US District Judge Darrin Gayles said Trump came “nowhere close” to showing the WSJ acted with actual malice towards him.
The case was dismissed without prejudice, though Trump will be allowed to file a new, amended lawsuit. He has until 27 April to do so.
The standard for “actual malice” in defamation cases means that defendants must prove that a public statement was both false, and that the news organization or individual who made the statement knew or should have known that it was false or acted in reckless disregard of its falsity.
In his ruling, Gayles said he had to dismiss the complaint because Trump had “not plausibly alleged that the Defendants published the Article with actual malice”.
