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Judge slices cattlemen's beef
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February 17, 1998: 7:13 p.m. ET
Texas court rules out one tactic, weakening case against Oprah Winfrey
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AMARILLO, Texas (CNN) - A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Texas cattlemen cannot use their state's "vegetable libel" law in their defamation lawsuit against television talk show host Oprah Winfrey.
U.S. district judge Mary Lou Robinson granted a defense motion Tuesday afternoon, deciding that the "vegetable libel" law passed in 1995 by Texas and 12 other states is not applicable to the Winfrey beef lawsuit. The law protects perishable foods against false and defamatory statements
The trial will continue with the defense calling its first witnesses Wednesday, but the plaintiffs -- the Texas Beef Group and other associated cattle interests -- will now have to meet a much higher legal standard in order to win their case.
Texas cattlemen are suing Winfrey and Howard Lyman, a vegetarian activist who appeared on her "dangerous foods" show on April 16, 1996, for allegedly defaming the U.S. beef industry with comments about "mad cow disease" or bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
Without the state law, the plaintiffs must rely on the common law of business disparagement, the judge said. This means they must prove actual malice by Winfrey, her production company, and Lyman.
The cattlemen must show the defendants acted with reckless disregard for the truth in the statements made on the show. It must be shown that they actually intended to hurt the beef industry.
The cattlemen claim that Oprah's show caused the price of beef to fall, costing them $12 million. 
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