Appeals Court Vacates $8.2M Verdict for Roy Moore

A federal appeals court in Alabama has overturned an $8.2 million defamation verdict in favor of former Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, ruling that he did not prove the political action committee behind a 2017 attack ad acted with the required level of malice.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision on Friday in Montgomery, vacating the jury's award from a lower court and directing the trial judge to enter summary judgment for Senate Majority PAC. The three-judge panel, in an opinion written by U.S. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Branch, concluded that Moore failed to meet the "actual malice" standard applicable to public figures in defamation cases. This standard requires evidence that the defendant knew the statements were false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.

The lawsuit stemmed from a television commercial funded by Senate Majority PAC, which supported Highway 31, a group that spent about $4 million on ads targeting Moore during his 2017 campaign for Alabama's U.S. Senate seat. The ad referenced allegations of misconduct against Moore by highlighting reports that he had been banned from the Gadsden Mall for soliciting sex from young girls....