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U.S. District Judge Leland Nielsen refused Monday to reverse his earlier finding that columnist Jack Anderson did not libel former Rep. Lionel Van Deerlin in a 1983 newspaper column that said informants had named Van Deerlin as a possible drug user.
Nielsen ruled in October that the article contained some factual errors, but that Van Deerlin failed to prove “actual malice” by Anderson in writing the column.
Van Deerlin is expected to appeal Nielsen’s decision.
After the hearing Monday, Van Deerlin’s lawyer, Michael Aguirre, said he also intended to file a new lawsuit alleging that Anderson libeled the ex-congressman by repeating the allegations in interviews with San Diego media during the trial on the initial case.
Anderson’s attorney in San Diego, Jerome Eggers, declined to comment on the threatened legal action.
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