Unnamed sources in Civil defamation cases.

Great article in the Wall street Journal online addition today, about Coach Mike Price's suit against Sports Illustrated.

The case, widely reported and so lurid it led to the immediate firing of Coach Price from his position as Head Coach of the legendary Alabama Crimson Tide football team. From the beginning Coach Price maintained the story was wholly inaccurate, he was not given a chance to rebut the article prior to publication, and now his attorney's are attacking Time Inc, the parent of Sports Illustrated on the basis that the confidential source was the sole accurate and allegedly substantiated part of the story.

Given the reason decision for reporters Cooper and Miller on the CIA/Plamme case this couldn't come at a worse time for Time magazine to be defending itself in civil court on the premise of confidentiality. I'm going to be fascinated to see how the case turns out in a civil court action when the hinge to the case is clearly the unnamed source.