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Torts Keyed to Henderson
Rich v. Fox News Network, LLC
Citation:
939 F.3d 112 (2019)Facts
In July 2016, Seth Rich, a 27-year-old DNC staffer, was murdered in Washington, D.C. The Metropolitan Police Department determined it was a botched robbery, but conspiracy theories emerged claiming Seth had leaked DNC emails to WikiLeaks. In December 2016, Ed Butowsky, a Fox News commentator, contacted Seth’s parents, Joel and Mary Rich. Butowsky and Malia Zimmerman, a Fox News reporter, allegedly orchestrated a scheme to promote the conspiracy theory by convincing the Riches to hire Rod Wheeler, a Fox News contributor, as a private investigator. Wheeler signed a contract with the Riches that prohibited him from speaking to the media without their permission. Despite this, Zimmerman and Butowsky allegedly worked with Wheeler to develop a story falsely claiming that Seth had communicated with WikiLeaks. On May 16, 2017, Fox News published articles by Zimmerman containing these false claims, attributing information to Wheeler and an anonymous federal investigator. Fox News retracted the story on May 23, but the damage was done, causing the Riches severe emotional distress.
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