Wayne Newton Asks U.S. Court to Uphold $5.3-Million Award
Entertainer Wayne Newton has asked a federal appeals court to uphold his historic $5.3-million jury award growing out of NBC News reports that he was linked to organized crime figures.
Newton’s attorney has filed a 120-page brief with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, saying that overturning the award would have “dire consequences to the public.”
Attorney Morton Galane said if the jury verdict is overturned at the appeals level, “victims of malicious defamation by the mass media will have no effective remedy and the media will not be deterred from disseminating knowing or reckless falsehoods.”
If upheld, Newton’s award would be the largest in history arising from a news report.
Newton sued the network in 1981, claiming that a series of broadcasts in 1980 defamed him. The broadcasts, titled “Wayne Newton and the Law,” linked Newton to alleged crime figures and centered on his purchase of the Aladdin Hotel here.
The series was presented by NBC reporter Brian Ross and producer Ira Silverman.
After a lengthy jury trial in Las Vegas in 1986, the jury awarded Newton a record $19.2 million in damages.
The next year, U.S. District Judge Myron Crocker cut the award to $5.3 million but upheld the jury’s libel findings.
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