By: Jim Moscou New wave of suits breaks
Most would have expected ? or wanted ? them to fade away. Instead, last week John and Patsy Ramsey did something few could understand: They didn't pick a fight, they picked a potential rumble.
On May 8 and 9, the parents of JonBen?t filed four libel lawsuits on behalf of their son Burke Ramsey asking a total of nearly $55 million in damages. Served were the New York Post, Time Warner's Time.com, Texas publisher Windsor House Publishing Group, and the supermarket tabloid Globe. John Ramsey promised more to come.
The suits were rolled out by the Ramsey's libel attorney, L. Lin Wood, a colorful character who bellowed, even daring the media to traverse his clients' reputations again: "They [the media] need to understand, if you accuse my client of murder, you will get in trouble. And anybody saying anything about Burke would be beyond irresponsible. It would be suicidal at this point."
Wood's brazen bytes are well-sculpted and packaged. Yet, remember, he's the legal hired gun who cut his libel-law teeth suing and settling a string of suits on behalf of Richard Jewell, the security guard falsely accused of planting a bomb at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
And this won't be the last offer to the media to play the role of Ramsey adversary. The parents of JonBen?t, still suspects in their daughter's murder, promise to file their own libel lawsuits by year's end. "We'll have our day in court," John Ramsey says.
The road to the current round of legal action began May 23, 1999, when the tabloid Star magazine published a "sources say" story claiming evidence showed Burke ? 9 at the time of JonBen?t's murder ? killed his sister. The problem was that Burke was a noted "witness" since JonBen?t's December 1996 murder. A few weeks after the Star's story, Boulder authorities publicly cleared Burke, again, in response to the Star's egregious coverage, authorities said.
The Star retracted its piece with a front-page apology. And, last November, Wood filed the first of five Ramsey complaints for $25 million. The Star settled in March for an undisclosed sum. But the mainstream had already bit. Days after the Star story broke, Time.com and Post staff writers scripted their own accounts of the Star's scoop, giving the tabloid's conclusion a credible nod. "? You might want to go with the supermarket tabloid on this one," concluded Time.com. Wood charges the Post and Time.com acted with gross negligence and malice, legal hurdles he'll have to clear in court.
Still, following the tabloid will cost the Post and Time.com, at the very least, legal fees. The Ramseys want $4 million each or a fight. A Post attorney curtly called their lawsuit "frivolous." Time.com spokesman Todd Polkes said it believes the story was done "in a responsible fashion, and we intend to defend it in court."
Editors' Note: An edited transcript of a John Ramsey interview by Jim Moscou appears at http://www .editorandpublisher.com.
(Editor & Publisher Web Site: http://www.editorandpublisher.com) [Caption]
(copyright: Editor & Publisher May 15, 2000) [Caption]
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