CBS Avoids Suit Over Wrong Identification of Stabbing Suspect

Oct. 20, 2023, 5:27 PM UTC

An arborist who was mistaken for his brother in a news report about a suspect in a stabbing brought his defamation claim against CBS Broadcasting Inc. and Viacom Inc. too late, the Third Circuit said.

A local Pittsburgh television station owned and operated by CBS published a story naming Daniel Leisten as a suspect in a stabbing online on May 19, 2020, when the actual suspect was his brother. Since Leisten didn’t file his defamation claim until July 2021, the claims were time-barred, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said on Thursday.

Leisten said he began to ...

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