Media Law

It’s a 10-year old case … but it is still going - could a city be guilty of actual malice for publishing allegations in such a report? What liability would the media have for republishing the report about a police chief?

In an apparent victory for Columbus Police Chief James G. Jackson, the Ohio Supreme Court issued a ruling today that says his defamation lawsuit against the city and a former safety director might have a leg to stand on.

The high court’s 4-3 decision reverses a ruling by the Franklin County Court of Appeals and says that including an allegation of immoral activity by Jackson in a report that was made public was enough to raise a question about whether the city acted with “actual malice” and could be found liable for defamation.

More than 10 years ago, then-Safety Director Thomas W. Rice prepared a report for then-Mayor Greg Lashutka on how Jackson handled officers involved in a botched prostitution probe. The report included claims by a convicted criminal that Jackson had hired prostitutes and fathered a child out of wedlock.

Although the allegations were never proved, Jackson claimed that Rice and the city had defamed him. Both state and federal courts have dismissed the case, most recently the appeals court in 2006.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/03/13/jackson.html?sid=101