Abourezk v. ProBush.com [1]

On May 27, 2003, former South Dakota Senator James G. Abourezk [2] filed a defamation suit against Michael Marino, one of the co-owners of ProBush.com, a website that "offered unconditional support of the 43rd US President, George W. Bush," based on Abourezk's inclusion in the “Traitor List [3]” posted on site.  Abourezk claims that calling him a traitor “is libelous per se under South Dakota law [4] as it accuses the Plaintiff of a criminal act he did not commit.”  (Compl. [5] ¶ 13.)  He is seeking actual damages of $2 million, punitive damages of $3 million, the removal of all references to him on ProBush.com, and a public apology.  (Compl. 4.) 

On April 29, 2005, Abourezk filed an amended complaint [6] that include Jane Fonda and Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz as co-plaintiffs, and Ben Marino, the other co-owner of ProBush.com, as a co-defendant.

The defendants filed a motion to dismiss [7] based upon a failure to state a claim, asserting that their speech is protected by the First Amendment, arguing that including Abourezk on the “Traitor List” “does not qualify as a form of verifiable, literal falsehood that could lead anyone to believe that the website was stating a concrete, objective fact about [Abourezk].”  (Memo in Support of Motion to Dismiss [8] 18–19.)  This motion was denied [9] on March 14, 2004 by Chief Judge Lawrence L. Piersol. 

The defendants also filed a motion [10] for summary judgment.  According to Todd Epp [11], one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, this motion was also denied.  The plaintiffs filed a motion [12] for partial summary judgment on the issue of liability.  Before this motion could be ruled on, however, the case was settled and dismissed [13] with prejudice on November 23, 2005.  According to one of ProBush.com's lawyers, as reported [14] by The Associated Press, [15] the settlement amount was $1.