Journalists’ Roundtable: Lake concedes defamation suit, early voting ban and GOP leaders vs. EPA

It’s Friday, and that means it’s time for another edition of Journalists’ Roundtable. To discuss this week’s top stories, we were joined by Camryn Sanchez of KJZZ Radio, Howie Fischer of Capitol Media Services, and Wayne Schutsky of KJZZ Radio.

This week’s Journalists’ Roundtable covered:

• Lake concedes defamation suit
• Early voting ban heading to ballot
• Panel formed to investigate AG
• Bill: Age verification for adult websites
• GOP leaders vs. EPA

Lake drops defamation suit:

Wayne Schutsky: “Her attorneys had already technically defaulted on the case because they had failed to file an answer to the complaint. They were given X amount of days to do that, but instead of doing that, they asked the judge to issue a default judgment, which in legal terms, she’s basically conceding liability in the case. She can no longer argue that she didn’t do the things that Richer (Maricopa County recorder Stephen Richer) accused her of.”

Howie Fischer: “And not only did she concede what she said, but that she conceded everything in the complaint including that she knew or had reason to know they were false, and that she acted with actual malice which is important under legal standards when you’re talking about a public official that you can only sue for slander when there’s actual malice.”

Camryn Sanchez: “It’s an unusual move. For context if people haven’t been following the case: She’s the defendant, and she’s admitting that she did something wrong. Usually, it’s not the defendant who wants a default like this. Going forward, the judge said they have to cooperate just a little bit. They’re going to come back in April and go back in front of the judge and say what they’ve agreed upon. I expect the damages will be somewhat significant; I assume Richer will be asking for a lot.”