Appeals Court Hears Bengals Ex-Cheerleader's Case

AMANDA LEE MYERS, Associated Press

CINCINNATI (AP) — The owner of an Arizona-based gossip website is set for another courtroom fight against a former Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader convicted of having sex with a teenager.

Attorneys for Nik Richie, the owner of thedirty.com, plan to argue Thursday that their client should have been immune from a defamation lawsuit filed by former Bengals cheerleader Sarah Jones.

Jones' attorneys are expected to argue that Richie shouldn't be immune and wrongly encourages offensive and defamatory content on his website.

The arguments will be held in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.

Jones sued Richie in December 2012 over posts about her sex life. In July, a jury found the posts were substantially false and Richie had acted with malice or reckless disregard by publishing them. Jones was awarded $338,000.

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