Legal Defense Fund Ask High Court Ruling in Police Defamation Case
Press Release
January 22, 1969

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Press Releases, Volume 5. Legal Defense Fund Ask High Court Ruling in Police Defamation Case, 1969. 37b7a040-b992-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/45546bff-650d-40f1-a515-a10795713307/legal-defense-fund-ask-high-court-ruling-in-police-defamation-case. Accessed April 19, 2025.
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ide , President Hon. Francis E. Rivers PRESS RELE! Diecaeel egal efense jund Jack Greenberg Director, Public Relations NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. J DeV NO Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 pes geyabt RIGHT NUMBER 212-749-8487 FOR PRESS RELEASE January 22, 1969 LEGAL DEFENSE FUND ASK HIGH COURT RULING IN POLICE DEFAMATION CASE --The U.S. Supreme Court today was asked to rule te citizen can be held liable rutality incident. WASHINGTON, D.C. on the question of whether 2 priva in a defamation suit for reporting 4 police b The question was raised in a petition filed by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. on pehalf of a Negro, Joseph B. Jackson of Wilmington, Delaware, who made such a report. In a letter to the Delaware police commissioner and the FBI, Jackson reported that a police sargeant ordered him out of his car, painfully handcuffed him, and knocked him to the ground. The accused police officer, Joseph F- Filliben, thereupon _ filed a defamation suit against Jackson. Despite a lower court ruling that Filliben's charge was without sufficient evidence, the Delaware Supreme court ruled that Jackson could be held liable in the suit if the charges contained in the letter were proved false. LDF attorneys contend that Jackson's report was protected under the First amendment of the U.S. Constitution. o submit to further lengthy and They say that to force him t of coerced settle- expensive litigation, with its inherent dangers ment would be to cast a chill on that Amendment. -30- NOTEL Though the LDF was once 4 part of the National Association for the advancement of Colored People (NAACP) it now is a separate organization, even though the initials are retained in its title. Eds