NBC Says Wayne Newton Lied in Order to Buy Aladdin Hotel

The National Broadcasting Co. has filed new motions in its legal battle with Wayne Newton, seeking to block a record $5.3-million libel judgment awarded the entertainer.

The latest brief, filed by the network with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, alleged that Newton “lied to state authorities” when he sought a gaming license to buy the Aladdin Hotel.

Newton sued NBC News in 1981 over a series of broadcasts that linked him to organized crime figures, claiming that the reports left impressions with viewers that were defamatory to him.

Lawyers for the network claim that reporters cannot be held responsible for impressions left by legitimate news reporting.

“To allow a jury to find libel by impression . . . is constitutionally intolerable,” NBC said in a 50-page brief.

The brief said that upholding the award, the largest of its kind in U.S. history, would have serious consequences for news reporters.

The NBC brief was filed Jan. 19. A copy of the brief was obtained Tuesday by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Newton filed suit against NBC on April 10, 1981, claiming that he was defamed by four reports titled “Wayne Newton and the Law.” The reports, aired in late 1980 and early 1981, indicated that Newton had sought the help of reputed crime figure Guido Penosi after receiving death threats against his daughter.

Newton denied the ties, and a jury awarded him $19.2 million in damages in December, 1986. The trial judge later cut the award to $5.3 million.