AZ Supreme Court Denies Petition to Reverse Rancher's $600,000 Award

PHOENIX, AZ, The Arizona Supreme Court has refused to overturn a $600,000 libel verdict that was entered against the Center for Biological Diversity, a New Mexico based environmental activist corporation, according to court minutes dated September 25, 2007. The judgment had been entered by an Arizona Superior Court Judge after a jury found that the Center had to pay $600,000 in actual and punitive damages to James K. Chilton and Chilton Ranch and Cattle Company for libeling this fifth generation Arizona rancher and the Chilton family cattle ranch. The Supreme Court's action had the effect of re-confirming the validity of a Tucson jury's verdict delivered on January 5, 2005, which found the Center for Biological Diversity guilty of making "false, unfair, libelous and defamatory statements" against Jim Chilton, a Southern Arizona cattle rancher. The jury awarded Chilton $100,000 in actual damages, and $500,000 in punitive damages because the Center for Biological Diversity defamed him and his family business in a two-page press release which included links to 21 photographs posted on the Center's website, in July 2002. The jury found that the press release and the corresponding images contained inaccurate and misleading content regarding Chilton's 21,500 acre Montana Grazing Allotment which is located northwest of Nogales. According to Kraig Marton, Chilton's lead lawyer, "The Center lost in front of a jury, and has now failed to overturn their loss in front of a Superior Court judge, three Court of Appeals judges and now all five Supreme Court Judges. It is time they get the message that they were wrong, and the court system will not help them avoid the consequences of what were found to be malicious lies." According to Jim Chilton, "This group went too far and we proved it. They don't use science, they use scare tactics," said Chilton. "They also use endangered species as surrogates to obtain their own goals and to raise money. They need to admit they were wrong and change their ways."