim Avila.

ABC wanted the case dismissed, but the judge said there is “clear and convincing evidence that ABC Broadcasting and Mr. Avila were reckless and engaged in purposeful avoidance of the truth”.

BPI sued ABC after the network and its news division repeatedly called the company’s beef product “pink slime”.  The reports caused some customers, including grocery stores, restaurants and the national school lunch program, to stop using the product.

BPI claims ABC’s reports cost it more than 400-million dollars in sales and forced the closure of three of its four plants, resulting in the loss of 700 jobs.

According to the Wall Street Journal, a South Dakota food-libel law could triple the damages against those found to have knowingly lied about the safety of a food product and ABC News could be hit with as much as 6-billion-dollars in damages.

The jury trial scheduled for June.