Dow Gets Break On Libel Verdict
A federal judge in Houston on Friday threw out most of a $222.7 million libel verdict against Dow Jones & Co., a record amount that stunned the newspaper industry and free-press advocates.
The ruling by Judge Ewing Werlein eliminated $200 million in punitive damages awarded to the Houston investment firm of MMAR Group Inc. Actual damages of $22.7 million still stand against Dow Jones, which publishes The Wall Street Journal.
The ruling came two months after a jury decided that a Journal article by Laura Jereski published Oct. 21, 1993, was defamatory.