Medical Properties Wins Round 2 in Viceroy Defamation Case

Medical Properties Trust Inc. won a second preliminary court ruling in its defamation lawsuit over an alleged “short and distort” scheme by Viceroy Research.

Judge R. David Proctor let the case move forward against two of Viceroy’s principals—Gabriel Bernarde and Aidan Lau—about two months after ordering the firm and another executive to face the allegations. The suit, filed in March, says they ran a smear campaign involving social media posts and more than a dozen reports.

The earlier ruling rejected Viceroy’s argument that its claims of fraud—targeting the real estate investment trust’s accounting and compensation practices—were merely opinions rather than ...