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A New York federal court on Tuesday dismissed a $30m defamation lawsuit from a former Hunter Biden business associate against a Fox News anchor.<\/p>\n
In March, Tony Bobulinski sued Jessica Tarlov, one of the hosts of Fox\u2019s The Five, after she said on air that month that Bobulinski\u2019s legal fees to retain lawyer Stefan Passantino had been \u201cpaid by a Trump Super PAC,\u201d after Bobulinski testified as part of the House\u2019s inquiries into the Biden family.<\/p>\n
The following day, after Bobulinski\u2019s attorneys reached out to say this wasn\u2019t correct, Tarlov issued a clarification on air. <\/p>\n
\u201cDuring an exchange with my colleagues about the hearing I said that Mr. Bobulinski\u2019s lawyers\u2019 fees have been paid by a Trump super PAC as recent as January. What was actually said during the hearing was that the law firm representing Mr. Bobulinski was paid by a Trump PAC,\u201d she said. \u201cI have seen no indication those payments were made in connection with Mr. Bobulinski\u2019s legal fees and he denies that they were.\u201d<\/p>\n
As one lawmaker noted during the hearing in question, the Save America PAC paid the firm representing Bobulinski $10,000 earlier that year.<\/p>\n
After the clarification, Bobulinski continued to assert Tarlov had described him inaccurately and filed suit.<\/p>\n
Lawsuit claimed Fox News host Jessica Tarlov hadn\u2019t done enough to retract statement on Hunter Biden critic (CAA)Tuesday\u2019s ruling found that Tarlov could dismiss the complaint and was entitled to legal fees under a novel application of New York\u2019s anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuits against public participation) statute in federal court, a law designed to fend off lawsuits aimed at burdening opponents with excessive legal costs.<\/p>\n
“FOX News is pleased with the court\u2019s landmark decision, which not only dismissed Tony Bobulinski and Stefan Passantino\u2019s meritless allegations against Jessica Tarlov, but also marks the first federal court decision to award attorney\u2019s fees under New York\u2019s anti-SLAPP statute,\u201d Fox News said in a statement to The Independent.<\/p>\n
The Independent has contacted Bobulinski\u2019s attorney for comment.<\/p>\n
Tony Bobulinski testifies before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing (AP)In the Tuesday ruling, District Judge J. Paul Oetken found that Bobulinkski hadn\u2019t shown Tarlov\u2019s statements had damaged his reputation, even though the initial one was inaccurate. <\/p>\n
The court pointed out that Bobulinski had voluntarily associated himself with Trump in the past, including attending a presidential debate as his guest and hiring a former Trump White House official as his attorney.<\/p>\n
\u201cConnecting Bobulinski to the former\u2014and future\u2014democratically elected President of the United States simply cannot be grounds for an average American\u2019s hatred, distrust, or ridicule,\u201d the judge wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailGet our free Inside Washington email I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our\u00a0privacy policy A New York federal court on Tuesday dismissed a $30m […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n