Appeals Court Revives Seth Rich Lawsuit Against Fox News

[Roland99]

Appeals Court Revives Seth Rich Lawsuit Against Fox News

The network exploited the Democratic National Committee staffer's murder and spread false conspiracy theories.

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5d7ba5e4e4b077dcbd5ce8cc/amp

An appeals court on Friday reinstated a lawsuit from the parents of slain Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich against Fox News, who exploited Rich’s 2016 murder and promulgated right-wing conspiracy theories about it.

...

A lower-court judge threw out the lawsuit last year, saying that the suit’s claims were not “sufficiently outrageous” and “fail to adequately allege essential elements of the causes of action asserted.”

But on Friday, a panel of federal appeals court judges in New York said the judge erred in dismissing the suit.

“The Riches’ complaint plausibly alleges enough facts to state a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress — for extreme and outrageous conduct by [Fox News],” the judges wrote in their ruling. “We have no trouble concluding that — taking their allegations as true — the Riches plausibly alleged what amounted to a campaign of emotional torture.”

[ScratchCat]

1. Their case is easy

The Rich family told Fox News and every other RW outlet who were trying to use this as a political tool that a)they did not believe or agree with the claims of a suspicious death and b)to not use this as a political ploy. When parents of a slain man tell a media outlet "his death wasn't suspicious, the DNC didn't kill him to shut him up and you are causing great heartache by using this as a political tool" - and the media makes false, malicious claims and uses it as a political ploy ANYWAY - it is certainly actionable under "intentional emotional distress". The media does not have 1A rights to take such an event, fabricate details and create a fake story/narrative for political purposes. The fact that this has since been proven to have come from Russian trolls, and that FNC 100% knew where it was coming from, is icing on the cake for the Rich family.