Media & Communications Law

After Lawyer Loses Libel Suit re Prosecutor's Twitter Posts, Each Vows to Ignore the Other

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Apparently irked by a prosecutor’s critical posts on Facebook and Twitter, a Kentucky lawyer known for suing police officers filed a libel suit against Kenton Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders.

But after Kenton Circuit Court Judge Martin Sheehan ruled last week that Sanders’ statements were simply statements of opinion and hence not libelous, the plaintiffs lawyer, Eric Deters, said he would accept the ruling and move on with his life, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

“I made a New Year’s resolution. I’m going to ignore my enemies. This includes Rob Sanders. My life is good,” he tells the newspaper.

On his side, Sanders says “I made the mistake of acknowledging Eric Deters’ existence. I won’t make the same mistake again.”

Sanders told the Enquirer he wouldn’t have criticized Deters if he knew Deters followed his social networking posts. However, he says he sought to joke with police officers Deters has sued.

It seems that Deters failed to see the humor in a reference Sanders made to Deters’ publicized potential loss of an $11 million award because he sued the wrong party.

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