Tobin says plaintiff still not deposed with two months left in discovery
The head of the BBC and its top news executive have both resigned, and Judge Jeffrey Kuntz noted the broadcaster’s apology over its documentary editing in his ruling allowing President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation case against the BBC to go forward. Kuntz dismissed Trump’s separate claim under a Florida law concerning unfair business practices, and he did not rule on the merits of the case. Charles Tobin, an attorney for the BBC, said that with two months left in the discovery period, “we still haven’t been able to depose the plaintiff.”
Trump filed his lawsuit against the BBC in December. The Republican president accused the broadcaster of defamation as well as deceptive and unfair trade practices related to a documentary, “Trump: A Second Chance?” The publicly funded British broadcaster had asked the court to dismiss the suit.
The BBC has acknowledged that its filmmakers spliced quotes from different sections of the speech Trump delivered to his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, before the storming of the U.S. Capitol, so that he appeared to be directly urging violence. The broadcaster apologized over that editing, an apology Kuntz made note of in his ruling. The BBC has denied Trump’s claims that it defamed him.
Kuntz’s ruling on Tuesday kept the defamation claim alive while tossing out the part of the case built on the Florida unfair-business-practices statute. The judge did not reach the merits of the claims.
In October, a different Florida judge ordered Trump to sit for a deposition in the case by Dec. 11, after lawyers for the BBC complained that Trump was delaying his own appearance in the suit he filed. Tobin, the BBC attorney, said the plaintiff’s deposition had still not happened with two months left in the discovery period: “we still haven’t been able to depose the plaintiff.” The deposition deadline could yet be extended.
Trump hailed the ruling as a major victory. “A Huge Victory against Fake News BBC, a terrible abuser of the truth, just handed down by highly respected District Court Judge, Jeffrey T. Kuntz, of the Southern District of Florida,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “We will continue fighting against, and defeating, all of those who try to deceive the American People!” Trump wrote Tuesday evening.