Calif. court says libel suit vs Disney can proceed (http://www.forbes.com/markets/bonds/newswire/2003/07/29/rtr1042778.html) - Reuters, 7/29/03

QuikQuote: The state appeals court in Los Angeles ruled that Nikki Finke, a New York Post reporter who lost her job after writing articles about the fight over merchandising rights to the honey-loving bear, could pursue some of the charges against Disney, which had appealed a lower court ruling.
Disney President and Chief Operating Officer Bob Iger wrote the Post a letter that Finke's reporting "includes serious misrepresentations clearly designed to injure the Walt Disney Company and an "absolute distortion of court records."
Finke alleged she was wrongly dismissed from the Post due to Disney's letter and filed a $10-million suit against Disney and News Corp.

More on this story...


Attorney for Fired New York Post Reporter Says Ruling Is Victory for Journalists (http://www.metnews.com/articles/fink073003.htm) - Metropolitan News-Enterprise, 7/30/03

QuikQuote: The Court of Appeal said Disney President Robert Iger probably defamed Finke in a letter to Col Allan, the Post’s editor-in-chief. Johnson cited Iger’s claims that Finke’s reporting “includes serious misrepresentations clearly designed to injure the Walt Disney Company”; contains “a gross misstatement of the facts” and an “absolute distortion” of court records; is “absolutely false” in describing one court order and “grossly mischaracterized” another.
The Iger letter, the justice went on to say, also supports Finke’s interference-with-business-relations claims, since the plaintiff will probably be able to prove that the Post ended its relationship with Finke as a direct result of Disney’s contentions, Johnson said.

Here is a link to the actual court decision on this issue:

Finke vs. Disney appeals court decision (http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/B160267.PDF)

Although it is 37 pages long and contains a fair amount of "legalese", is much more informative than either of the articles that were cited previously in this thread.

-Jeff