Talk Radio Host's Remarks Ruled 'Caustic' Opinion
The New York Law Journal by John Caher - May 8, 2012
A radio talk host who asked a woman whose brother had been acquitted of criminally negligent homicide how it felt to have a "cold-blooded murderer" as a sibling is immune from a defamation suit because his remarks were "obviously intended to be caustic and confrontational, rather than factual," the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, has held in Gisel v. Clear Channel Communications, 11-01968. The panel concluded that Rochester-area talk show host Robert Lonsberry's statements were "nonactionable expressions of pure opinion." The dispute involved a conversation that Lonsberry had on air with a woman whose brother was found not guilty of a homicide charge brought in connection with a hunting accident. Lonsberry opined that the incident could not have been an accident and asked the woman whether her brother "put a notch in the stock of his gun as he kills people."
I bet the judges would have ruled differently had the radio talk show host been calling for court reform...
ReplyDeleteFreedom of speech for some and politically correct control of speech for others. For the politically correct, hunters are by definition evil and ought be condemned. Criticize Sandra Fluke and speech must be controlled.
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