Washington lobbyist Vicki Iseman filed a $27 million suit today against The New York Times in federal court in Richmond, claiming the newspaper damaged her reputation by falsely implying she had an illicit "romantic" relationship with Sen. John McCain.
A Feb. 21 article in the Times reported that aides to McCain had tried to distance the Arizona Republican from Iseman in 1999, fearing the two had become romantically involved after sharing a flight aboard a corporate jet.
"The Times article caused [Iseman] serious damage to her professional reputation and it was utterly false. She is taking advantage of what the law provides," said Iseman's attorney Rodney A. Smolla.
Smolla and W. Coleman Allen Jr. of Richmond filed the libel suit in U.S. District Court in Richmond.
The New York Times released a statement saying it stands behind its article.
"We continue to believe it to be true and accurate, and that we will prevail. As we said at the time, it was an important piece that raised questions about a presidential contender and the perception that he had been engaged in conflicts of interest," the Times statement said.
The article reported that both McCain and Iseman denied having any "romantic relationship."
The article said aides to McCain grew concerned about frequent visits between the senator and the lobbyist and that the relationship would become public after McCain, then chair of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, sent a letter to government regulators on behalf of an Iseman client, the Times reported.
Smolla, dean of the Washington and Lee University School of Law, specializes in libel, privacy and First Amendment law. He is a member of the board of directors of Media General, Inc.
Iseman lives and works in Virginia. The defendants include the Times' executive editor in New York, its Washington bureau chief and four reporters in Washington.
Smolla said the suit was filed in federal court because all the defendants live outside Virginia.
Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, suggested the attorneys may have been seeking a more favorable judge by filing the suit in Richmond rather than Alexandria.
The Richmond court has only two judges -- at least half as many now working full time in Alexandria. Therefore by filing in Richmond, Iseman's attorneys would have a better guess as to which judge they would receive, Tobias said.
Plus, the Alexandria court recently sided with The New York Times in a defamation suit brought by scientist Steven J. Hatfill. He received a $5.8 million settlement from the federal government after he was labeled a "person of interest" in the 2001 anthrax mailings. But Hatfill lost his case against the Times, Tobias said.
The suit contends the paper acted with "actual malice" -- a "reckless disregard" for the truth.
But because Iseman was not a public figure in 1999, the period when she lobbied John McCain, she must prove only that the newspaper was negligent in its reporting to support her defamation claim.
The 36-page complaint says the plane trip McCain took with Iseman as a representative of her client was "entirely professional, ethical, and appropriate."
Iseman is a partner at the Arlington-based lobbying firm Alcalde & Fay.
The Feb. 21 story "destroyed and permanently altered" Iseman's hope of having "anything resembling a normal life," the suit stated in seeking $27 million in damages.
"In legal terms this was an act of negligence and actual malice. In human terms, this was an act of callus indifference to human decency and human dignity," the suit said.
Contact Neil H. Simon at (202) 662-7669 or nsimon@mediageneral.com.
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