A Chicago lawyer acquitted on sexual assault charges can pursue a defamation lawsuit against Gawker Media after an appeals court found that a comment posted to its former online site Jezebel “unequivocally” accused him “of committing a crime (rape).”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on Monday upheld dismissal of Meanith Huon’s defamation claims against Gawker over the Jezebel post’s headline and reporting. But the panel reversed dismissal of Huon’s defamation claims relating to comments posted to the Jezebel site, concluding, “we see nothing farfetched about Huon’s factual allegations” that Gawker employees, in an attempt to drum up business, wrote the comments.
