A few weeks ago, I wrote about David Beckham filing a $25 million dollar libel lawsuit against In Touch magazine that published reports of Beckham’s alleged affair with a prostitute named Irma Nici. Beckham claimed the lawsuit was false and detrimental to his reputation.
Unfortunately for Beckham, Judge Manuel Real dismissed Beckham’s suit today in a court in Los Angeles. Judge Real highlighted that in order to bring a successful libel suit against another party, the party bringing the suit must be able to prove that the statements made were false to begin with, and the party made the statements knowing they were false. Basically, the person making the statement needs to have acted maliciously.
In this case, Beckham would have had to prove that the publication knowingly and intentionally printed false information about him. Judge Real did not believe that Beckham’s attorney presented clear evidence that the magazine acted with malice.
Better luck next time, Becks.
