Defamation Trial Continues in Biloxi
The Sun-Herald reported on Sunday about a rare defamation trial taking place in the Harrison County Circuit Court in Biloxi. You can read the article here.
In the lawsuit the father-son owners of a Lucedale construction company (Heath Hudson and Gerald Hudson) are suing Coast TV station WLOX. Anyone who has lived on the Coast in the last thirty years will recognize the players: long time sports anchor A.J. Giardina and news director Dave Vincent. The Hudsons allege that in 2006 WLOX ran a story that stated that the Hudson's construction company performed shoddy work and then walked off a job before completion. The Hudsons claim that the project owner was behind in payments when they pulled off the job and that WLOX knew that the allegations in the story were false.
The Hudsons' attorneys are Jim Waide of Tupelo and former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Chuck McRae. WLOX is represented by Trent Favre and Henry Laird of Watkins Ludlam's Gulfport office. The judge is newly appointed Circuit Court judge John Gargiulo of Gulfport. The trial began on Tuesday and is expected to conclude this week.
