LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - A jury has awarded $75,000 to a Lincoln woman in a lawsuit that accused police and the local Crime Stoppers organization of libel and slander.
A posting on the Crime Stoppers website had claimed 26-year-old Shayla Funk used someone’s stolen credit card to withdraw cash from an ATM, the Lincoln Journal Star (https://bit.ly/1gq30SM ) reported. A video had shown Funk withdrawing cash from her own account in April 2013, but because of an incorrect time stamp on the video, the bank had given police video of the wrong person.
Funk sued the Lincoln-Lancaster County Crime Stoppers Inc. and the Lincoln Police Department, claiming that they libeled her by calling her a thief in posts on the Crime Stoppers website and slandered her in two television segments.
A jury at trial was asked to consider whether Crime Stoppers’ work with the police qualified as a joint venture and made them liable for it, too. The jury determined that it did and awarded Funk the $75,000 on Wednesday afternoon.
An attorney for the defendants said he was disappointed in the result, but respects the jury’s decision.
Funk on Monday said she wouldn’t have questioned Crime Stoppers before the posting.
“I would’ve just assumed (people shown on the site) were guilty as well,” she said.
Now, she said she feels like she’s always doing damage control on characterization of her actions.
She said she left her job after being put on unpaid leave for three weeks when someone saw the video. She said that even two years later, when she goes back to her hometown, people still joke, “Hide your credit cards, Shayla’s here.”
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Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, https://www.journalstar.com
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