Lawsuits over libel or slander tend to involve individuals. One person accuses another of harmful lies. A judge or jury decides whether there’s any basis for compensating the alleged victim.
A current slander dispute in western North Carolina involves a much different scenario. A company called ParkMobile is accused of slandering the city of Asheville. Not a particular elected official or city staffer. Asheville itself is named as the victim of alleged false defamatory statements.
Earlier this year, a trial judge allowed the slander charge to proceed. The North Carolina Court of Appeals recently declined to take up the case. That was despite ParkMobile’s lawyers warning that Asheville’s complaint contradicts decades of rulings in prior slander disputes…