One America News Network and its owner Herring Networks Inc. must pay $250,000 in attorneys’ fees to Rachel Maddow and MSNBC and its owner Comcast Corp. to cover the cost of defending a defamation suit over Maddow’s statement that the news outlet is “paid Russian propaganda,” the Southern District of California ruled.
Maddow won dismissal of OAN’s suit in May under California’s Anti-Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (Anti-SLAPP) law, after the court found the contested statement is “opinion and rhetorical hyperbole protected under the First Amendment.”
Anti-SLAPP laws are meant to assist parties who are sued after speaking out about ...