UPDATE: Judge Tosses $10m Libel Verdict Against St. Petersburg Times

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Pinellas-Pasco (Fla.) Circuit Court Judge Anthony Rondolino, who presided over the libel trial of Dr. Harold Kennedy against the Times Publishing Co.owned St. Petersburg Times that ended with a $10 million jury verdict in favor of the former Bay Pines VA Medical Center chief of medicine, has thrown out the judgment, according to a story in the St. Petersburg Times.

Kennedy's attorney plans to appeal the decision, which overturned the award of $5.1 million compensatory damages and $5 million punitive damages decided by a six-member jury after a five-day trial last summer (see "TUOL" post 8/31/09). Kennedy sued the paper over 3 articles written  in December 2003, concerning his reassignment from chief of medicine to his subspecialty of cardiology at the VA Medical Center. The author of the articles, Paul de la Garza, died of a heart attack in 2006.

In a 2-page decision, Judge Rondolino concluded the evidence did not satisfy "the threshold required by the First Amendment." A heart-rending decision for the plaintiff cardiologist.

Ex-Med Head Scores $10m Libel Verdict Against St. Petersburg Times

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A six-member Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court jury has socked the Times Publishing Co., parent of The St. Petersburg Times, with a $10 million libel judgment in a case brought by Dr. Harold Kennedy, former chief of medicine at Bay Pines VA Medical Center.

Following a five-day trial, the four-women, two-man jury awarded Dr. Kennedy $5.1 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages based on three articles that appeared in The St. Petersburg Times in December 2003, written by staff writer Paul de la Garza, who died at age 44 of a heart attack in 2006. The court excluded  de la Garza's reporter's notes as evidence for the defense.

The offending articles involved Dr. Kennedy's re-assignment from chief of medicine to his cardiology subspecialty. Dr. Kennedy presently resides in St. Louis and consults for the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, according to his attorney.

The newspaper plans to appeal the verdict.