Nevada High Court Ends Casino Mogul Steve Wynn’s Defamation Suit vs. AP

The Nevada Supreme Court has ended a defamation lawsuit brought by casino mogul Steve Wynn against the Associated Press (AP) in 2018, rejecting his bid for a jury to hear his claim that he was defamed by an AP story about two women who alleged Wynn committed sexual misconduct, Ken Ritter reported for AP.

Justice Ron Parraguirre wrote that Wynn, as a public figure, needed to show “clear and convincing evidence to reasonably infer that the publication was made with actual malice.” I Photo: Brecht Bug Flickr

The seven-member court upheld a February ruling by a three-judge panel that cited the state’s anti-SLAPP law, or "Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation," which blocks lawsuits filed to intimidate or silence critics.

That ruling said anti-SLAPP statutes "were designed to limit precisely the type of claim at issue here, which involves a news organization publishing an article in a good faith effort to inform their readers regarding an issue of clear public interest."

In what the unanimous full court said was an effort to clarify the law, Justice Ron Parraguirre wrote that Wynn, as a public figure, needed to show “clear and convincing evidence to reasonably infer that the publication was made with actual malice.”

The opinion added: “The public had an interest in understanding the history of misconduct alleged to have been committed by one of the most recognized figures in Nevada, and the article directly relates to that interest.”