Judge to rule on dismissing defamation suits

The Cortland Standard reported on Tuesday 9/15 (Front page top article) that a Judge has heard arguments in dismissing the dafamation case against Scott Schrader and should have a ruling in the next few weeks. It somehow did not get top billing on the Substandard website, losing to "College says it’s prepared for swine flu", and a two week old recycled photo of a Cortland Standard doctor. Ah well, priorities.

Anyway, back to the reason for this post -

The arguments seem to revolve around the use of the word "paramour" - which carries the following definition under the webster-mirriam dictionary:
* Pronunciation: \ˈpa-rə-ˌmu̇r\
* Function: noun
* Etymology: Middle English, from par amour for the sake of love, willingly, from Anglo-French par amur
* Date: 14th century
: an illicit lover

From the newspaper report, Mr. Schrader's defense indicates that
(1) The term is proper and was not derogatory toward the plaintiff(s)
(2) He is not prone to suit for defamation because of law preventing such action for public servants.

So, the use of the term paramour in describing the relationship between the two litigating individuals has resulted in the dafamation lawsuit.

To defame, by definition by Webster-Mirriam-
* Pronunciation: \di-ˈfām, dē-\
* Function: transitive verb
* Inflected Form(s): de·famed; de·fam·ing
* Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French & Medieval Latin; Anglo-French deffamer, diffamer, from Medieval Latin defamare, alteration of Latin diffamare, from dis- + fama reputation, fame
* Date: 14th century

1 archaic : disgrace
2 : to harm the reputation of by libel or slander
3 archaic : accuse
synonyms see malign

— de·fam·er noun

Seems pretty clear to me.
Whether or not the accusation is true (which I do not believe is the issue here), I guess it comes down to whether the term is in fact deemed slanderous and dafamatory, and if the Administrator can be held liable for saying such.

Let's wait and see. Either way, the people need to know how much this defense has cost the County and whether the embarrassment to the County is worth it.

From my view, I know there was a considerable amount of animosity between one of the plaintiffs and the Administrator.