Amy Jacobson wins Round One against CBS

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: Amy Jacobson wins Round One in court against CBS : from Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune : ---------------------------------------- : : A Cook County judge today handed down a ruling allowing former NBC-5 reporter Amy Jacobson's lawsuit against CBS Broadcasting Inc. to go forward. : Jacobson is suing CBS over the way its local affiliate, CBS-2, reported and commented upon the famous incident of July, 2007, in which Jacobson was videotaped in her bathing suit at the home of Craig Stebic, a Plainfield man whose wife had mysteriously disappeared. : Jacobson was subsequently fired by NBC-5 (Chicago Magazine has all the background you could want here). She is also suing Stebic's neighbor from whose home the videotape was shot. : In her ruling, Associate Cook County Judge Elizabeth Budzinski allowed four of the eight counts in Jacobson's defamation suit to go forward. In part, Budzinski wrote: : : "It cannot be said that the statements made during the … CBS broadcast were more capable of an innocent construction than the alleged defamatory meaning ascribed to the statements by [Jacobson] in her complaint. : The CBS newscaster presented the footage with statement made in the form of insinuations and questions regarding Jacobson activities while at the Stebic home… these statements … suggest that Jacobson used improper methods in cultivating sources and obtaining stories. The statements were made in a specific factual context … and had a precise and readily understood meaning – that Jacobson was engaging in improper conduct. : The statements made by the CBS reporters during the broadcast regarding Jacobson are capable of being proven true or false. Thus these statements are actionable. .. : The broadcast suggested that Jacobson used improper methods such as adultery in cultivating sources and obtaining stories… : [Statements made on Ch. 2] could be found by a jury to be offensive to a reasonable person where they imputed that J lacked the ability and integrity to discharge the duties of her employment as a reporter. And that she used improper and seductive means to get her stories." : Budzinski allowed four of the eight counts in Jacobson's defamation suit to go forward. She dismissed three of the counts "without prejudice," meaning Jacobson's attorney, Kathleen Zellner, can amend and refile them. : Count I --- "Intrustion upon seclusion" count dismissed without prejudice : Count II -- "False Light" - upheld : Count III -- "Violation of Illinois Right of Publicity Act" -- count dismissed with prejudice : Count IV -- "Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress" -- upheld : Count V -- "Defamation per se" -- upheld : Count VI -- "Defamation per quod" -- upheld : Count VII -- "tortious interference with a business relationship" --count dismissed without prejudice : Count VIII --"tortious interference with a business expectancy." -- count dismissed without prejudice

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