LV Business Press libel ruling upheld

Monday, Nov. 30, 1998 | 11:25 a.m.

SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY -- Minor inaccuracies in a newspaper story are not enough to sustain a libel suit, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled.

The court, in a unanimous decision last week, dismissed the appeal of homebuilder Steven Rebeil and his Gem Homes Inc. against the Las Vegas Business Press and Aaron Cohen, its former managing editor; and former reporter Paula Yakubik.

Rebeil filed a $70 million suit in Clark County after the weekly newspaper printed a story on July 3, 1995, that said there were 18 active lawsuits against him in his position as a partner in Gem Homes. He claimed five of the 18 suits were actually inactive.

District Judge Stephen Huffaker granted a summary judgment in favor of the newspaper.

The Supreme Court, in upholding the decision of Huffaker, said, "We conclude that the article was substantially true because the inaccuracies reported -- that there were 18 'active' lawsuits when in actuality, there were 13 suits -- would not have a different effect on the mind of the reader than the pleaded truth."

The newspaper had printed a correction to the Rebeil story after the original piece was published.

The Supreme Court reversed Huffaker's ruling that Rebeil and Gem would have to pay $113,000 in attorney fees for the Business Press and the other defendants.

It agreed with the claims of Rebeil and Gem that the lawsuit was not frivolous.