Judge rejects suits against Fox News

NEW YORK — A lawsuit filed against Fox News by the parents of a Democratic National Committee employee killed in 2016 was dismissed Thursday by a judge who said it lacked the detail necessary to proceed to trial.

U.S. District Judge George Daniels said the lawsuit by Seth Rich’s parents required specific instances of wrongdoing by the defendants to survive.

The lawsuit claimed Fox News turned Rich’s death into a “political football” by claiming he had leaked Democrats’ emails to WikiLeaks during the presidential campaign.

The network removed the story a week after it was posted, saying it was not initially subjected to its “high degree of editorial scrutiny.”

Rich, 27, was killed in July 2016 in what Washington police believe was a random robbery attempt.

Daniels said it was understandable that Joel and Mary Rich “might feel that their grief and personal loss were taken advantage of, and that the tragic death of their son was exploited for political purposes.”

But he said a general allegation that Fox News and one of its contributors had an agreement to collaborate against the parents wasn’t enough.

Daniels also dismissed a related suit by a private investigator, Rod Wheeler, saying his defamation claims against Fox News were based on five statements that cannot be proved false.

Wheeler had claimed that Fox put words in his mouth when it posted the WikiLeaks story.

The story quoted Wheeler as saying there had been contact between Rich and WikiLeaks. Wheeler alleged in his August lawsuit that the comments were false and were put in the story to discredit investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The judge wrote that Wheeler and Fox News “embarked on a collective effort to support a sensational claim regarding Seth Rich’s murder.”