Last month, Commissioner Price won a libel suit against the Elite News. I know nothing of the history between the commissioner and the newspaper. On these matters, I follow Ron Kirk’s advice:
“Never try to understand the politics of South Dallas.”
However, for a public official to win a libel suit is, to put it mildly, unusual. So I decided to look at the pleadings.
According to Price’s suit, an article in the newspaper–which neither I nor our attorney can find–stated as matters of fact that he…
“…was corrupt, that he was an indicted rapist, that he was a homosexual, that he was a person of loose morals, that he was an extortionist, a thief, a shakedown artist, and that he used his public office both for his own personal financial gain and to influence the criminal justice system in his favor.”
I guess that would upset me, too. But I was struck by the wording of Price’s rebuttal:
“The defamatory statements were entirely false. The statements were false because the Plaintiff has never used his office for his own benefit, or for corrupt purposes, he has never shaken down or extorted money from anyone, he has never been indicted by a grand jury for rape, he has never been charged with criminal theft and he has never approached a man and inquired about his private parts.”
Perhaps there is a reason having to do with the wording in the original article for the way certain facts are phrased, and Price did win the suit, but…