North Carolina Safety Officers Win in Libel Suit Narrowed

Four Bald Head Island, N.C., public safety officers proved libel claims against only the official who wrote and signed forms containing knowingly false statements about them, the Fourth Circuit said.

Director of Public Safety Caroline Mitchell knew when she published separation affidavits that no complaints had been made against Thomas Cannon, Jesse Conner, Donald Koons, and Nicholas Terrell for violating village policies by exchanging allegedly homophobic emails, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit said.

Yet Mitchell cited the complaints as a reason for firing the officers, who worked for a multidisciplinary group that provides police, firefighting, and ...