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Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Courts - Newspaper appeals $7 million libel verdict awarded to Illinois chief justice

The Chicago Sun-Times reports today:

Attorneys representing the Kane County Chronicle have filed an appeal of the $7 million libel verdict awarded to state Supreme Court Justice Bob Thomas.

The appeal challenges both the amount awarded to Thomas and the outcome of the case, saying the jury was incorrectly barred from seeing pertinent facts during the two-week libel suit that concluded in November. Jurors found that columns published in the Kane County Chronicle during 2003 caused damage to Thomas' future earnings, reputation and emotional well-being.

The jury found that the articles written by former Chronicle columnist Bill Page were false, and that they were published recklessly by Chronicle editors. The columns used entirely anonymous sources to accuse Thomas of trading his votes for political favors in the contentious disbarment of then-Kane County state's attorney Meg Gorecki.

"This lawsuit, with its troubling history ... will forever be defined by what happens next," the brief filed by the Chronicle says. "Public confidence in the fair and impartial administration of justice now depends upon Illinois judges who serve under the Chief Justice honoring their higher constitutional duty to conduct an independent review of the jury verdict."

The post-trial brief challenges the "unthinkable" $7 million libel verdict that was reached within "the friendly confines of the court system he oversees," according to the brief. If the lawsuit stands, lawyers for the Chronicle claim it will be the largest final award in a media defamation or privacy case in the history of Illinois -- more than twice as large as the runner-up -- and the seventh largest in U.S. history. As it stands now, it is the second largest Kane County award ever handed out.

The story also addresses the issue of what court will hear the appeal:
Thomas, as chief justice, is technically the boss of all Illinois judges, so where an appeal would be headed is somewhat unclear.

The appeal was filed in the 2nd Appellate Court District -- which includes Kane County -- where Thomas was a judge from 1994 to 2000. In the appeal, the case could be handed over to another appellate district.

The next step would be the state Supreme Court. But most of the High Court justices were involved as key witnesses in the libel trial.

Here is a list of earlier ILB entries on this case.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 16, 2007 08:19 AM
Posted to Courts in general