A federal appeals court on Wednesday ordered a retrial of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s defamation lawsuit against The New York Times.
A New York court announced that the judge in Palin’s first trial, which she lost in February 2022, had made an error in his ruling.
The civil lawsuit stemmed from a 2017 editorial that falsely suggested the one-time Republican vice presidential nominee incited a deadly 2011 mass shooting in Arizona.
The Times corrected the article and apologized, but Palin still claimed the editorial had damaged her reputation.
After Palin appealed, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan announced it would uphold her argument, citing error by Judge Jed S. Rakoff.
Rakoff dismissed the lawsuit, believing Palin’s lawyers had failed to present substantial evidence showing that the paper knowingly and recklessly published false information about her.
But the Second Circuit found that the decision to dismiss the case midway through deliberations unfairly infringed on the jury’s work.
In its 56-page decision, the court also cited “several major problems at trial,” including erroneous exclusion of evidence and inaccurate jury instructions.
The court ordered a new trial but rejected Palin’s request to remove Rakoff from the case, citing bias against her.
The editorial in question falsely linked Palin to the 2011 mass shooting that left Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) critically injured and six people dead.
The Associated Press reported that Palin’s lawyer, Shane Vogt, said he was considering a new opinion.
According to the Associated Press, Times spokesman Charlie Stadtlander said the newspaper was disappointed with the verdict but “we remain confident that we will prevail if retried.”
Attention is focused on how this case will affect New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, a landmark Supreme Court decision that set a high bar for proving defamation by public figures.
