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Judge Throws Out Robert Malone’s Defamation Lawsuit Against Washington Post
Dr. Malone does not plan on appealing.
10/2/2023
Updated: 10/2/2023
Dr. Robert Malone’s defamation case against The Washington Post has been rejected by a federal judge.
The Post’s allegedly defamatory statements, including saying that Dr. Malone’s “discredited claims have bolstered a movement of misinformation” and have caused “damage,” aren’t actionable because they’re “opinions in a scientific debate,” U.S. District Judge Norman Moon said in his ruling.
“All the statements at issue are part of the scientific debate over the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines,” said Judge Moon, appointed under President Bill Clinton.
The ruling was similar to the language offered in the Post’s motion to dismiss, which said that the statements were opinions that couldn’t be disproven and, even if they were factual statements, weren’t produced with malice.
Steven Biss, a lawyer representing Dr. Malone, had opposed that position, telling the court in a filing that saying that a professional has spread misinformation isn’t a matter of opinion.
“Whether Dr. Malone lied, published falsehoods, committed malpractice, or created dangerous risks to patients and the public are also capable of being proven false,” Mr. Biss said in the late 2022 filing. “These accusations are universally actionable.”
Mr. Biss didn’t respond to an inquiry. Repeated inquiries to Mr. Biss have gone unreturned apart from his wife answering once and relaying that he’s in a coma, Dr. Malone told the court.
No Plan to Appeal
Dr. Malone said that he doesn’t plan to appeal.
“This was always a low probability of success, given Sullivan,” Dr. Malone told The Epoch Times.
In its 1964 ruling in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against a public official who sued The New York Times over an advertisement it ran that contained inaccurate claims about police officers in Alabama.
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