Civil Rights
Block on Trump's Asylum Ban Upheld by Supreme Court
The Ninth Circuit greenlit a defamation lawsuit brought against the British tabloid Daily Mail Online by the former soft-core porn model Danni Ashe.
It's a bit of a victory for those "public figures" who generally fight an uphill battle with regards to defamation suits.
The plaintiff is Leah Manzari, who earned fame as the soft-core porn star Danni Ashe. She sold nude images of herself for about a decade from the middle of the 90s to about 2004. Her images earned her millions of dollars and made her one of the most celebrated soft-core porn actresses in the world.
In 2013, Daily Mail ran a story featuring one of Manzari's images showing her posing provocatively on a bed with the words "In Bed With Danni" in bold neon lettering; and the caption "Moratorium: The porn industry in California was shocked on Wednesday by the announcement that a performer had tested HIV positive." Manzari sued claiming false light.
After responding to her cease-and-desist, Manzari sought $3,000,000 in damages, which the defending party sought to kill with California's Anti-SLAPP statutes, arguing an important public concern.
The court recognized that public figures often have a higher bar to clear in order to meet a prima facie case of defamation -- the principal feature being "actual malice." Additionally, and very importantly, California law requires that a publication must also be reasonably understood by the public to imply a defamatory statement and that the publishing party acted with "reckless disregard." The court found both elements were met and that the defamatory statement reasonable implied that Manzari was afflicted with a venereal disease.
The court dismissed Daily Mail's unbelievable claim of innocence that it did not intend to make a connection for the reasonable public. But such an argument could not be entertained. If that were the case, the court said, all defamation cases would fail.
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