A New Jersey judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit for defamation filed by Donald Trump against a New York Times business journalist whose book gave an estimate of the real estate developer’s wealth much lower than Trump’s own, Reuters reports.
Jon Hurdle writes, “Superior Court Judge Michele Fox rejected arguments by Trump’s lawyers that he had been the victim of ‘actual malice’ as a result of Timothy O’Brien’s book ‘Trump Nation: The Art of Being the Donald’ published in October 2005.
“Reading her opinion from the bench in Camden, Fox also ruled that co-defendant Warner Books, part of Time Warner Inc, was not ‘vicariously liable,’ as Trump had argued, because O’Brien was an independent contractor.
“‘There is no agency relationship,’ Fox said in her opinion.
“O’Brien, editor of The New York Times’ Sunday business section, cited three confidential sources who estimated Trump’s net worth at between $150 million and $250 million, much lower than Trump’s own estimates of around $4 billion.”
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