Judge dismisses defamation lawsuit

A District Court judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit against the Las Vegas Tribune newspaper after the publisher agreed to publish a front-page correction and promised not to write about the judicial candidate who filed the lawsuit for about six months.

District Judge Sally Loehrer ordered the defamation case dismissed on June 24. The lawsuit was brought by local attorney David Rivers, who is running against District Judge Jessie Walsh.

During a March 28 hearing, Loehrer sided with Rivers and declared that the newspaper defamed Rivers. At the time, Loehrer didn't discuss whether the story was written with malice, a hard-to-prove component of defamation lawsuits against public figures.

Rivers said Friday that he was satisfied that the Tribune published the front-page correction in its May 28 edition. "I couldn't be happier," he said.

Chris Rasmussen, who represents the Tribune and its publisher, Rolando Larraz, said he believed it was a fair deal. Rasmussen said the newspaper didn't have a problem with agreeing to not publish stories about Rivers until January, because the paper didn't think Rivers would be newsworthy during that time.

Rivers accused the newspaper of defaming him after it published a March 12 story stating that Rivers drinks and beats his wife.

The front-page story also claimed Rivers was born with a Hispanic name but changed it to become more Americanized and that Rivers lies.

Rivers said he once slapped his wife and gave her a black eye because she was biting his hand. He also admitted that he was an alcoholic but hasn't touched a drop of alcohol in more than 20 years.

The Tribune is a free weekly that is known for publishing sensationalistic stories. It prints about 30,000 papers and is found at downtown convenience stores, the Regional Justice Center and at libraries.

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