$1 Bil. Suit Against 'Akron Beacon Journal' Proceeds

By: Joe Strupp An Ohio appeals court is allowing a $1 billion lawsuit to go forward against the Akron Beacon Journal. The suit alleges that four statements in a four-part series on an Ohio coal company were defamatory.

The Ohio Court of Appeals, Seventh Appellate Division, ruled last Wednesday that the lawsuit by Robert E. Murray, owner of The Ohio Valley Coal Co., may proceed to trial. The appeals court overturned a lower court ruling that had dismissed the case in 2002.

"The decision of the appeals court is a total vindication of me and the Ohio Valley Coal Company regarding the dishonest and malicious statements printed by an irresponsible newspaper," Murray said in a statement.

But an attorney for the newspaper, Karen Lefton, called the suit "unwarranted" and believes the paper would be vindicated. "It was a very sound piece of journalism," she said. "We recognize that when we write something about people, we sometimes offend people."

The lawsuit, filed on Jan. 25, 2001, stems from a Jan. 9, 2001, Beacon Journal (Click for QuikCap) article on Murray, in which several allegedly defamatory statements were published. The article was one of several in a four-day series.

The newspaper filed for a summary judgment in August 2002, which was granted by the Belmont County Common Pleas Court. The case was then dismissed. But, an appeal by Murray and the coal company led to last week's ruling.

"It is unusual for public figures in such defamation cases to make it to trial," Michael O. McKown, Ohio Valley Coal Co. general counsel, said in a statement.

The appeal was granted based on just four statements in a single story -- a side bar on Murray that ran with a bigger piece on local energy power brokers in the Jan. 9, 2001, edition.

One of those statements is a quote attributed to Murray, in which the paper quoted him saying, "The only thing I want is a long line at my funeral. I'm sick. I bought my cemetery plot."

Two of the statements involve descriptions of Murray by the writer, Margaret Newkirk, who wrote "Even his friends roll their eyes at his hyperbole" and "If the Boich brothers were the quiet voice of coal in the 1990s, 'Honest Bob' Murray -- as his friends jokingly call him -- was the loud one." The final statement included a paraphrased quote about Murray attributed to a former coal lobbyist: "he tends to exaggerate a good bit."

"The four statements are, as a matter of law, defamatory per se," Judge Joseph J. Vukovich, who wrote the opinion for the three-judge panel, stated in his ruling. "However, a question of fact remains as to whether the statements are substantially true and were stated with actual malice."

Lefton, the paper's attorney, called the determination of the statements as defamatory "mind-boggling" and added: "I am disappointed."