Judge: BPI suit against ABC, other defendants may proceed

http://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/a1/judge-bpi-suit-against-abc-other-defendants-may-proceed/article_9c675d1c-19c5-566b-8bb1-9f95a5289ab9.html

Judge: BPI suit against ABC, other defendants may proceed
March 27, 2014 8:00 pm • DAVE DREESZEN

ELK POINT, S.D. | The bulk of Beef Products Inc.'s $1.2 billion suit claiming ABC News defamed the Dakota Dunes-based company's signature beef product can move forward in South Dakota state court, a judge ruled Thursday.

In a 41-page decision, Union County Circuit Court Judge Cheryle Gering rejected 21 of the defendants' 26 counts to dismiss the high-profile case.

"We are pleased with the court's decision, which rejected nearly all of the defendants' arguments," Erik Connolly, a Chicago-based lawyer for BPI, said in an email. "We look forward to starting discovery and ultimately presenting our case to a jury."

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BPI claims ABC, in a series of stories that began in early March 2012, engaged in a "prolonged disinformation campaign" that included 109 false statements about the Siouxland company's product, Lean Finely Textured Beef. BPI alleges the reports, in which the network referred to the trimmings as "pink slime" 137 times, resulted in a consumer backlash that caused BPI to lose $400 million in profits, or 80 percent of its sales. As a result, the privately held family business was forced to close three of its four plants and cut more than 700 jobs, including dozens of positions in metro Sioux City.