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Judge rejects defamation lawsuit against Trib
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A judge has dismissed a defamation lawsuit against the Tribune filed by the former owners of an auto body shop.
Christopher and Carol Ferrante, former owners of Gilbert Collision Center, had alleged the newspaper defamed them in its coverage of a separate lawsuit filed against them and a number of other tow company and body shop owners by Infinity Insurance, a national auto insurance company.
The insurance company alleged that the Ferrantes worked with other tow companies and body shops to drive up the fees paid by people whose cars had been towed by tacking on excessive and unnecessary costs.
The Tribune story characterized the case as one in which, according to the insurance company, the Ferrantes and others defrauded customers through the excessive fees and other practices.
The Ferrantes argued the insurance company lawsuit did not allege actual fraud and that the story was inaccurate and unfair when it came to the Ferrantes.
Attorneys for the Tribune and reporter Jason Massad successfully argued that the word “defraud” was used simply to describe a general pattern of deceit alleged by the insurance company.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Kristin Hoffman agreed, and found that “the gist or sting of the newspaper article is the same as the gist or sting of the complaint.”
In August, about three months after the Tribune’s story on the Infinity case, a judge dropped the Ferrantes and Gilbert Collision Center from the Infinity lawsuit. The court agreed with the Ferrantes that the insurance company did not produce any overpriced tow truck invoices or collision center or body shop invoices from Gilbert Collision Center and that any invoices in question were dated after the Ferrantes formally applied to dissolve their company.
Christopher Ferrante, who has worked in law enforcement, previously cooperated with local authorities during an investigation into former Mesa tow company Cactus Towing.
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