A $30 million defamation lawsuit against Fox News and “The Five” actress Jessica Tarlov from Hunter Biden whistleblower Tony Bobulinski was dismissed by a New York judge on Tuesday.
Bobulinski, a former Biden family campaigner, was ordered to pay Tarlov’s legal fees after filing the lawsuit in March after Tarlov said he had overpaid legal fees paid by a PAC affiliated with President-elect Donald Trump.
“Before the Court is Tarlov’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim and request attorney’s fees under New York’s anti-SLAPP statute,” District Judge J. Paul Oetken wrote. “For the following reasons, the dismissal request is accepted. And because the Court concluded that the mandatory fee-shifting rule of New York’s anti-SLAPP statute applies in federal court, Tarlov’s request for attorney’s fees is granted.
Judge Oetken’s dismissal denied Bobulinski and his legal team’s demands for $30 million in compensatory, punitive and punitive damages.
“Fox News is pleased with the court’s ruling, which not only dismissed Tony Bobulinski and Stefan Passantino’s lawsuit against Jessica Tarlov, but also marks the first time a federal court has awarded attorney’s fees under New York’s anti-SLAPP statute,” a Fox spokesperson said. he told TheWrap.
“Bobulinski also fails to adequately state that Tarlov’s comments were intended to harm him in his role as a businessman,” Oetken said. The New York Supreme Court stated that, for a statement to qualify as defamation per se under professional practice, the statement must specifically refer to conduct unrelated to the person’s work, ‘rather than focusing primarily on the plaintiff. quality or personality.’”
The legal battle began when Tarlov said on the Fox News show “The Five” that “Tony Bobulinski’s attorney fees were paid by the Trump Super PAC. This happened in January.” Bobulinski and his lawyer Stefan Passantino filed a lawsuit the following week.
“It is a fact that since 2020, when Mr. Bobulinski began speaking out against the Biden family, he has spent more than $500,000 of his own money on legal expenses,” the complaint read. “President Trump, or individuals or entities associated with President Trump, have never paid Mr. Bobulinski legal fees at this time.”
The plaintiffs also wrote a letter to Fox News demanding that Tarlov’s comments be retracted. He said it on the March 21 episode of “The Five.”
“I want to clarify the statement I made yesterday during our discussion of Tony Bobulinski’s appearance in Congress. When talking to my colleagues about the hearing I mentioned that Mr. Bobulinski’s attorneys’ fees were paid by the Trump super PAC as early as January.
“What was clearly stated during the hearing was that the law firm representing Mr. Bobulinski was paid by the Trump PAC,” Tarlov continued. “I have not yet seen that Mr. Bobulinski has paid these amounts and he is denying that they have been paid.”
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