By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Sarah Palin and the New York Times have explored trying to settle the former Alaska governor and Republican U.S. vice presidential candidate’s closely watched defamation case against the newspaper, their lawyers said on Tuesday.
The disclosures came during a phone conference where U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan scheduled a retrial for April 14, 2025.
That followed a federal appeals court’s decision in August to throw out a February 2022 verdict in the Times’ favor, saying it was tainted by several of the judge’s rulings.
Palin, 60, sued the Times in 2017 over an editorial that incorrectly suggested she may have incited a 2011 mass shooting in Arizona where six people died and Democratic congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was seriously wounded.
The Times corrected the editorial quickly, but Palin said it damaged her reputation and should pay damages. James Bennet, the Times’ editorial page editor at the time, is also a defendant.
Lawyers for both sides had asked for a July 2025 retrial, to accommodate people’s schedules and allow more time to negotiate.
While neither side said talks are ongoing, the Times’ lawyer David Axelrod said a “non-trial disposition” of the case was possible, and “we may not need a trial date at all.”
Kenneth Turkel, a lawyer for Palin, said both sides “wanted to give it a shot.”
Rakoff suggested that a magistrate judge or mediator get involved. “If you’re seriously interested in settling, it could be settled in a matter of days,” he said.
Turkel declined to make an additional comment after the conference.
Times spokesman Charlie Stadtlander said in an email that the newspaper anticipates a retrial, “but the court in every litigation expects the parties to discuss whether they can reach a resolution.”
‘SULLIVAN’ VEHICLE
In reviving Palin’s case, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said Rakoff wrongly excluded evidence that Palin believed reflected the Times’ “actual malice,” and wrongly instructed jurors on how much proof she needed to prevail.
The court also found it problematic that Rakoff announced during jury deliberations his plan to dismiss the case even if jurors ruled for Palin, and jurors saw his decision through news alerts on their cellphones.
Palin and media critics have viewed the case as a vehicle to overturn New York Times v. Sullivan, a landmark 1964 U.S. Supreme Court decision that made it much harder for public figures to prove defamation.
The Sullivan decision requires proof that media demonstrated “actual malice,” meaning they knowingly published false information or had reckless disregard for the truth.
Two conservative justices on the current high court, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, have urged a reconsideration of the Sullivan decision.
Palin was Alaska governor from 2006 to 2009. She was also the late Republican Senator John McCain’s running mate in the 2008 U.S. presidential election.
Rakoff had wanted a retrial by February 2025, and was taken aback when Axelrod proposed a July date.
“July! Oh forget it,” Rakoff said.
The case is Palin v. New York Times et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 17-04853.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Bill Berkrot)
