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Monday, May 08, 2006
Ind. Courts - "Cooper sues Jacobi, Vissing for defamation"
The New Albany News-Tribune reports this afternoon, in a story by Larry Thomas headlined "Cooper sues Jacobi, Vissing for defamation":
Embattled Clark Superior Court No. 1 Judge Jerome F. Jacobi took another hit late Monday afternoon when the husband of his primary election opponent sued him and supporter Jack Vissing for defamation of character.Jeffersonville attorney Lonnie Cooper claims his “personal and professional reputations have been damaged” by comments Jacobi and Vissing made against him in defense of Jerry Lemmons, Jacobi’s former chief of staff.
Cooper is the husband of Jeffersonville City Court Judge Vicki Carmichael, who beat Jacobi by nearly 1,200 votes in Tuesday’s Democratic Party primary. Jacobi was elected to the bench in 1994 and again in 2000.
Cooper said he filed the suit in Clark Circuit Court at around 4:30 p.m. Monday. He said he tried to arrange the timing of the filing so that it would be almost impossible for news of the action to reach the media until after the election, something he said Carmichael insisted upon. * * *
The law generally protects judges and lawyers from defamation actions, but Cooper’s suit argues that those privileges are not applicable in this case because Jacobi’s and Vissing’s comments were made “with actual malice or reckless disregard as to the truth.”
The state’s Code of Judicial Conduct generally bars judges from commenting on pending criminal investigations and cases.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 8, 2006 03:57 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts