Burness confirmed as defendant in Pressler suit

Wednesday afternoon I posted Pressler slander suit to go forward.

In his story on the court proceeding, Durham Herald Sun reporter Ray Gronberg mentioned both Duke University and its senior vice president for public affairs and government relations John Burness were defendants.

I said while Gronberg is a very able reporter, I thought Burness had been dropped from the suit and only Duke was now a defendant.

I promised to check with Gronberg and get back to you.

I checked and received the following reply from Gronberg:

Re the post from yesterday,

Burness was added as a defendant when Pressler’s lawyers refiled the case as a slander claim. See yesterday’s court docket at http://www1.aoc.state.nc.us/www/data/DURHAM/civil/APRIL.14.2008/S._HOWARD_E__MANNING.GJR._.MOTIONS.txt, item #28. I’ve taken the liberty of inserting the relevant text below

If you use the link Gronberg provided, it'll take you to that part of the docket (#28) where both Duke and Burness are listed as defendants.

I’ll post a note at the head of Pressler slander suit to go forward with a link to this post.

I thank Gronberg for providing the information and link.

And I’ve just moved him from the “very able” to the “very, very able” category.