Reuters writer Timothy Mclaughlin reported today that, “Beef Products Inc has settled a closely watched defamation lawsuit against American Broadcasting Co and its reporter Jim Avila, the meat processor said on Wednesday.
“BPI had claimed ABC, a unit of Walt Disney Co and Avila defamed the company by calling its ground-beef product ‘pink slime‘ and making errors and omissions in a 2012 report.
“The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.”
The article explained that, “The trial began earlier this month in the tiny town of Elk Point, South Dakota, and had been expected to last eight weeks.
“BPI had claimed up to $1.9 billion in damages, which could have been tripled to $5.7 billion under South Dakota’s Agricultural Food Products Disparagement Act.
“During its reports, ABC used the term ‘pink slime‘ more than 350 times across six different media platforms including TV and online, Dan Webb, an attorney for BPI, said during opening statements on June 5.”
Today’s article also noted that, “In the aftermath of ABC’s broadcasts, BPI closed three of its four processing plants and said its revenue dropped 80 percent to $130 million.”
