Hearing Begins in Ex-Iran Hostage’s $60-Million Suit Against Daily News

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge began hearing testimony Thursday to determine whether Jerry Plotkin, the only non-government employee among the 52 Americans held hostage in Iran in 1979, is a public figure.

The pretrial hearing is being held in Plotkin’s $60-million libel suit against the Los Angeles Daily News, which published a January, 1981, article quoting unnamed law enforcement sources as saying Plotkin may have been involved in drug trafficking.

If Superior Court Judge Christian E. Markey Jr. determines that Plotkin, 52, is a private figure, he will have to show in his libel suit only that the newspaper acted negligently, according to Lawrence Gunnels, general counsel for the Tribune Co., which owned the Daily News at the time. If Markey finds Plotkin is a public figure, Plotkin must show that the newspaper acted out of malice, Gunnels said.