New Times Wins Defamation Lawsuit by Lawyer Larry Klayman

Larry Klayman, a lawyer who claimed he'd been defamed by two newspapers, including Phoenix New Times, lost his case in a recent ruling by a Florida federal judge. Quoting frequently from Alice in Wonderland, U.S. District Judge Anne C. Conway concluded in her 34-page decision that Klayman's case failed to...

By Ray Stern

April 14, 2015

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Larry Klayman, a lawyer who claimed he'd been defamed by two newspapers, including Phoenix New Times, lost his case in a recent ruling by a Florida federal judge.

Quoting frequently from Alice in Wonderland, U.S. District Judge Anne C. Conway concluded in her 34-page decision that Klayman's case failed to meet legal standards and therefore was dismissed. Klayman has filed notice of appeal.

Klayman, who had made the news because he advocated the idea that President Obama wasn't born in the United States and because he opposed a planned recall of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, sued over articles in New Times and in City Pages of Minneapolis that, he alleged, made defamatory statements about him.

Conway granted summary judgment to the defendants in her April 3 ruling.

Click here to read the ruling in its entirety.

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Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.