UPDATE: AP Settles With NBA REF; 'Twibel' Suit Dribbles Away

Image via WikipediaTip of the hat to Bloglawonline.blogspot.com for picking up on the resolution of a "Twibel" suit filed against Associated Press and its sportswriter who covered the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves by a referee who claimed his integrity and reputation were impugned.

The litigation in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, William H. Spooner v. The Associated Press & Jon Crawzynski (Case No. 11-cv-00642-JRT) [see "TUOL" post 3/15/11], has been settled by the parties, with the defendants reportedly removing the offending Tweet by Crawzynski and covering the plaintiff's legal fees of $20,000. The case arose during a Jan. 24, 2011, contest between the Timberwolves  and the Houston Rockets and involved a disputed foul call by Spooner about which Crawzynski Tweeted: "Ref Bill Spooner told [former Timberwolves Coach Kurt] Rambis he’d ‘get it back’ after a bad call. Then he made an even worse call on Rockets. That’s NBA officiating folks."

As part of the settlement, AP issued a statement in which it conceded that its sportswriter may have misheard an exchange between Spooner and Rambis that prompted the offending Tweet.  That's a costly personal foul for the wire service.