ABA Article Didn’t Defame Handwriting Certification Group

The American Bar Association didn’t defame a handwriting expert organization by running an article urging judges to look for experts certified by a different organization, the Seventh Circuit said.

The Board of Forensic Document Examiners’s defamation claims fail because the author was offering his own view on adequate qualifications for a forensic examiner, not describing factual, objective standards for qualifications, the court said.

The article was written by Thomas Vastrick, a forensic document examiner certified by American Board of Forensic Document Examiners—a different, much larger organization.

The article said judges should look for experts certified by the American Board and ...