News

Jury selection set to begin to BPI’s lawsuit against ABC

Jury selection is scheduled to begin today in BPI’s (Beef Products Inc.) defamation lawsuit against ABC news.

BPI’s lawsuit alleges that ABC and reporter Jim Avila defamed the company’s Lean Finely Textured Beef product in 2012 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, Iowa 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.

BPI is seeking 1.9 billion dollars in damages. If it wins at trial, however, BPI’s claim could be tripled to 5.7 billion dollars under provisions of South Dakota’s Agricultural Food Product Disparagement Act.

The trial, which will take place in Elk Point, South Dakota, is scheduled to last until late July.