Liberty University Files $10M Defamation Suit vs NYTimes

Liberty University in Lynchburg VA on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against The New York Times, one of its reporters, and a local Virginia photographer over claims that the parties defamed the conservative Christian institution in a report earlier this year and also committed trespass while covering the story.

According to justthenews.com, the civil suit, filed in a Circuit Court in Lynchburg, asks for $10.35 million in damages over the allegations, which stem from a late-March article published in The Times shortly after the university partially reopened during the coronavirus pandemic.

Liberty argues that the newspaper "intentionally misrepresented" the situation at school by suggested its reopening led to a wave of coronavirus infections on the campus.

The suit claims the paper's reporter, Elizabeth Williamson, incorrectly reported the comments of an on-campus doctor and failed to take "basic journalistic steps" to verify the information she alleged in her story. The reporter also "did not even try to make a meaningful inquiry of Liberty itself," the suit argues.

Today @LibertyU sued @nytimes because they came to our campus from actual virus hotspots and made up completely false claims about COVID-19 cases at Liberty.

In fact we finished the school year without a single reported case of COVID-19 on campus.

— Jerry Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) July 15, 2020

The school, which says it has sustained "enormous harm to its business and reputation" as a result of the article, is seeking a $10 million settlement plus an additional $350,000 in "punitive damages" and "attorney's fees."