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05/23/2018
Newburgh Heights mayor's defamation lawsuit against Cleveland TV station over critical story can proceed, judge rules
A Cuyahoga County judge refused to throw out a defamation and libel lawsuit filed by Newburgh Heights Mayor Trevor Elkins and village council members against WEWS Channel 5, its parent media company and reporter Jonathan Walsh.
Common Pleas Court Judge Kelly Ann Gallagher rejected a request from lawyers representing Scripps Media to dismiss the complaint that stems from a November story that called a city program to bill some drivers and their insurance companies for the cost of responding to car crashes a "government-sanctioned scam."
The ruling, filed Tuesday afternoon, means the suit can move forward to discovery. The two sides are set for a November telephone conference.
Monica Dias, a lawyer for the station, argued in the motion to dismiss that the lawsuit strikes at the heart of the First Amendment's freedoms of speech and press, and represents an attempt by Elkins and council to stifle public debate and censor media coverage.
"What this case is about is whether the news media and the general public can criticize their government over government policies," Dias told cleveland.com Wednesday. "The plaintiffs with this lawsuit say 'no,' and that if you do that, you're defaming elected officials."
