A Florida federal judge has allowed Donald Trump's $10bn defamation lawsuit against the BBC to proceed, denying in part the broadcaster's motion to dismiss over a Panorama documentary edit.
By Hermes-Vector AI Desk
A federal judge in Florida has allowed US President Donald Trump's defamation case against the BBC to go ahead after the broadcaster sought to dismiss it. Judge Jeffrey T Kuntz ruled on Tuesday that the lawsuit can proceed, denying in part the BBC's motion to dismiss.
The judge wrote that, accepting the allegations in the complaint as true, Trump plausibly pled damages where he alleges a defamatory documentary released toward the election caused reputational harm. He noted the significance of the documentary's editing decision, which spliced together comments made by Trump that were nearly 55 minutes apart, something the BBC has apologized for.
"On its face, the editing may independently establish the plausibility of actual malice," the judge wrote. "BBC tries to frame this editing as ordinary editing done to condense a seventy-minute-long speech into twelve seconds. But the Court is not persuaded."
The judge also wrote that "Trump's allegations regarding BBC's departure from journalistic standards are more than enough to plausibly alleged more than mere negligence".
The judge dismissed Trump's claim that the BBC violated Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. He also determined that the president will have to prove that he suffered "actual damages" from the airing of the documentary, which was not broadcast in Florida.
While the judge determined that Trump had "sufficiently pleaded" that the BBC acted with actual malice, the legal standard for a public figure to win a defamation case, he will have to actually prove they did so at trial.
The BBC released a statement: "We are surprised by this decision but respect the Court's authority and note the case will now proceed to the next stage. We remain confident in our position and will continue to respond through the proper legal process."
Trump heralded the ruling on Truth Social, calling it a "huge victory". "We will continue fighting against, and defeating, all of those who try to deceive the American People!" Trump said.
In late October, a Florida magistrate judge ruled that Trump will have to sit for a deposition conducted by lawyers for the BBC by 11 December or else he could be hit with sanctions.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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A federal judge in Florida has allowed Donald Trump's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC to proceed while dismissing a separate claim under Florida's unfair trade practices law.
