An Additional Post Regarding Sparks v. Reneau Publishing

Mr. Dennis Sparks sent me an email yesterday about the post U. S. District Court Holds That City Manager, As Public Official, Must Show Actual Malice in Defamation Suit Against Newspaper. In it he says I left out a “critical fact” concerning the case, namely that the Mayor contacted him to set a date and time for Mr. Sparks’ return, and he and the Mayor agreed that he, Mr. Sparks, would return to the city on a date and at a time certain. Mr. Sparks requested that I make mention of this on Media Law Prof blog. As far as I can tell, the court makes no mention of this “critical fact” in the opinion on which I reported in the post, but in the interests of completeness I am complying with Mr. Sparks’ request.

See Sparks v. Reneau Publishing, 245 F. R. D. 583, 35 Media L. Rep. 2185 (E. D. Tex., August 2, 2007).