Lawyers for ABC News asked a South Dakota circuit court judge on Tuesday to dismiss a defamation lawsuit related to its coverage of a meat product called lean, finely textured beef.
According to Reuters, Beef Products Inc. sued American Broadcasting Companies Inc. and ABC News Inc. in September 2012, for $1.2 billion in damages, following the network's investigative coverage of the beef product dubbed "pink slime."
The Dakota Dunes-based meat processor claims the network mislead consumers into believing their products were unsafe and unhealthy. The ABC News reports, which began in March 2012, cost the company over $400 million in lost profit.
BPI said the products, which were made from "beef chunks and trimmings and exposed to bursts of ammonium hydroxide to kill E. Coli and other dangerous contaminants," were called "pink slime" 137 times, during the four-week report from ABC News and social media.
Eric Connolly, an attorney for BPI, said reports called the product "not meat" and stated that the FDA was not a credible source. Adding that ABC statements included 190 false statements.
"This was not an off-the-cuff remark or a one-time incident," Connolly said. "They knew they were causing a consumer backlash and they just kept doing it."
The coverage reportedly forced the company to close three out of four processing plants, in Iowa, Texas and Kansas and laying roughly 700 workers.
The defense team is also arguing that the two former USDA inspectors, Gerald Zirnstein and Carl Custer, who were responsible for defaming BPI, did not "do anything that merited being brought to court under South Dakota jurisdiction."
"This case certainly raises some interesting legal issues about journalism in the age of the Internet and social media," Food safety attorney Bill Marler said after the hearing. "It's going to be interesting to see how courts begin to apply all these new rules over time."
Lawyers for the network are asking a judge to dismiss the lawsuit. The network reportedly defend their reports and cite the freedom of speech protection clause. Kevin Baine, an attorney representing ABC, said the network reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the product safe to eat, in each of their broadcasts.
"ABC never hinted that this is unsafe," Baine said. "ABC never quoted critics saying it is unsafe."
Judge Cheryle Gering listened to both sides of this oral argument and "will issue a written ruling to the parties involved." The case is reportedly is the largest defamation lawsuits in U.S. history. The lawsuit named ABC news anchor Diane Sawyer and ABC correspondents Jim Avila and David Kerley as defendants.
