Ruling on Sybert’s Suit to Be Published

An appeals court ruling that mocked Republican congressional hopeful Richard Sybert for filing a libel suit against his former Democratic foe will be published, even though the case was settled before the ruling was issued, the state Supreme Court has decided.

The high court Wednesday rejected Sybert’s request to throw out the ruling in his suit against Congressman Anthony Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills).

In April, a three-justice panel at the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled that Sybert’s lawsuit against Beilenson, who is retiring at the end of this term from the district that stretches into Thousand Oaks, had no place in the state’s court.

Sybert sued Beilenson in August 1995, alleging that the congressman “falsely and maliciously” besmirched Sybert’s reputation in campaign mailers. In January, Beilenson counter-sued, alleging that Sybert committed libel in campaign material mailed to voters.

The two subsequently settled their differences, and in late March issued a joint statement to that effect. The next month, the appeals panel ruled that Sybert’s suit should have been dismissed earlier by a lower court as frivolous and could bring a “disquieting stillness to the sound and fury of legitimate political debate.”

The fallout from that ruling prompted Sybert to request a “depublishing” of the ruling by the seven-member state Supreme Court. Justices denied Sybert’s request, said a Supreme Court clerk. Justice Janice R. Brown did not participate in the ruling.