Judge’s Suit Against Newspaper Dismissed 3-Year, $1.5 Million Libel Case Is Found To Be Without Merit

A Spokane County judge’s lawsuit against The Spokesman-Review over articles that described her reading paperback books during two trials has been dismissed.

District Court Judge Donna Wilson filed the libel suit in 1995, saying the stories were untrue and invaded her privacy.

Asotin County Judge John Lyden said the lawsuit has no merit, in a ruling announced Friday.

Spokesman-Review editors said the articles were accurate and had filed a motion to have Wilson’s lawsuit dismissed.

Wilson sought $1.5 million in damages from Cowles Publishing Company and from staff writer William Miller, who wrote the first articles about her.

“The statements are false because they were written and published without sources and were made up from whole cloth by Miller,” Wilson said in her lawsuit.

Wilson is a public official and did not show the paper acted with malice by printing the articles in 1993 and 1994, Lyden ruled.

He said Wilson, who easily won reelection in 1994 after the articles appeared, also didn’t show the stories caused her harm.

In addition, Lyden discounted Wilson’s claim that humor columns and editorial cartoons following the original articles caused her public ridicule.

“The court finds the editorials, cartoons and humor columns are protected opinion,” Lyden wrote in a three-page ruling.

Neither Wilson nor her attorney, Rich Skalstad, could be reached for comment Friday. Lyden’s ruling can be appealed.

Newspaper Editor Chris Peck said he had hoped the lawsuit would have been dismissed sooner.

“The Spokesman-Review’s reporting on Donna Wilson has been accurate and appropriate,” Peck said.

“For three years we were puzzled by this unnecessary and unwarranted lawsuit. Judge Wilson clearly is a public figure and the public expects her job performance and conduct to be scrutinized by the media. We were doing our job.”

The newspaper declined to say how much it has spent defending itself.

Newspaper attorney Duane Swinton said editors are now deciding whether to continue a countersuit against Wilson that alleges her lawsuit was frivolous.

Swinton said Lyden’s decision correctly interpreted state libel laws.

“The burden was on (Wilson) to establish defamation. He found she hadn’t succeeded,” he said.

As a public figure, Wilson also would have to show the paper printed the articles knowing they were false or had acted with reckless disregard for the truth.

“She also could not show that at all,” Swinton said.

, DataTimes