STUDENT PAPER SUED BY FAMILY

Posted Tuesday, March 20, 2001 12:00 am

By: Joel Davis Libel and Defamation Claimed

A high-school newspaper in Southern California's Santa Barbara County is being
sued for libel and defamation by a family that says a story about divorce that
included one subject's details of her dad's alleged alcoholism, abuse of her
mother, molestation of a sister, and the family's poverty were included without
permission and without seeking the family's side of the story.

The Lompoc Record reported that the article was published March 3 of last
year in Cabrillo High School's Fore and Aft newspaper. The family is
seeking unspecified damages against the student-run newspaper, which has won
numerous awards.

Joel Davis (jdavis@editorandpublisher.com) is West Coast editor for E&P.

Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher.

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STUDENT PAPER SUED BY FAMILY

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