Exonerated Marsh & McLennan Execs Sue Spitzer and Slate for Libel Over Ex-AG's Column Comments
About a month after the felony antitrust convictions of two former Marsh & McLennan executives were thrown out last year, former New York attorney general and governor Eliot Spitzer wrote a column in Slate.
It defended his work on a 2004 case that resulted in an $850 million settlement by the company and the indictment of eight executives a year or so later. Although the column, headlined “They Still Don’t Get It,” didn’t mention the two exonerated ex-executives by name, they were identifiable, they contend in separte lawsuits filed on Friday in state and federal court in Manhattan, Reuters reports.
And comments in the column disparaged them in reckless disregard of the true facts of the case, plaintiffs William Gilman and Edward McNenney contend.
Both are represented by attorney Jeffrey Liddle, who tells Reuters: “I don’t know what possessed him to make the statements that he made,” referring to Spitzer.
Spitzer and a spokeswoman for the Washington Post Co., which owns Slate, declined to comment.
