Lobbyist drops defamation case against New York Times

Washington lobbyist Vicki Iseman has withdrawn her $27 million lawsuit against The New York Times filed Dec. 30 in federal court in Richmond.

The suit alleged that the newspaper damaged her reputation by falsely implying she had an illicit romantic relationship with Sen. John McCain. The news article ran almost a year ago, when McCain was the presumptive Republican nominee for president.

A joint statement about the settlement issued by Iseman and The New York Times yesterday reads in part:

"To resolve the lawsuit, Ms. Iseman has accepted the Times' explanation . . . to be published in the newspaper on Feb. 20, that the article did not state, and The Times did not intend to conclude, that Ms. Iseman had engaged in a romantic affair with Senator McCain or an unethical relationship on behalf of her clients in breach of public trust."

Rodney A. Smolla, one of Iseman's lawyers and dean of the Washington and Lee University School of Law, said his client "is delighted. This accomplishes her core objective."

Bill Keller, the executive editor of the newspaper, said in a statement that the suit "was settled without money changing hands, and without The Times backing away from the story."

The Feb. 21, 2008, article reported that aides to McCain had tried to distance the Arizona senator from Iseman in 1999, fearing the two had become romantically involved after sharing a flight aboard a corporate jet.

Iseman's lawyers, in a statement, wrote that they "witnessed, first-hand, the tremendous harm that was caused by an article that we believe cut to the heart of our client's personal as well as public identity."

"Words have extraordinary power to wreak havoc on the life of a human being," wrote Smolla and W. Coleman Allen Jr., of Richmond-based Allen, Allen, Allen and Allen.

"Defamation suits such as this serve three essential purposes: to redress the injury to reputation and human dignity, to demarcate the line between public and private life, and to advance the integrity of the public record," they wrote.

They said they regarded Iseman as a private and not public figure and acknowledged that The New York Times felt otherwise.

"Had this case proceeded to trial, the judicial determination of whether she is entitled to the protections afforded a private citizen would have been the subject of a ferocious, pivotal battle, with Ms. Iseman insisting on her status as a private person and The New York Times asserting that she had entered the public arena, and was therefore fair game."

Keller, the newspaper executive, said that "we reiterate what we have said since the story was published: That article did not allege an affair or unethical behavior on Ms. Iseman's part. We stand by our coverage, and we are proud of it.

"We do not share the plaintiff attorneys' views that their client is 'not even a public figure.' A publicly registered lobbyist is hired to influence public officials on matters of public policy. That seems to us to be exactly the sort of figure journalists are supposed to watch with close attention.

However, Keller added, "We do share with Ms. Iseman's lawyers a concern that journalists be sensitive to zones of privacy. Public figures should not be required to live every aspect of their lives in a fishbowl."

Smolla, reached by telephone, said, "As a lawyer, I think the system worked and it is always in the public interest when the parties can sit down and reasonably resolve a matter without going through the drain and strain of litigation."

Smolla is a member of the board of directors of Media General Inc., which owns the Richmond Times-Dispatch. He is also a former dean of the University of Richmond law school.

Contact Frank Green at (804) 649-6340 or .