United States Seventh Circuit

In a suit by an academic alleging that he was defamed by a passage in the book Freakonomics, dismissal of the claim is affirmed where: 1) plaintiff explicitly submitted to Illinois law; 2) federal procedural rules did not bar the court's application of the innocent construction rule; 3) the contested statement was capable of a non-defamatory construction; and 4) the district court did not err in failing to address a pro quod defamation claim or in rejected a proposed amended complaint since plaintiff did not allege any special damages in either the original or amended complaints.

Appellate Information

• Argued 10/21/2008
• Decided 02/11/2009
• Published 02/11/2009

Judges

• EVANS, Circuit Judge., Before RIPPLE, EVANS, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Seventh Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Paul E. Freehling, Seyfarth Shaw, Chicago, IL, Jeffrey S. Parker (argued), George Mason University School of Law, Arlington, VA, for Plaintiff-Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Slade R. Metcalf (argued), Hogan & Hartson, New York, NY, for Defendant-Appellee.