Second Circuit – Defamation: Adelson v. Harris

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U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit – Defamation – Online Reporting

Adelson v. Harris

13-4173-cv

Judges Calabresi, Raggi and Chin

Background: The plaintiff appealed from the dismissal of his defamation suit. The plaintiff alleged that the National Jewish Defense Counsel, its chair, and its president made statements in an online petition and press release during the 2012 presidential election cycle. The defendants used a hyperlink to an AP article that alleged that the plaintiff was accused of putting foreign money from china in the election and approved of prostitution.

Ruling: The Second Circuit certified questions to Nevada’s Supreme Court on the issue of whether a hyperlink to source material about judicial proceedings suffices in an online petition for purposes of applying Nevada’s common law fair report privilege. Also, whether Nevada’s anti-SLAPP statute, as it existed prior to the 2013 amendments, covered speech that seeks to influence an election but that is not addressed to a government agency.

James R. Ferguson of Mayer Brown for the plaintiff-appellant; Lee Levine of Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz for the defendants-appellees