Lawyer: Libel suit groundless

An attorney for Rolling Stone magazine said Friday that she expects the libel suit filed against the magazine by former Wistar Institute Director Hilary Koprowski to be dismissed before it ever goes to trial. Elizabeth McNamara, who is representing the magazine, publisher Jann Wenner and Tom Curtis -- who wrote a story entitled "The Origin of AIDS" that was published in Rolling Stone last year -- said the defense will contend Koprowski is a well-known public figure. The article suggests that the large-scale testing of Koprowski's polio vaccine in Africa in the late 1950s may have inadvertently introduced the virus which causes AIDS into the human population. To prove libel, public figures or public officials must generally show that a publication knew the contents of an article were false prior to publication or had reckless disregard for its truthfulness. Private persons need only show that a publication was negligent. "He's self-described as a world-renowned scientist, and we agree with that," she said. She added that she believes Koprowski is a public figure "in Pennsylvania and throughout the world." The response of Straight Arrow -- the company that publishes Rolling Stone -- and Wenner to the complaint states that Koprowski is a public figure and that the article was published "without knowledge of falsity and without serious doubts as to [its] truth." "That's a hurdle they will not be able to get over," McNamara said. But Koprowski's attorney, James Beasley, said he does not think the issue of whether or not his client is a considered a public figure makes much of a difference. He said the article meets the definition for defamation, whether Koprowski is considered a public figure or not. "I don't think it's significant," Beasley said. "Defamation is the same." He also said he does not think it would make his case more difficult to prove in court. He added that he would consider settling the case, if the magazine would issue a retraction. The suit, filed last December, charges that Straight Arrow, Wenner and Curtis "published the article with knowledge of the falsity or with a reckless disregard for the truth or falsity" of what it printed. The article described Koprowski, Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin, who were the leaders in the search for a polio vaccine, as racing to be the first to develop the vaccine. The article suggests that in their haste, they may have failed to consider potential dangers involved in the vaccine's creation. "If the Congo vaccine turns out not to be the way AIDS got started in people, it will be because medicine was lucky, not because it was infallible," the article concluded.