The Bergen Record (a screenshot of its logo was taken from its Facebook page) was sued for defamation by Thomas Salzano for publishing information from pretrial court documents.

The U.S. Supreme Court “refused” an appeal by New Jersey man Thomas John Salzano. Salzano sued North Jersey Media Group over a March 2006 article claiming he “allegedly stole close to $500,000 from the company, using the money to pay for drinks, trips to area clubs and for a five-bedroom Glen Ridge house.”

iMediaEthics wrote about Salzano’s case last May when the New Jersey Supreme Court overturned a 2008 libel ruling against the Bergen County Record.  The court stated that media outlets can’t be sued for accurately reporting from pretrial court documents, even if it is later determined that information is inaccurate.

As disclosure, iMediaEthics’ publisher, Rhonda Roland Shearer wrote reports against Norvergence’s fraud starting in 2005 following its bankruptcy.

The report has been used in the FTC enforcement and various US State Attorney Generals’ investigation of Norvergence and related banks’ fraud. Read more here.