CoreCivic Fails to Fully Revive Family Split-Up Defamation Suit

Private prison operator CoreCivic Inc. lost a bid to fully revive a defamation filed over a trio of Forbes.com articles linking it to the Trump administration’s family separation program at the US border, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said.

Applying California’s anti-SLAPP statute, the 2-1 opinion by Judge Sidney R. Thomas said that CoreCivic failed to prove either defamation or implied defamation, affirming in part a San Francisco federal judge’s ruling.

CoreCivic alleged that the three articles written by contributor Morgan Simon falsely accused it of housing the children separated from their parents. Simon and her ...