JonBenet Ramsey’s Brother Burke Scores Victory In $750M Lawsuit Against CBS
JonBenet’s brother has reached a victory in his $750 million lawsuit against CBS, RadarOnline.com can exclusively reveal.
According to court documents exclusively obtained by RadarOnline.com, a judge denied the network’s attempt to dismiss Burke Ramsey’s defamation suit in an order Friday.
Ramsey initially filed the lawsuit in December 2016, three months after CBS aired a two-part docu-series, The Case of JonBenet Ramsey, that the 30-year-old claimed blamed him for the 1996 murder of his beauty queen sister. After the premiere, furious attorneys for the Ramsey family called the allegations “disgusting and revolting.”
“The Court finds that the statements at issue and the docu-series as a whole could reasonably be understood as stating actual facts about Plaintiff,” Circuit Court Judge David A. Groner wrote in the January 5 order. “The Court does not find that the ‘disclaimer’ at the beginning and the end of the program negate the docu-series potentially defamatory meaning.”
“For the reason stated above it is hereby ordered that Defendants’ Motion for Summary Disposition is DENIED.”
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L. Lin Wood, one of Ramsey’s attorneys, exclusively told RadarOnline.com on Friday that he was pleased with the judge’s decision, which was he said was the “absolutely correct” analysis of the facts under the First Amendment.
Wood claimed CBS and others involved with the production of the docu-series only wanted to profit from the accusations against Ramsey.
“This is one of the most egregious cases of defamation I have even known. It has had a major impact on his life, and he will have to live with it for the rest of his life," Wood said.
The parties will reconvene in court for a settlement conference on March 8.
In a related case, Ramsey also won a judgment today against forensic pathologist Werner U. Spitz, who was quoted in the documentary saying the then 9-year-old killed his sister. A judge ruled the expert’s accusations were not protected by the First Amendment.
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