Judge denies motions made by defense in Levitt libel suit
Mount Pleasant Attorney Todd Levitt, right, is accusing the defendants of libel and slander, false light invasion of privacy, intentional interference with business expectancy, civil conspiracy, infliction of emotional distress and reckless conduct due to a story written by Lisa Yanick-Jonaitis and published by The Morning Sun.
Todd Levitt is one step closer to getting his day in court in an ongoing libel complaint against The Morning Sun after Isabella County Chief Judge Paul Chamberlain made decisions on several motions filed by the local newspaper and other defendants.
The civil lawsuit stems from news coverage of a defamation lawsuit brought by Levitt against then-Central Michigan University senior Zachary Felton for creating a Twitter account that parodied him. Chamberlain denied a motion for summary disposition filed by the defense on Dec. 10. The defendants then sought an appeal of Chamberlain's decision from the Michigan Court of Appeals.
On Dec. 23, the defendants requested an emergency motion to postpone the case until the the outcome of their appeal is decided, which Chamberlain denied on Jan. 4.
The complaint was filed about a story written by community engagement editor Lisa Yanick-Jonaitis and published by The Morning Sun, which details statements Levitt made in court during a hearing in the Felton case. Levitt claims statements made in the story are untrue. He is seeking $1 million in damages for each count.
Titled "Mt. Pleasant lawyer suing student admits to fake award, marijuana tweets," the story states that "Levitt himself created the website topcollegelawyers.com, and then proclaimed himself 'College Lawyer of the Year,' and used the manufactured award to promote himself."
Levitt filed the lawsuit on April 23 against Yanick-Jonaitis, The Morning Sun, the paper's parent company Digital First Media, CMU College of Business professors James Felton and Kenneth Sanney and attorney Gordon Bloem, as well as five others yet to be identified who are listed as John or Jane Doe.
Robin Luce Herrmann, a Bloomfield Hills attorney who specializes in areas of media law, particularly defamation, privacy and access issues, is representing the defense. In her motion to Chamberlain, Herrmann argued that because the essence of the story is not materially false, it is constitutionally protected speech.
"The issue before the court really is whether or not this was a fair and accurate report of the underlying proceedings," Herrmann said at a Sept. 18 hearing. "It is accurate and true that (Levitt) created a fake award."
However, Chamberlain found that while Levitt never admitted creating a fake award, the gist of Yanick-Jonaitis' article falsely gives readers the impression that he did.
"There is quite a difference between an allegation by (Felton) that (Levitt) created a fake award and an admission by (Levitt) that he did so," Chamberlain said. "It is undisputed that (Levitt) never made such an admission."
Levitt provided affidavits supporting his claim that the award was not fake. The marketing website topcollegelawyers.com was created by Levitt, but the affidavits of Michigan lawyers Robert Piaziali, Joshua Jones and marketing professional Ryan Battishill state that "College Lawyer of the Year" was awarded to Levitt by an independent committee.
Chamberlain also found that Levitt is not required to show actual malice to prove his defamation claim because he is not a public figure. A person can become a limited purpose public figure when they are drawn into a public controversy, however the court did not find that Levitt's previous lawsuit against Felton reached the level of "public controversy."
Levitt is accusing the defendants of libel and slander, false light invasion of privacy, intentional interference with business expectancy, civil conspiracy, infliction of emotional distress and reckless conduct.
Individual defendants James Felton, represented by Jon Schrotenboer, Bloem, represented by James Bradley, and Sanney, representing himself, filed motions for summary disposition, which were also denied by Chamberlain.
A final pre-trial conference is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on April 15 at the Isabella County Courthouse.
