Condit Suit Against Dunne Tossed

Gary Condit, the failed ice-cream man and former California congressman speculated by many as being central in the disappearance and death of his mistress-intern Chandra Levy, continues his lackluster streak in the courts—this time in a defamation suit he brought against Vanity Fair writer Dominick Dunne. Over the course of the still-unsolved Levy case, Dunne had maintained in assorted columns and television appearances that Condit knew more than what he told authorities about Levy—and Condit continuously sued him for the favor (in an earlier case they settled out of court.) To the court, this suit was a simple First Amendment issue: "Dunne's opinion statements do not, either in substance or in implication, constitute provably false assertions of fact," U.S. District Judge Peter Leisure wrote, adding that "Dunne does not suggest that his opinion statements are based on any additional facts not known to the public." (Only, it seems like he kinda does!) McClatchy