Appeal in Malcolm Libel Suit Denied
A federal appeals court Wednesday rejected a Berkeley psychoanalyst’s latest attempt to revive his 12-year-old libel suit against freelance writer Janet Malcolm and the New Yorker magazine.
A lawyer for Jeffrey Masson claimed that a trial judge hindered Masson’s attempt to prove that Malcolm made up quotes in an article she wrote about him in 1983. Masson charged that the story ruined his career as a scholar.
But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 1994 verdict that cleared the writer and the magazine.
A three-judge appeals panel unanimously rejected Masson’s arguments, saying the federal district judge “faithfully” followed a U.S. Supreme Court rule handed down in 1991.
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