Judge refuses to dismiss lawsuit against '20/20'

It is a good thing ABC's 20/20 program has been around for a long time and built up some goodwill (not to mention the bank account) of the network, because it is about to cash in some of that equity.

The program and its ex-correspondent Chris Cuomo (brother of New York governor Andrew Cuomo) are being sued by David Williams for libel, following a piece they ran in 2011.

Earlier this week a California judge rejected a motion to dismiss the libel claim. The program portrayed Williams as an Internet predator that lured women into "relationships" only to "prey" on their finances. ABC wanted the suit struck due to the First Amendment, but Judge Franz Miller said that Williams was likely to receive a favorable judgment and that he had demonstrated negligence on ABC's part in determining that what it was presenting was in fact truthful. Now the case will held to trial or towards an appeal by ABC, but it seems like Williams is sitting in a great place here.

An ABC spokesperson said that, "We respectfully disagree with the ruling and are exploring our legal options going forward.”

You would think that networks would have enough experience with this kind of thing to know that they should check and double check before they ruin a person's life.