Eagleview Technologies, Inc. v. MDS Associates

Appellees BFC Financial Corporation ("BFC"), and its President, Chief Executive Officer, and controlling shareholder, Alan Levan, brought this action for defamation against Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. ("ABC") and one of its producers, Bill Willson. Their cause of action arose from a segment aired on ABCs television program "20/20" that portrayed BFC and Levan as unfairly taking advantage of investors in real estate related limited partnerships, by inducing them to participate in transactions known as "rollups." Appellees claimed that in its broadcast ABC made numerous false or misleading statements with actual malice, and that ABC and Willson therefore were liable for injuries that appellees suffered as a result of the story. After the jury returned a verdict in favor of appellees, awarding them significant compensatory damages, ABC and Willson renewed their motion for judgment as a matter of law made at the close of evidence. The district court denied their motion and entered judgment pursuant to the jurys verdict.