New York Times Loses $9.25 Million Defamation Verdict Over 2023 Alabama Shooting Article
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Aug 20
New York Times Loses $9.25 Million Defamation Verdict Over 2023 Alabama Shooting Article
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 20
Summary
$9.25 million in damages were awarded by an eight-person Alabama federal jury after finding The New York Times defamed former Alabama basketball player Kai Spears.
The nine-day trial centered on a 2023 article that wrongly said Spears was a passenger in a car involved in a Tuscaloosa shooting that killed a 23-year-old mother.
Spears sued in 2023 for libel and false-light invasion of privacy, arguing the report caused emotional distress and permanently tied him to a murder.
The Times later corrected the article and added an editor's note identifying the actual passenger, but the verdict marks its first U.S. loss in a defamation case over one of its articles in more than 50 years.