GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Both sides rested their cases last week in the Food Lion suit against ABC News, which has focused on the news-gathering methods of reporters.
cover in three stores in the Carolinas.
The reporters were part of the undercover investigation on ABC's "PrimeTime Live" news magazine Nov. 5, 1992. The story charged that Food Lion employed unsanitary food-handling practices and sold spoiled meat.
Food Lion says the story was untrue, but the segment's accuracy isn't at issue in court. Instead, Food Lion's attorneys spent the past week and a half grilling ABC reporters about the accuracy of the resumes they used to get jobs in Food Lion stores.
At one point, a Food Lion attorney, Andy Copenhaver, asked a reporter if she really "loved meat wrapping," as she wrote on a job application. The reporter admitted she did not, and said she lied about her former job experience on an application. Another reporter offered similar testimony.
Food Lion said these actions constitute civil fraud. ABC denied the charge, saying lies only constitute fraud if they hurt someone, and that the reporters' lies didn't hurt the food chain. On the contrary, the network contends, the truth is what hurt Food Lion.
Food Lion blames $1.5 billion in lost stock value and $233 million in lost profits on the broadcast, but Judge N. Carlton Tilley Jr. has said he has doubts about whether the company can collect any of it. To claim broadcast-related damages, the judge has ruled that Food Lion would first have to prove that the "PrimeTime" story was false and that its authors knew it.
