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Harvest House Wins Critical Ruling in Libel Suit

Positive ruling in case where Watchman Fellowship filed a "friend-of-the-court" brief

(FROM PUBLISHERS WEEKLY) It's a happy new year for Eugene, Ore.-based Harvest House Publishers and two of its authors, who received word on January 5 that the Court of Appeals in the First District of Texas had ruled in their favor in a long-running libel suit. The court dismissed the $136 million lawsuit brought by The Local Church and its publishing arm, Living Stream Ministry, which charged that authors John Ankerberg and John Weldon had libeled the Fullerton-Calif.-based religious group in their Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions, published by Harvest House in 1999. Though The Local Church claimed it was not fighting being labeled a "cult" in the Encyclopedia, it also claimed that because the introduction to the volume ascribed immoral and criminal activity to some of the groups covered in the book, that behavior was being ascribed to them also, even though those statements were never made directly about The Local Church. The court found that argument unconvincing.

Read the full story
Read Harvest House's letter to Watchman Fellowship
Read Amici Brief in which Watchman Fellowship participated
Read Press Release from Harvest House
Read the full court opinion

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