Appellate brief lays out how lower court applied wrong legal standard when granting Fox's motion to dismiss
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On December 30, Law Office of Max Rodriguez and Upper Seven Law filed an appeal on behalf of Nina Jankowicz in her defamation suit against Fox News Network and Fox Corporation. Jankowicz's appeal from the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware lays out why the lower court applied the wrong legal standard when granting Fox's motion to dismiss. The case is captioned Nina Jankowicz v. Fox News Network, LLC, and Fox Corporation, No. 24-2544 (3rd Circuit).
"As we argue in the brief, the lower court's ruling in this case did not give Nina's allegations the deference they deserved. This principle has been laid out repeatedly in precedent from the Third Circuit and the Supreme Court," said Max Rodriguez, one of Jankowicz's lead attorneys in this case. "As laid out in the brief, these errors and others were made throughout the lower court's decision and the Third Circuit must reverse and remand."
The suit was filed against Fox after what the complaint alleges was the network's months-long drumbeat of false narratives about her and her tenure as Executive Director of the DHS Disinformation Governance Board which created disastrous consequences for her, including Fox's audience harassing her, calling for her death, inviting her to commit suicide, revealing personally identifying information like her home address, and threatening her family.
The appeal explains how the District Court committed one error that permeated every issue it reached and made each of its holdings erroneous. Despite citing the well-established rules for the standard of review on a motion to dismiss, the District Court failed to accept Jankowicz's well-pleaded allegations as true, failed to draw all inferences from those allegations, and failed to draw inferences in her favor. Instead, the District Court rejected the truth of Jankowicz's allegations, drew its own inferences, and drew inferences in Fox's favor.
Rylee Sommers-Flanagan, Jankowicz's other lead attorney in this case, said: "We are grateful for the opportunity to have Nina's case heard in the Third Circuit, and look forward to obtaining the right result: a full reversal of the lower court. Nina deserves justice and we are going to fight for her every step of the way."
Contacts
Max Rodriguez
max@maxrodriguez.law
