HBO and “Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver won a months-long legal battle against Appalachian coal magnate Bob Murray over a segment that mocked him and his coal business.
A judge in West Virginia threw out the defamation lawsuit this week, recognizing the defendants’ First Amendment motion to dismiss the case.
“I find the arguments set forth in the Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim and Reply well-founded, appropriate in this matter and will grant the same,” Marshall County Court Judge Jeffrey Cramer wrote in a letter to attorneys, shared by the Hollywood Reporter. “The Court adopts, with little exception, Defendants’ argument in support of their Motion regarding all issues addressed in the same.”
Back in June of last year, Oliver dedicated a large portion of his show to lambasting Murray for some of his statements, calling him a “geriatric Dr. Evil,” and some of the health and safety practices at Murray Energy Corp.
That was in spite of a cease-and-desist letter warning against any efforts to “defame, harass, or otherwise injure” Murray or his company.
Following through on its threat, Murray sued. “The false and defamatory statements in this broadcast severely and destructively impact Mr. Murray, and all of Murray Energy, particularly our mines in the state of West Virginia, where we are the largest coal mining employer in the state, as well as coal mining itself, one of the primary foundations of that state’s economy,” his business said in a news release at the time.
In response, the HBO stated it would stand by Oliver. “While we have not seen the complaint, we have confidence in the staff of Last Week Tonight and do not believe anything in the show this week violated Mr. Murray’s or Murray Energy’s rights,” the company said.
Murray saw a legal victory in August when a federal district court judge in West Virginia agreed with him that the HBO case be sent to a lower state court for review after HBO successfully motioned that the litigation be heard in federal court.
Following the dismissal this week, Murray Energy and its associates companies have 30 days to appeal the judge’s decision. The judge also invited Oliver and his team to write up a statement of “findings of fact and conclusions of law” supporting the ruling to be submitted within 20 days.
