Tweet by eastdakota

May 21, 2026

Have a problem I genuinely would love input on. My wife and I own a local newspaper. In our town the police arrested a member of the community for having what they thought were naked pictures of a juvenile on his phone. Held him for days. Turns out, it was his own kid and none of the pictures were sexual. Terrible. Newspaper we own reports on it. Just the facts. Also report on when he’s released and there are no charges. Exactly what local news should do. He sues us and the local radio station, which had also reported on the arrest. We’re like: dude, we just reported the facts. Radio station settles (not sure terms). We push on because we did nothing wrong and the nature of a newspaper is reporting what happened. So we win. No cause of action against the paper. And then we, under statute, get awarded attorneys fees. They amount to tens of thousands of dollars. So what’s the right move? I don’t particularly care about the money. But I do want to discourage other caseless plaintiffs against suing us. Has been a costly distraction. But also seems wrong to bankrupt the guy. Genuinely looking for what to do next…

Author
eastdakota
Date
May 21, 2026
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