Libel award against Anti-Defamation League upheld

By The Associated Press

A $9.75 MILLION libel award against the Anti-Defamation League for publicly calling an Evergreen couple anti-Semitic was upheld Tuesday by a federal appeals court.

William and Dorothy Quigley won the judgment in April 2000 after the ADL's remarks at a news conference. The incident arose out of a dispute between the Quigleys and neighbors Mitchell and Candice Aronson, who are Jewish. The original judgment was $10.5 million, but a judge reduced that to $9.75 million in 2001 because the Quigleys had won a separate but related judgment against the Aronsons over wiretapping violations.

The ADL appealed the libel judgment, but the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the smaller award.

ADL regional director Bruce DeBoskey declined to comment.

The appeals court overturned the jury's finding that the ADL had invaded the Quigleys' privacy, saying the jury instructions were faulty. That decision had no effect on the libel award.

The dispute dates to 1994. The Aronsons claimed the Quigleys made anti- Semitic remarks in phone conversations that the Aronsons taped.

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