Slander and libel case goes to high court

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The state Supreme Court will take up Vince Biskupic’s libel and slander case against eight defendants, including a northern Wisconsin newspaper, for an article that ran 2004.

Biskupic, who ran for state attorney general in 2002, filed a lawsuit in 2005 against the Shawano Leader, a reporter for the newspaper, a story source and five others for a newspaper article that falsely reported he had been convicted of bribery and graft.

The circuit court granted summary judgment in favor of the interview source, the newspaper and the reporter. Biskupic then appealed, but the state Court of Appeals affirmed.

A statement from the Supreme Court, which has accepted the case, indicates Biskupic has raised the following three issues:

• Based on the applicable case law, and considering the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party (the petitioner), were the defendants entitled to summary judgment?
• For purposes of the debate reported in the August 23, 2004 newspaper article, was the petitioner a "limited-purpose" public figure?
• Was the plaintiff entitled to a sanction against the newspaper defendants or a jury instruction on spoliation based on the destruction of reporter's interview notes subsequent to the newspaper defendants being placed on notice of potential libel litigation?”

This is one of six cases the Supreme Court has accepted. The high court also rejected 59 other cases.