Opinion ID: 2195379
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Tuckers' Defamation Claim

Text: Mrs. Tucker claims that Appellant-newspapers ignored her press release and focused instead on the sensationalize[d] ... sexual `spin' provided by the attorney for the Estate of Shakur. She alleges that the newspapers distorted and misrepresented [her] Complaint as being one where she brought a $10 million lawsuit only because lewd lyrics destroyed her sex life ... [and that they] misrepresented and/or falsely represented that the July 21, 1997, [ Tucker II ] Complaint is a lawsuit wherein [the Tuckers] aver that Tupac Shakur's lewd lyrics had affected or destroyed the Tuckers' sex life. (R.R. 32a-33a.) Central to her claim is a contention that, the defendants have slandered and defamed [her and her husband] by making [them] objects of ridicule in the world, and ... with knowledge [of the falsity] or reckless disregard of the truth ... of the articles. (R.R. 38a-39a.) Accordingly, in this case, Mrs. Tucker and her husband demanded compensatory damages in the amount of $1 million for current and future medical expenses, mental pain and suffering, inconvenience, loss of life's pleasures, humiliation, and embarrassment. They also sought punitive damages in amounts sufficient to prevent the Appellant-newspapers from publishing future articles similar to the ones at issue in the instant case. (R.R. 39a.)