Summary Judgment Granted to Talk-Radio Host in Abu Ghraib Defamation Case
In 2005, CACI Premier Technology, Inc. and CACI International Inc. ("CACI")--a U.S. government contractor that provides intelligence services to the military and which, beginning in 2003, provided civilian interrogators for the U.S. Army's military intelligence brigade at the Abu Ghraib prison--sued talk-radio host Randi Rhodes and others for defamation for statements Rhodes made on The Randi Rhodes Show. Specifically, CACI claimed that Rhodes accused it of, among other things, torture, rape and murder at the Abu Ghraib prison.
The district court granted summary judgment to the defendants, finding that each of Rhodes's statements were not demonstrably false, were non-actionable hyperbole or were not made with actual malice, the applicable standard in the case as it was undisputed that CACI was a public figure. In a lengthy decision addressing each of the challenged statements in some detail, the Fourth Circuit agreed and affirmed the grant of summary judgment. You can find the Fourth Circuit's opinion in CACI Premier Tech., Inc. v. Rhodes, here (WARNING: the opinion contains descriptions of some of the detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib).
The district court granted summary judgment to the defendants, finding that each of Rhodes's statements were not demonstrably false, were non-actionable hyperbole or were not made with actual malice, the applicable standard in the case as it was undisputed that CACI was a public figure. In a lengthy decision addressing each of the challenged statements in some detail, the Fourth Circuit agreed and affirmed the grant of summary judgment. You can find the Fourth Circuit's opinion in CACI Premier Tech., Inc. v. Rhodes, here (WARNING: the opinion contains descriptions of some of the detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib).
