CBS and the brother of JonBenet Ramsey settle their $750m defamation lawsuit to the ‘satisfaction of both parties’ after he claimed their documentary implied he killed his sister
- Burke Ramsey filed the defamation lawsuit naming CBS, the producers and others involved in 2016’s documentary, The Case Of: JonBenet Ramsey
- The lawsuit claimed the documentary implied he had killed his sister, JonBenet
- Details of the settlement have not been made public, but it was ‘amicably resolved,’ according to Burke’s lawyer
- The case was dismissed with prejudice and cannot be refiled later
JonBenet Ramsey’s brother has settled his $750million defamation case against CBS and others involved with a 2016 documentary about the six-year-old pageant queen’s death.
Burke Ramsey’s lawsuit, which was filed in December 2016 — just two months after The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey aired on CBS — claimed that the documentary implied that Burke, now 31, killed his sister when he was nine years old.
Such a claim, was ‘false and defamatory per se,’ according to the lawsuit, which went on to note that ‘Burke Ramsey did not kill his sister and had no involvement in her brutal murder.’
Burke Ramsey (in 2016) and CBS have settled a $750million defamation lawsuit stemming from a 2016 documentary that he claimed implied he killed his sister, JonBenet Ramsey
The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey aired in September 2016. Burke filed his lawsuit two months later, naming CBS, the production company and others in the case
JonBenet was reported missing by her parents on December 26, 1996, after they discovered a handwritten ransom note demanding $118,000 for her return. She was found bound and gagged, dead from strangulation and a skull fracture, in the family’s basement several hours later.
JonBenet’s parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, and Burke were cleared by prosecutors in 2008.
A statement was released Friday from a spokesperson for producers of The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey, stating that ‘The parties have reached an amicable resolution of their differences and will have no further comment,’ according to the Daily Camera.
Burke’s lawyer, Lin Wood, told Reuters that, ‘the case has been amicably resolved to the satisfaction of all parties.’
He later tweeted: ‘After handling many defamation cases for them over the past 20 years, hopefully this is my last defamation case for this fine family.’
Child pageant queen JonBenet Ramsey was six years old when she was reported missing by her parents and found dead later that day, bound and gagged, in the family’s basement
JonBenet’s parents John and Patsy Ramsey (in 1997), and brother Burke, were cleared of her death by prosecutors in 2008
John and Patsy Ramsey (undated photo) have filed multiple defamation cases over the years
Details of Burke’s (far right) lawsuit settlement are not being made public, but has been ‘amicably resolved to the satisfaction of all parties’
The Ramsey home in Boulder, Colorado, where JonBenet’s body was found in December 1996
Attorneys representing CBS declined to comment to multiple news agencies.
Terms of the agreement are not being made public.
Public records show that a judge signed an order of dismissal on January 2 and that a settlement conference due to occur on March 20 was canceled as ‘case disposed,’ according to the Daily Camera.
As the order of dismissal stated that the claims against those involved with the documentary was dismissed with prejudice, the lawsuit cannot be refiled, the newspaper reported.
Beyond CBS and documentary production company Critical Content, LLC, Burke’s lawsuit named forensic scientist Henry Lee and forensic pathologist Werner Spitz among several others who had appeared in the broadcast.