Analyze the case: Coody v. Northwest Arkansas Times - Essay Example

Analyze the case: Coody v. Northwest Arkansas Times et al Coody v. Northwest Arkansas Times et al is a case that was originally heard before the Washington County Circuit Court. It involved Dan Coody as the plaintiff against D/B/A Northwest Arkansas Times, Thomson Newspaper Publishing, Inc. and S. D. “Dave” Stokes. ‘Dave’ was accused both as an individual and in his capacity as the publisher of Northwest Arkansas Times. In this case, Cood, as a politician, accused the defendant of defamation and libel.

This followed the publishing of an alleged malicious story that defamed the plaintiff who was contesting as a mayor. In fact, he attributed his loss of the elections to the publication of the defamatory article. When the case was taken before the Washington County Circuit Court, the jury eventually ruled in favor of the defendant. The politician was therefore given a libel since the action had actually damaged his reputation in the eyes of the public. For this reason, the court ruled that he had to be awarded damages to cater for the defamation caused.

However, being unsatisfied with the ruling, the defendants appealed in the Supreme Court of Arkansas. They claimed that the circuit court had erred since the plaintiff had failed to provide sufficient evidence required.After analyzing the case and hearing the submissions from both the sides, Judges Thomas, Ginsburg, O’Connor, Scalia, Rehnquist, Breyer. Kennedy, Souter and Stevens denied the petition for writ of certiorari citing that there was no provision of precise and convincing evidence that defamation actually occurred as a result of the publication of the article by the appellants.