From Crosswhite v. Reuters News & Media, Inc., decided today by Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon (W.D. Va.):
Plaintiff Benjamin Crosswhite is a personal trainer in Lynchburg, Virginia. Crosswhite trained Jerry Falwell, Jr., the former president of Liberty University, and his wife Becki Falwell.
In 2019 and 2020, Mr. Falwell became the subject of several public controversies. On August 27, 2019, Reuters published an article on its website entitled “Exclusive: Falwell Steered Liberty University land deal benefiting his personal trainer.” This article reported on real estate transactions between Liberty University and Crosswhite that were approved by Falwell. Reuters also posted a link to the article on its Twitter account, and one of the authors, Aram Roston, re-tweeted the article.
On September 12, 2019, Reuters published an article on its website called “Exclusive: Falwell Blasted…
