Report saying doctors "butchered" women is rhetorical hyperbole: high incidence of Caesarian deliveries makes doctor's actions matter of great public concern

Article Abstract:

The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled in Romero v. Thomson Newspapers that the libel suit against the Daily Advertiser newspaper should be dismissed because the plaintiff failed to show the actual malice. The Court reversed the lower court in ruling that actual malice must be shown even thought the plaintiff is a private figure because the matter was of great public concern. The suit was brought by a doctor mentioned in an article that asserted his hospital had the highest rate of Caesarean births in the nation.

Physicians, Medical professions, Media coverage, Louisiana

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'Blackmail' and 'extortion' are opinion, protected as rhetorical hyperbole

Article Abstract:

The 9th Circuit Court ruled that the terms extortion and blackmail used in an editorial constituted rhetorical hyperbole and so were protected speech under the First Amendment. Former Honolulu, HI Mayor Frank Fasi sued the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and the Advertiser for libel based on an editorial about a rezoning proposal that characterized the proposal as legalized blackmail. The court found that no reasonable reader would have interpreted the use of those words as fact and therefore there was no libel.

United States, Freedom of speech, Hyperbole

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Ex-Beatle's remarks over dispute were 'rhetorical hyperbole.' (George Harrison) (Hawaii)

Article Abstract:

The Hawaii Supreme Court dismissed a libel suit against former Beatle George Harrison in July 1998. Two neighbors of Harrison sued him over a statement he made at a press conference after another case in which a court awarded the neighbors the right to cross Harrison's property. The court state Harrison's remarks were rhetorical and not libelous, and ordered the neighbors to pay Harrison's legal costs.

Harrison, George (Musician)

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