MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
May 15-31, 2005 Edition
Cuomo Settles
Libel Case Against
Plume Author
NEW YORK, NY/05/11/05Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo has dropped his libel lawsuit against author Greg Palast and his publisher, Plume/Penguin Putnam.
Governor Cuomo dismissed the $15 million libel suit “with prejudice” after the author sent him a letter explaining what he meant by the statement to which Cuomo had protested.
Cuomo had objected to the author’s remarks indicating that Cuomo influenced a federal judge to dismiss a multibillion-dollar charge against a utility company. In his book The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, Palast had written that Cuomo lied about the Long Island Lighting Company’s nuclear power plant costs, which lead to a 4.8 billion jury verdict. Palast said Cuomo contacted the chief federal judge in New York, and the case was subsequently thrown out. Cuomo said the statement was not true.
In Palast’s letter to Cuomo, he explained what he meant by the statement and Cuomo decided to dismiss the case. The objectionable passage has now been removed from newer editions of the book.
