Source: Michael Fielding, MEATINGPLACE, 10/10/16

The only remaining defendants in the $1.2 billion lawsuit by lean finely texture beef (LFTB) maker Beef Products Inc. are asking that the case be dismissed, according to media reports.

ABC anchor Diane Sawyer, Senior National Correspondent Jim Avila and American Broadcasting Companies Inc. are seeking to dismiss the case brought by BPI, according to a report by the Associated Press.

“My sole interest was to help the consumer by providing information to our viewers,” Sawyer wrote in an affidavit filed last Monday seeking summary judgment, according to AP. “I thought that our reporting might result in consumers getting more information from their grocers or might result in some form of labeling that would facilitate consumer choice. I was surprised when supermarket chains decided to discontinue use of BPI’s product altogether.”

The original suit charged that several ABC News reports ignored countervailing facts offered them by the company and third parties, and “knowingly and intentionally” published “false and disparaging statements” about the company’s LTFB product.
The lawsuit no longer includes as defendants former USDA employees Gerald Zirnstein and Carl Custer, former BPI employee Kit Foshee, ABC News reporter David Kerley, or ABC’s news division ABC News Inc.

The company said in 2012 that LFTB sales declined from about 5 million pounds to less than 2 million pounds per week, forcing BPI to close three of its four plants and lay off more than 700 workers, “as a result of the disinformation campaign,” according to the lawsuit.

Since 2012, ABC News has filed and failed repeatedly to get the defamation case dismissed. The case is scheduled for a jury trial on June 7, 2017, in Union County, S.D.

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