Libel Case

While I was searching for something to write about for this assignment, I found an interesting libel case that was dropped. The case was against author John McPhee of The New Yorker magazine.

The suit was filed against "The Ransom of Russian Art," a 1994 book by McPhee on Russian dissident art. The book contained opinions of other people about the a fire that caused the mysterious death of a Russian painter, Yevgeny Rukhin. Ilya D. Levin who was quoted in the book naming a friend of the artist who could have contributed to Rukhin's death. Levin sued for libel.

However, the case was dismissed because the quotes that McPhee used were the opinions of others and therefore protected by New York's state law. People involved with the case called the ruling "very disturbing." The judge in the case believed that the "book deserved the protection given to expressions of opinion." Using the opinions of someone without getting prior permission is the same thing as plagiarizing, in my opinion. Even though someone make's their opinion public doesn't mean that anyone can publish it.

I believe the decsion in this case wasn't fair to the people who were misrepresented. If you publish someone elses beliefs you better have their permission. Perhaps if the case didn't involve a contorversial killing things might have been different.