The 'New York Times' loses its first defamation lawsuit in more than 50 years and must pay $9.25 million to a former basketball player from Alabama

On Thursday, an Alabama jury ordered the New York Times (NYT) to pay $9.25 million to Kai Spears, a former basketball player at the University of Alabama, finding that the newspaper defamed him in a 2023 article that wrongly linked him to a fatal shooting.

After a nine-day trial, Fox News reported that the eight-person jury found that the newspaper had damaged Spears' reputation, then an 18-year-old freshman on the Crimson Tide team as an unsigned player.

The NYT corrected the error only after the lawsuit was filed

The article, published in March 2023 and written by sports reporter Billy Witz, incorrectly identified Spears as one of the occupants of the vehicle present at the scene of a shooting that occurred in January of that year, in which Jamea Harris, 23, was killed.

The NYT added an editor's note in June 2023, but only after Spears filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

In that note, the newspaper acknowledged that "the original version of this article, published on March 15, mistakenly identified the person who was in the car with Brandon Miller when the shooting occurred."

The article "undoubtedly contained an error"

According to the newspaper itself, the information came from "a person familiar with the case" and, following further fact-checking prompted by the lawsuit, it was determined that the other occupant was Cooper Lee, a student who worked as the team's manager.

Witz testified that he relied on an anonymous source whom he described as "a high-level, professional individual" with access to transcripts, videos, and photos of the case, and on another source who mentioned "a white guy on the basketball team." The journalist admitted that the article "contained an error, without a doubt."

The NYT is "reviewing our legal options"

The New York Times noted that it had not lost a defamation lawsuit in the United States over one of its articles in more than 50 years.

A spokesperson for the newspaper stated: "We are disappointed that the jury found the Times liable for an honest mistake. We thank the jury for their service, but we believe the verdict and the amount of damages are contrary to the law and not supported by the evidence. We are reviewing our legal options."

Spears' legal team did not immediately respond to requests for comment.