DocumentCloud_Epstein_Docs_p00858.png
Extracted Text (OCR)
Case 18-2868, Document 280, 08/09/2019, 2628232, Page39 of 74
Similarly, another case cited by Defendant, Davis v. Costa-Gavras, involved a libel claim
against a book author who wrote an account of the 1972 military coup in Chile. Years later, the
plaintiff attempted to ascribe defamation liability to a third-party publishing house’s decision to
republish the book in paperback form and a third-party filmmaker who released a movie based
on the book. The Court held that a “party who is ‘innocent of all complicity’ in the publication of
a libel cannot be held accountable . . . [but that] a deliberate decision to republish or active
participation in implementing the republication resurrects the liability.” 580 F. Supp. 1082, 1094
(S.D.N.Y. 1984). Here, Defendant made a deliberate decision to publish her press release, and
actively participated in that process. At the very least, the jury must make a determination of
whether Defendant was “innocent of all complicity” for a libelous statement contained in her
press release.
Finally, Defendant cites Karaduman v. Newsday, Inc., 416 N.E.2d 557 (1980), which
held that reporters of a series of articles on narcotics trade “cannot be held personally liable for
injuries arising from its subsequent republication in book form absent a showing that they
approved or participated in some other manner in the activities of the third-party republisher.”
Id., 416 N.E.2d at 559-560. Again, the jury could reasonably find that Defendant both approved
of, and even participated in, the media’s publication of her press release. Indeed, it is hard to
understand how any jury could find anything else. Defendant was obviously “active” in
influencing the media to publish her defamatory press release, she both “approved” of and
pushed for the publication of the press release. Accordingly, she is liable for its publication.*°
On page 14 of her motion, Defendant makes wholly contradictory statements. In back-to-back sentences, she tells
the Court that (1) she has no control over whether the media published the statement she sent to the media (with
instructions to publish it by an influential publicist); (2) her public relations representative gave instructions to the
media on how to publish it (in full); and (3) her public relations representative “made no effort to control” how the
media would publish it. Indeed, the best evidence of Defendant’s control over the press is the fact dozens of media
outlets obeyed her directive to publish her defamatory statement.
31
Extracted Information
Dates
Document Details
| Filename | DocumentCloud_Epstein_Docs_p00858.png |
| File Size | 324.1 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 95.1% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 2,527 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-04 12:26:41.908866 |