$750M Suit JonBenet's Brother Filed Against CBS Advances

Judge refuses to dismiss it
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 6, 2018 6:00 AM CST
$750M Suit JonBenet's Brother Filed Against CBS Advances
In this June 29, 2006, file photo, John Ramsey hugs his son, Burke, facing camera, at the graves of his wife, Patsy, and daughter JonBenet, during services for his wife at the St. James Episcopal Cemetery in Marietta, Ga.   (AP Photo/Ric Feld, File)

A judge declined to dismiss a $750 million defamation lawsuit filed against CBS by JonBenet Ramsey's brother. The Boulder Daily Camera reports a circuit court judge in Michigan on Friday denied a motion by CBS and other defendants who asked that he toss the case. Burke Ramsey sued CBS in December 2016, saying his reputation was ruined after the television series, reports the AP. Per the suit, the "gist" of The Case Of: JonBenet Ramsey is that Burke Ramsey killed his 6-year-old sister more than two decades ago after she stole a piece of pineapple from him, an assertion the suit calls "false and defamatory."

Lawyers for CBS argue the statement that Burke Ramsey killed JonBenet "was never made in the series" and point to a disclaimer that book-ended the show that read, "The opinions and conclusions of the investigators who appear on this program about how it may have occurred represent just some of a number of possible scenarios." The judge noted that disclaimer did not "negate the docu-series' potentially defamatory meaning." The beauty pageant star was found dead in the basement of her family's home in Boulder the day after Christmas in 1996. A prosecutor cleared her parents and brother in 2008 based on DNA evidence.

(More JonBenet Ramsey stories.)

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