Defamation Of Character

A court date has been set to consider a defamation of character lawsuit filed by Santa Ana Councilman Ted R. Moreno against a former political opponent. After the two sides failed to resolve the issue during a mandatory settlement conference, Superior Court Judge Thomas N. Thrasher Sr. on Friday set April 8 as the court date.

A Santa Ana city councilman Wednesday sued a former political opponent alleging defamation of character and asked for $100,000 in damages. Ted R. Moreno, a council member since 1992, is suing Mike Metzler, his former Democratic foe in last year's race for the 69th Assembly District. Metzler beat out Moreno in the primary election for the seat but ultimately lost to Jim Morrissey (R-Anaheim).

A lawyer who filed a federal class-action lawsuit charging Lynwood deputies with racially motivated brutality demanded Tuesday that Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block and one of his captains retract statements about the case that he alleges were "bald-faced lies." Attorney George Denny III filed an administrative claim with the county Board of Supervisors against the county, Block and and Sheriff's Capt.

Mayor Sal Sapien, facing a recall attempt by political opponents, filed a defamation of character lawsuit Tuesday against former Mayor Edward L. Allen, alleging that Allen falsely accused Sapien in a letter sent to the mayor's employer. Sapien alleges that Allen, who supports the recall effort, wrote a letter to the superintendent of the El Monte Elementary School District, where Sapien works as a truant officer, accusing the mayor of using school time for political functions.

A motion has been filed in federal court to have the case involving Kentucky assistant basketball coach Dwane Casey's $6.9 million lawsuit against Emery Air Freight Corp. moved to Los Angeles, lawyers for the defendants said. Attorneys representing Emery have also filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Lexington seeking additional time to prepare a defense.

A federal judge's dismissal of a case against the American Broadcasting Co. and television reporter Geraldo Rivera has been called a breakthrough for the use of secret recording devices by reporters. U.S. District Judge Alice Bachelder ruled Thursday that reporters may use secret recording devices to record events and conversations as long as the reporters use the recording equipment for the purpose of gathering news.

The high school baseball career of J.D. Martinez has been dissected on TV and radio and in newspapers across the country. Twice his father sued his coach at Corona del Mar High, saying John Emme had derailed his son's college and pro prospects by making him pitch too much. Both cases were dismissed. Monday, it was Emme's turn, as the coach continued to testify in his $1-million defamation and slander suit against Marc Martinez, J.D.'s father.

The family of former home run king Roger Maris and Anheuser-Busch Cos. settled a defamation lawsuit stemming from the brewer's termination of the family's beer distributorship just as jurors reached a verdict Tuesday. Neither side disclosed terms of the settlement, which came as the all-female jury reached a decision that was sealed, on the second day of deliberations in a three-week trial in state civil court. The Maris family had been seeking as much as $5 billion.

A federal judge on Monday ordered a conservative Mississippi religious group to cease publication and distribution of a brochure which used severely cropped pictures--which were represented as complete images--to support an attack on National Endowment for the Arts funding of sexually explicit works. The ruling, directed at the American Family Assn. and its director, the Rev. Donald Wildmon, came at the conclusion of a day-long trial of a lawsuit brought by multimedia artist David Wojnarowicz.

About eight weeks ago, John Fogerty walloped a chair and broke his right hand in two places, all over a song. "I thought I was restraining myself, but in moments of passion you don't always do that well," the former lead singer, guitarist and all-around mastermind of Creedence Clearwater Revival told The Times. Fogerty's knuckle-busting anger was aroused by yet another costly round in a decade-old legal feud with his former patron-turned-nemesis, Fantasy Records president Saul Zaentz.