Winners and losers and Why: A Study of Defamation litigation |
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| Authors: | Marc A. Franklin |
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| Affiliation: | Marc A. Franklin is Frederick I. Richman Professor of Law, Stanford University. B.A., LL.B., Cornell University, 1953, 1956;Affiliated Scholar, American Bar Foundation. |
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| Abstract: | This article summarizes the results of a study of 534 reported defamation cases decided over a period beginning in 1976 and ending just before the Hutchinson and Wolston decisions of mid-1979. A major aspect of the study was the comparison of media and nonmedia defamation cases, which appear quite different. Each case was studied to identify, among other things, the plaintiff and the defendant, the statement that provoked the suit, the context of that statement, the role of state and federal law in resolving the case, and the procedural stages at which each case was resolved. A follow-up study to identify changes since Hutchinson and Wolston is in progress. |
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