Devin Nunes’ Libel by Implication Suit Against Esquire Revived

Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) can proceed with a lawsuit alleging Esquire defamed him by implying he conspired with his family to cover up their motive for moving its dairy farm from California to Iowa, the Eighth Circuit said Wednesday.

The U.S. congressman’s defamation by implication claim is actionable because a reasonable reader could conclude that he kept a “politically explosive secret"—that the family moved in order to use undocumented workers, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said.

Nunes wasn’t involved in the farm’s operation and didn’t know who it hired, he said in a complaint against Esquire’s ...