Dixie Chicks Cleared In Libel Case

Dixie Chicks

A federal judge in ARKANSAS ruled today that Country group THE DIXIE CHICKS can't be sued for libel by the stepfather of an 8-year-old boy who was killed in ARKANSAS 15 years ago. The judge ruled that DIXIE CHICKS singer NATALIE MAINES based her statements about the killing on legal documents she believed were true.

The band was sued by TERRY HOBBS, whose stepson STEVIE BRANCH, was slain in 1993. HOBBS claimed MAINES accused him of the killing in a letter posted on the band's website and in comments she made at a rally in LITTLE ROCK in 2007. The lawsuit, filed in NOVEMBER 2008, claimed MAINES' comments were "malicious, libelous, slanderous and false" and sought damages.

U.S. District Judge BRIAN MILLER ruled today (12/02) that HOBBS couldn't establish "actual malice" or that she made the comments with "reckless disregard" of the truth.

For more on the case, click here.

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