Judge Rules Libel Case Against The New Yorker Can Go Forward

By PATRICIA COHEN

A New York federal judge has dismissed a portion of a libel lawsuit filed by forensic art expert Peter Paul Biro against The New Yorker but declined the magazine's request to dismiss the entire complaint.

The 16,000-word article about art authentication was published in July 2010 and written by David Grann. In it, Mr. Grann questioned Mr. Biro's method of matching fingerprints on paintings to the artists who created them.

Although Judge J. Paul Oetken in his decision Tuesday threw out several of Mr. Biro's charges against Advance Publications, which owns The New Yorker, he gave Mr. Biro the opportunity to argue in court that a few sentences in the article were libelous.

“The Article as a whole does not make express accusations against Biro, or suggest concrete conclusions about whether or not he is a fraud. Rather, it lays out evidence that may raise questions, and allows the reader to make up his or her ow n mind,” the judge wrote in his opinion. “At the same time, there can be little doubt that even a publication that, on the whole, merely raises questions has the potential to have serious consequences on a plaintiff's reputation.”

In response to the decision, The New Yorker issued a statement: “We are gratified that Judge Oetken has already dismissed the vast bulk of Mr. Biro's claims, and we are confident that we will prevail.”