Judge: Anna Nicole Smith’s Lawyer Can Sue for Libel, Sex Vid Claims--But Not Gay Allegations
A judge has ruled that Howard K. Stern, the lawyer of the late Anna Nicole Smith, can go before a jury with his suit against the author of a book about Smith.
The suit, which was filed by Stern shortly after the Sept., 2007, publication of journalist and TV personality Rita Cosby's book "Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith's Death," alleges that the book contains libelous material about Stern, an Associated Press article reported on Aug. 12.
Smith died at age 39 in 2007, reportedly from an overdose.
Among other claims, the book says that Stern hired Smith out for sexual services.
But Judge Denny Chin said that another allegation in the book did not warrant consideration as being defamatory.
The book contains a claim that Stern had engaged in gay sex with another man.
Evidently separating out the claim regarding Stern's sexuality from other claims about his sexual adventures, judge Chin stated, "I respectfully disagree that the existence of this continued prejudice leads to the conclusion that there is a widespread view of gays and lesbians as contemptible and disgraceful," an Aug. 12 Reuters story reported.
But the book also alleges that the man with whom Stern had sex was Larry Birkhead, the father of Smith's daughter Dannielynn.
The book also claimed that Stern and Birkhead had appeared together in a sex tape, and that the video recording was viewed by Smith with her child's caregivers present.
Chin called those allegations "nothing short of explosive. Perhaps too explosive," the AP reported.
Indeed, the judge noted that such claims might be seen as a cynical ploy to entice buyers. Said Chin, "In other words, printing a claim that Birkhead and Stern had sex would be a way to make it to the top of the bestseller list, and a reasonable jury could find that Cosby ignored the inherently improbable nature of the statement in her zeal to write a blockbuster book."
The judge made reference to Cosby having offered the caregivers money to support the book's allegations. The book claims to reference the caregivers themselves as speaking about the alleged sex tape.
Judge Chin characterized Cosby's offer to the caregivers as "extremely troubling" and an opined that such an action would tend to "suggest that she was attempting to obstruct justice by tampering with witnesses."
Indeed, the AP article reported, Judge Chin found it reasonable for a jury to find that Cosby "was desperate to come up with an after-the-fact verification of one of the more salacious and explosive allegations in the book," and that such claims were malicious in nature, and therefore libelous.
The judge upheld that other claims in the book could also be viewed as malicious by a jury of reasonable people, including an assertion that Smith suspected Stern in the death of her adult son, Daniel, in 2006.
The judge also concluded that Cosby had been "reckless" in including the story that Stern allegedly drugged Smith and offered her sexual services for a price, calling those claims "so inherently improbable that Cosby was reckless in including them in the book."
Added the judge, "It will be up to a jury to determine whether this statement is as inherently improbable as it sounds," the AP article reported.
Judge Chin also opined that Cosby may have fabricated statements the book says were made by others.
However, the judge set aside a number of other claims brought against Cosby by Stern's suit, which seeks $60 million.
Attorney Elizabeth A. McNamara, who represents Cosby, said that she was "fully confident" all the other claims against Cosby and the book would be set aside by a jury.
Stern's lawyer, L. Lin Wood, described his client as "very pleased" with the judge's ruling, the article reported, especially with regard to the book's claims about Stern's alleged relationship with Birkhead, Smith's reported suspicions about her son's accidental death from an overdose of prescription medication, and the claims of Stern selling Smith's sexual services.
Wood called those claims in particular "the heart and soul of our complaint."
The book's publisher, Hachette--which contracted Cosby for the book and reportedly paid the former "Inside Edition" correspondent an advance of over $400,000--was not held responsible for the content that Cosby provided.
The article noted that Stern and Smith had been romantically linked as early as 2000, though their relationship was not disclosed until six years later.