From Friday's decision in Amor v. Conover (E.D. Pa.) by Judge John Gallagher:
In this case, the Court must decide whether defamation damages sustained by Plaintiffs, the King and Queen of a Renaissance Faire, cut to the bone, or are merely "just a flesh wound." {See Jones, T., & Gilliam, T. (1975). Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Cinema 5 Distributing. [Wait, what's Camelot doing in the Renaissance? -EV].}
Here, Plaintiffs accused the Defendant of defamation, for publishing online accusations about Plaintiffs in their capacities as renaissance faire performance directors. After a jury found for Plaintiffs, Defendant now seeks to vacate the judgment and $1.4 million damages award assessed by the jury. Because a reasonable jury, making its own determinations as to credibility of witnesses, and applying the applicable legal standard, could have found for the Plaintiffs in this action, Defendant's motion will be denied insofar as it seeks to completely vacate the judgment or award of damages. However, because the jury's damages award was unreasonably excessive in light of the evidence presented at trial, the total damages award is remitted to $71,500.
For the reasons that follow, the Court remits the compensatory damages award to Plaintiff Dr. James Amor from $750,000 to $50,000, the punitive damages award to Plaintiff Dr. James Amor from $250,000 to $1,000, the compensatory damages award to Plaintiff Ms. Patricia Amor from $300,000 to $20,000, and the punitive damages award to Plaintiff Ms. Patricia Amor from $100,000 to $500….
Plaintiffs … initiated this defamation action by filing a complaint on December 30, 2021, alleging pro se Defendant … "deliberately, recklessly, and maliciously" published defamatory statements against Plaintiffs online…. Plaintiffs … both worked as assistant directors at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, and performance directors at the West Virginia and Pittsburgh Renaissance Faires. As performance director, Dr. Amor testified his responsibilities are to supervise the Renaissance Faire cast/actors, as well as coordinate with independent or national acts that participate in the Faire as well. In addition to his Renaissance Festival involvement, Plaintiff Dr. Amor is a dentist with a business practice located in Pennsylvania.
Defendant, Ms. Conover, was a paying guest at the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival who maintained an online blog where she wrote about, among other topics, Plaintiffs.
The blog statements in question claim the Plaintiffs refused to take seriously allegations that renaissance festival cast members/employees under their supervision committed sexual misconduct against other renaissance festival cast members/employees, some of whom were minors under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged abuse. According to Plaintiffs' Complaint, Defendant's statements further allege Plaintiffs "retaliated against said rape and/or sexual assault victims by, amongst other things, publicly humiliating them, calling them crazy, refusing to rehire them, and/or terminating them from employment."
The court concluded that plaintiffs were limited purpose public figures, which means that the jury, to find for plaintiffs, had to find that defendant knew her allegations were false or at least likely false. The jury did find for plaintiffs, "awarded Dr. Amor $750,000 in compensatory damages and $250,000 in punitive damages …, and awarded Ms. Amor $300,000 in compensatory damages and $100,000 in punitive damages." The court affirmed the verdict:
