National And World News

E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Judge Dismisses Anthrax Libel Case

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

Recipient E-mail:*
- Your Name:*
- Your E-mail:*
Add a Message:
Send me a copy of this e-mail.

Type the characters in this picture:*

Click here to refresh with new letters

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

Print Share + Comments

Jan 12, 2007 5:54 pm US/Eastern

Judge Dismisses Anthrax Libel Case

McLean, Va. (AP) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: Steven Hatfill suffered a bruised foot and abrasions after a traffic incident involving a federal agent who was following him as part of the investigation into the 2001 anthrax mailings. (File)
Photo By Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Close

numSlides of totalImages

A federal judge on Friday dismissed a libel lawsuit filed against The New York Times by a former Army scientist once identified as a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks.

U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton in Alexandria dismissed the case a week after lawyers for the Times argued that Steven Hatfill should be considered a public figure under libel law, which makes it much more difficult for a public figure to win a judgment than a private citizen.

The judge did not explain his ruling in the order issued Friday.

Hatfill's lawyers had argued that even if Hatfill qualified as a public figure, they could still prevail at trial because they had uncovered serious flaws in the reporting of columnist Nicholas Kristof.