The South Dakota Supreme Court is giving the go ahead for a $ 1.2 Billion defamation lawsuit by BPI to proceed against the ABC Television network. The network is being sued over its coverage of meat product critics called ‘’pink slime”. The industry calls the same product lean finely textured beef. BPI Attorney Erik Connolly says the defendants in the case tried to get the South Dakota Supreme Court to accept an appeal of the trial court decision that allowed the case to proceed.
Connolly says the decision by the South Dakota High Court allows the plaintiffs to potentially depose ABC news correspondents and other defendants. He says there is no set time line yet for how quickly the case will proceed.
BPI is alleging that ABC’s coverage led to plant closures and layoffs because it misled consumers into believing the lean finely textured beef was unsafe.