The federal appeals court in Atlanta has thrown out a $3.6 million verdict against a former Forsyth County sheriff and ordered a new trial in a defamation suit.
In the 11-year-old case, developer Danny Bennett had been awarded $3.6 million in damages on claims Dennis Lee Hendrix wrongly painted Bennett and another man as lawbreakers in 36,000 fliers sent out during Hendrix's unsuccessful re-election campaign in 2000. Because the court later ruled 24,000 of the fliers were protected by the First Amendment, a new trial on damages is needed, the court said Thursday.
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