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Court rejects ABC’s latest BPI lawsuit appeal

Another attempt by ABC to have Beef Products Incorporated’s (BPI) defamation lawsuit dismissed has failed.

The South Dakota Supreme Court has denied ABC’s petition for appeal, meaning BPI’s 1.9 billion dollar lawsuit against the network can go to trial as scheduled in early June. The court’s order gave no opinion on the appeal’s merits.

BPI’s lawsuit alleges that ABC defamed the company’s Lean Finely Textured Beef product by constantly referring to it as “pink slime”. BPI says it led to a loss of 400 million dollars in business, forcing the family-owned business to close all but its South Sioux City plant and lay off more than 700 workers.

Earlier this year, a circuit court judge dismissed former ABC news anchor Diane Sawyer from the lawsuit, saying that Sawyer’s role as anchor was not enough to establish defamation. The ruling left ABC and reporter Jim Avila as defendants.